Deal or No Deal.(Television Program Review)

(Limited series; NBC, Mon.-Fri., Dec. 19-23, 8 p.m.)

Filmed in Los Angeles by Endemol USA. Executive producer, Scott St. John; supervising producers, Brian A. Veskosky, David Floyd; producer, Judy Helm; director, R. Brian DiPirro; set design, Anton Goss; editors, Paul Frazier, John Hoelle, Chuck Ewart; music, Groove Addicts; casting, David Shumsky, Kimberly Holzman Sloan, Kassting Inc. 60 MIN.

Host: Howie Mandel

Tailored to our Powerball-playing, lottery-loving times, this gameshow import almost proudly boasts at the outset that there's no skill or trivia involved, just greed and all the hyperkinetic flourishes that seemed so fresh when "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" and even "The Weakest Link" made their debuts. First episode of this weeklong experiment does a creditable job building suspense, but it's hard to imagine the premise--basically a simple-minded "Let's Make a Deal," minus bedroom sets and Monty Hall--possessing much staying power.

Howie Mandel tones down his manic hidden-camera shtick to assume the posture of a pretty conventional gameshow host. The game itself, meanwhile, really isn't much of a game at all, but more like an uneducated guess: A contestant chooses one of 26 cases, each containing a dollar value ranging from a penny to $1 million. Gradually, cases are opened, with each big-dollar figure exposed, reducing the chances that the contestant's case hides big bucks.

The twist, such as it is, is the unseen "banker," who, in periodic intervals, calculates the shifting odds and offers the player a cash buyout to quit. Whether the contestant takes the certain money or presses onward provides the ...