"Money, Cars, and Light Bulbs!!!"

A few years back, on my radio show, we did a game show parody by that name, where contestants didn't do anything, but were awarded money and cars, surrounded by blinking light bulbs.

It turns out, you don't need the cars.

NBC's new series, "Deal or No Deal", with Howie Mandel, features only contestants and money. Okay, the money is in briefcases. But that's it. Does the briefcase you chose contain the million dollars? Or will you trade the briefcase for less money, guaranteed, as we open the other cases?

No trivia. No physical challenge. Just you, your family on stage with you, pressuring you, and money. And Howie Mandel. Naturally, each of the briefcases is held by a female fashion model.

It's hypnotic. There's a middle class American family deciding whether to take $125,000 or turn down the deal, in hopes that another briefcase has a million.

Even while you're hypnotized, though, you get a little growl in your tummy. It's your conscience wondering if we don't have something better to do than watch other people get money dangled in front of them. Sitting and watching poker on TV seemed lame enough. Now, we've removed the cards.

Film buffs remember Martin Scorsese's character in the movie "Quiz Show" (an excellent rental if you haven't seen it), saying that the "21" scandals were beside the point, because the audience didn't care about the contestant's knowledge: "They just wanted to watch the money." Now, they can.