Deal … or Else!

Ahab and Naboth square off. Only Ahab is no Howie Mandel. There’s not much in Naboth’s suitcase.

It used to be that game shows occupied a cozy little niche on daytime television where venerable hosts like Bob Barker, Wink Martindale and Monty Hall doled out cash and prizes to overexcited retirees, housewives and military men on leave. Winners pocketed a few hundred bucks or, if they were really lucky, won the Showcase Showdown on The Price is Right (compete with new car and a lifetime supply of Rice-a-Roni) or reached the top of Dick Clark’s $10,000 Pyramid. Losers at least went home with a “parting gift” of some household gadget.

But as everything in our culture has become bigger, faster and overhyped, so has the game show. People flipping out over the possibility of winning a fast million have become a fixture on prime-time television. With the help of technology that enables people from around the country to apply as contestants, shows like Who Wants to Be a Millionaire hit the airwaves early in the 21st century with the promise of bigger payouts and...