ReZoom

A mainstay since TV's early B&W days is back. Despite more flash and cash, today's quiz shows rarely test what you'd consider adult intellect ...

"Open the case" – three little words that bring the anticipation on "Deal or No Deal" to a peak.

As he delivers that basic instruction to one of 25 identically dressed models, host Howie Mandel sometimes put his hands together as if in prayer. It's as reliable a method for success as any on the NBC game show, which doesn't bother with the convention of testing its contestants' knowledge.

If "Seinfeld" was a show about nothing, "Deal" is about nothing but greed. It squeezes drama out of a simple guessing game, the purest example of one of television's oldest genres and probably the main reason it became an instant hit 15 months ago.

Inside the numbered briefcases is a figure between one cent and $1 million, and as they're eliminated a hovering, silhouetted "banker" decides how much to offer the contestant to go home.

Family members and the audience cheer and chant "no deal!" – a bloodless version of ancient coliseum rituals. They may call the "100" in "1 vs. 100," another primetime NBC quizzer, "the mob," but they don't get nearly as worked up as the "Deal" crowd.

At least on Fox's "Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader?" – the latest of a new wave of game shows inspired by the big ratings for "Deal" – you have to be as bright as a 10-year-old to win the money.

Normally, these copycats aren't as popular as the original. Remember Fox's "Greed," which tried to capitalize on the success of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" Me either. But "Fifth Grader" has passed "Deal" in the ratings, pulling in 20.7 million viewers to 18.4 million for "Deal" in one recent week. It helps that "Fifth Grader" debuted behind TV's top program, "American Idol."

Above the Scandal

Quiz shows proved their undying popularity once they survived the seemingly debilitating scandal behind ‘50s behemoth, "Quiz Show." And their appeal hasn't waned with baby boomers over the years.

Needless to say, networks love it when these shows work because they're cheap to produce despite the potential payoffs (typically the top prizes are insured). Along with "Idol," they're the last mass-media hits, drawing 8- to 80-year-olds sitting in their livings rooms watching on the same set.

Monolith front man Bob Barker's pending retirement trumpets the end of a TV era reaching back to "Bonanza." The new crop of baby-boomer hosts have a hefty mantle to carry into the next generation of quiz shows.

"Deal," "Fifth Grader" and "1 vs. 100" are as American as apple pie and no-bid contracts, unashamed of the quest for unearned cash. It's no accident that they're all hosted comedians: Mandel, Jeff Foxworthy and Bob Saget, respectively.

They act as foils, releasing the pressure as contestants try to climb the money ladder.

These shows share other conventions that have been unshakeable since "Millionaire" brought games back to primetime in the late '90s, starting with high-tech sets that pulse with lights and music.

They also feature lifelines that allow the contestants to cheat – taken to a literal level on "Fifth Grader,'" which offers a chance to copy a real fifth grader's answer. What's more all-American than that?

-Manuel Mendoza is a former Dallas Morning News TV critic now producing a documentary, "Stop the Presses: The American Newspaper in Peril."

Want more? Click here to check out our TV Trends section.