NBC Plucks Deal or No Deal from Prime Time Sched

NBC has released their new schedule for January, and there's a glaring omission from the lineup. Deal or No Deal is nowhere to be found, replaced by host Howie Mandel's new show, Howie Do It.

Now, before we run around with hands in the air worrying about the sky falling, this could simply be a temporary situation. The ratings for the prime time show haven't exactly been stellar so far this season, but make no mistake about it, Deal has been a huge boost to NBC's schedule in the past, and I really can't see them yanking it permanently. How and when it might return, however, is a completely different story.

With a handful of new reality shows on the January schedule, it's quite possible that Deal is just being rested to make a comeback should one (or more) of these shows fail. Or maybe they're just taking a break to try and build some anticipation. It's worked for other NBC programming in the past - The Apprentice, for example, was cut from two seasons per year to just one celebrity version. Fans of the show were more likely to tune in when the show had a bit of a break between seasons.

There is good news to report, however. Ratings for the syndicated Deal or No Deal continue to climb, reaching an all-time high recently at a 2.1 rating. If that means nothing to you, it's well above Family Feud and hot on the heels of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. So that's a good thing.

I've put in an e-mail to NBC to see if we can get any of this clarified. Chances are that we won't get much more info, but if we do I'll post it as soon as I can.

Photo courtesy NBC