IT’S TIME FOR
Sources of information:
The Encyclopedia of TV Game Shows 3rd edition. Authors David Schwartz, Fred Wostbrock, & Steve Ryan
Published 1998.
Emcee Monty Hall authors Monty Hall & Bill Libby published 1973.
An interview with Monty Hall done in 1987. Interviewer unknown and source unknown.
Special Thanks goes to these people:
Chuck Donegan
Joe Madigan
Jon Wood
Jamie Locklin
VERY SPECIAL THANKS GOES TO THESE PEOPLE
Carol Andrews
Stefan Hatos and Monty Hall Productions (1963-1986)
Stefan Hatos and Monty Hall Productions In association
with Catalena Productions(1980-1981)
Dick Clark and Ron Greenberg Productions (1990-1991)
NBC Daytime December 30, 1963-December 27, 1968
NBC Primetime May 21, 1967-September 3, 1967
ABC Daytime December 30, 1968-July 9, 1976
Syndicated primetime September 13, 1971-September 1977
Syndicated September 22, 1980-September 1981
The All New Let’s Make A Deal Syndicated September 17,
1984-September 1986
NBC Daytime July 9, 1990-January 11, 1991
Repeats
Christian Broadcasting Network 1984 (Syndicated 1971-1977)
USA Cable December 29,1986-December 30,1988 (The All New
Let’s Make A Deal)
Family Channel Cable July 7, 1993-March 29, 1996
(Syndicated 1971-1977 version & The All New Let’s Make A Deal
Game Show Network Cable August 27, 2001-Present
(Syndicated 1971-1977 version & The All New Let’s Make A Deal)
Host:
Monty Hall
1963-1986 and fall of 1990-1991
Seen here doing a commercial for Game Show Network in
2001
Bob Hilton 1990
Substitute Hosts:
Dennis James
Tom Kelly
Bill Leyden
Geoff Edwards(1984)
Announcers:
Wendell Niles Pilot episode
Jay Stewart 1963-1977 Seen here in one of the numerous
zonks he played in. (No, he’s not a drag queen)
Chuck Chandler 1980-1981
Brain Cummings 1984-1985
Dean Goss 1985-1986
Dean Muccio 1990-1991
Models:
Carol Merrill 1963-1977 Seen here modeling the big box on
the display floor.
??? 1980-1981
Various Models until Melanie Vincz and Karen LaPierre
were decided upon. 1984-1986
Georgia Satellite, Diane, & Elaine Klimaszewski
1990-1991
After three deals in a show, it was then time for the Big Deal of the day usually between $7,000 and $15,000, sometimes over that. In order to be eligible for the Big Deal, two traders had to trade in what they have already won. Except for the pilot, there are no zonks in the big deal. There are three doors and Monty shows the doors in order from least to greatest in value, after the contestants make their choices of course.
An addition to the Big Deal was made during the 1975-1976 season which will be explained on the 1971-1977 Syndicated
page.
Let’s Make A Deal made NBC the number 1 daytime network in the ratings. Unfortunately, NBC did not see it that way. NBC did not show much faith in LMAD, only renewing it 13 weeks at a time and also not giving Hatos-Hall ownership of tapes. When contract renewal time came up, NBC did not play hard ball, but the other networks did. CBS wanted LMAD, but couldn’t take it due to the winnings limit CBS had in place at the time and also was still a little on the nervous side after the quiz show scandals of 1958. ABC wanted LMAD and showed it, giving LMAD a primetime berth, a huge raise, and more importantly ownership of tapes.
NBC got wind of ABC’s offer and tried to up their offer, but Hatos-Hall said too little to late and moved to ABC.
LMAD moved to ABC on December 30, 1968, their 5th anniversary, in the same 1:30 PM time slot. Many people had said that LMAD was going to fail after moving to another network, but the ratings showed contrary. When LMAD moved, the viewers moved with it, along with hundreds of millions of dollars in advertising revenue making ABC the #2 network in daytime, bringing it from a VERY distant 3rd place.
