Someone from Denver just emailed me this, and TVGuide.com confirmed it. "Deal or No Deal" will air twice in it's weekly debut time, on Monday March 6th at 8PM ET and Friday March 10th at 8PM ET. I believe that Mandel has a guest spot on "Las Vegas" on the 10th, so I have no idea if this is permanent or just promotion to stay tuned for Vegas. I'll get ahold of NBC as soon as I can.

It's just a one-time thing for that week.

Yeah, I just found that out. I had no idea, I better fix that. Thanks for telling me, though. My mistake, sorry.

NBC has now also scheduled Deal for Friday 3/17, meaning it'll be airing twice a week for the first 2 weeks during its "weekly" run. Can you say "Millionaire," anyone?

I'm gonna hold my criticisms until I see that this is in fact a habit instead of being a sweeps-month stunt.

Well, since sweeps end tomorrow...

Does it? Was February the sweeps month? I suppose it was. Hmm.

You bet your sweet bippy it is, which is why the double pump seems suspicous. I really hope NBC will hold back.

Brandon Brooks

I hope so too, but consider this: the regular 8:00 Friday occupant, Most Outrageous TV Moments, started the season as peroidic specials on Saturdays. But NBC made it a regular Friday series when CBS drove Three Wishes into cancellation. :-P But if DoND does better than MOTvM on Friday, then so be it. IMO, we shouldn't start crying overkill unless it's three or more a week.

And I'm selling the sweeps-month-ends-today rationale. In New York and Los Angeles--where all the stations are owned by their networks--every month is a sweeps month.

* ObGS: Dick Martin + Password Plus = Tom Kennedy - dignity

I'd say it has a fair-to-midland shot of doing well on 3/17. It'll be opposite the second night of the first round of the NCAAs (which for me means plenty of remote tag that night). Not everyone will take advantage of going out for St. Paddy's Day.

And if it does well, don't be surprised if it winds up airing on 3/24, with the same competition (albeit now the third round of the NCAAs).

Doug