Along with the move, came a promised Primetime version(which NBC was not going to give them)which debuted in February of 1969 and took off like a rocket, once again, lasting until a VERY unexpected cancellation in 1971. Monty and Stefan knew LMAD had proven itself in primetime and was not going to rest until it was back on in Primetime. So since ABC was not going to put it on back in primetime, Monty and Stefan wanted to go into primetime syndication. ABC instantly said no. So, Monty furious at this point began to go on strike. Monty had told ABC that if by end of business that day, Eastern Standard Time, they had not reversed their decision, then he was not going to go in and tape the shows that he was supposed to tape that day and that would continue until ABC said yes. Sure enough ABC called(5 minutes after 5:00 pm) and gave them the go ahead to go into syndication, but only if LMAD used ABC’s syndication company, ABC Films(which later became Worldvision Enterprises). Monty said yes and thus was born the 1971-1977 syndicated primetime version of Let’s Make A Deal.
Ratings continued to go LMAD’s way, until Fred Silverman became the programming chief at ABC. Fred made the bone head move to move LMAD to 12:00 PM(which was always a horrible slot). After the move, Fred had given Monty the go ahead to make three game show pilots and promised one of them would be on the 1976-1977 fall season schedule. Well, Monty took a trip and when he came back he did not see LMAD or any of his game show pilots on the fall schedule. Thus was the end of Daytime Let’s Make A Deal and the last show was aired on July 9, 1976 and would be replaced by Family Feud with Richard Dawson.
After the daytime show was cancelled, LMAD was still on in syndication and moved to Las Vegas at the end of the 1975-1976 season. LMAD taped at the Hilton Hotel & Casino Showroom. LMAD had went down in the ratings, but still had enough stations interested to go ahead for a 1977-1978 season, but Monty knew that LMAD had overstayed its welcome and opted to end the show. The last show taped December 21, 1976 and is the only show in LMAD history to have no zonks.
Let’s Make A Deal would return with another version in the 1980-1981 season. This version was taped in Vancouver, British Columbia and was produced in association with Catalena Productions(Catalena Productions also did Pitfall with Alex Trebek.). This version started off slow, but gained ratings as it went on. The show was supposed to have a 1981-1982 season, but Catalena Productions had gone bankrupt and about $250,000 in checks had bounced and that was the end of the 1980-1981 version.
That was not the end of it and LMAD would return once again in 1984, but this time titled The All New Let’s Make A Deal. This was the most successful of the LMAD revivals lasting two seasons. This show was titled all new for a reason. New announcer, new set, new models, new twist, but same host. Jay Stewart was briefly considered for the announcer role, but Telepictures(TANLMAD’s syndicators)wanted it to be ALL NEW with no ties to the original version. Jay also had begun doing $ale of The Century at the same time and wouldn’t have been able to do it anyways. TANLMAD came with a new addition to the format, which will be explained on its respective page. TANLMAD, like its previous revival, was supposed to have a 1986-1987 season, but after a long talk between Monty & Stefan both of them decided to call it a show. TANLMAD taped its last episode in 1986 in which Jay Stewart & Carol Merrill made cameos.
Let’s Make A Deal(not counting the 1990-1991 version)taped 4,600 shows and unfortunately all of them do not exist. The 1971-1977 syndicated version and the 1984-1986 version exist in their entirety and right now Game Show Network owns the broadcasting rights to those shows. Hatos-Hall has over 500 episodes of the ABC version in their possession which is how you saw the clip of the first ABC daytime episode on Monty Hall’s autobiography, which played during Game Show week on A&E. The 1980-1981 version does exist, but is supposedly somewhere in a vault owned by Warner Brothers.
Below are the links to the various versions and special episodes of Let’s Make A Deal.
Pilot Episode(coming soon)
1969-1971 ABC Primetime version(coming soon)
Special 1972 Syndicated episode taped at the old NBC studios.
1980-1981 Daily Syndicated Version
1984-1986 The All New Let’s Make A Deal
Senor Jon Wood's Let's Make A Deal page
The OFFICIAL Let's Make A Deal website!
