OFFICIALLY it’s tomorrow, but according to hardcore statistician and long time friend of the Bar Mister Al it’s actually today on Tuesday because someone at Endemol can’t count and missed a show off. Either way it wouldn’t be the first show that fudged its numbers.

The point is, in many ways Deal or No Deal was the show that made this place, we saw its success coming and backed it with various now internet celebrities (many of whom now guest on Lewis Murphy’s Fifty50 Show in one form or another) providing live text commentaries and debate for those who couldn’t access a TV. I will never forget frantically F5-ing the first time the quarter-mill was in live play in the final two.

Unfortunately those commentaries have been lost into the old commenting system ether and the show whilst still entertaining doesn’t really surprise these days, Box 23 being a bit of a damp squib (with crushing predictability). Despite this, in the ideal world, the Deal team past and present should probably be responsible for making most of television.

It remains one of the most misunderstood shows on television – yes it’s a game of luck but it’s not a game *about* luck, it’s about living with the very real consequences of your decisions. That’s the appeal. Imagine all those people who said it wouldn’t make it past the initial order. Well done Noel.

Ejector Seat starts on Monday. I had a good gut feeling about it, but I’m wondering if it might have been misplaced.

Here is a Vine.

£0.99 for iPhone only right now (although compatable tieh all iDevices running iOS 7)

Thanks to our chum David from Ludometrics who sent us a download of the game. Here’s the official site.

It’s basically a quite basic app emulating the missing vowels round from Only Connect, and I’m actually a bit surprised nobody has really thought to do it before.

A word or phrase comes up with the vowels removed and the spaces respaced and you type the vowels in. If you get it right it turns green, if you get it wrong it turns red. You can keep guessing until you get it right, although there are only five options so it shouldn’t take too long.

Right now feels more like a diversion than a game – you can’t “lose” and if the prospect of pressing all the buttons until you press the right one is too much for you you can skip. Also I’ve done about seventy puzzles now, they’ve all been quite basic which you might find a bit disappointing if you’re used to OC‘s rather clever clever approach. The tones that play when you push the buttons are quite nice.

In other news there’s a Millionaire Hot Seat game out as well for £1.49. On my first go I won £250,000, there’s no real fanfare if you win or even get a question right. The questions seem tailored for the Aussie market. You can play single or multiplayer although you should save yourself the hassle and not bother although there is the germ of a decent idea in the format.

It’s ALL GO:

• Ejector Seat starts on ITV on Monday.
• Draw It! The show based on briefly popular several years ago app Draw Something and recorded aaaagggggeeesss ago FINALLY airs in the 4:30pm slot on Channel 4 from the 5th May.
• Richard Osman is fronting thirty episodes of a new Endemol daytime quiz for the BBC called Two Tribes, where people with a common interest are grouped to compete in a quickfire quiz. (Edit: seven contestants take a big questionaire and are grouped however, there’s a 60 second buzzer quiz, the losing team has a shootout to determine who is eliminated, split the remaining players along new lines, rinse, repeat. I hope it’s going to be funny, because everyone will start whinging when it gets to 3 vs 2 and 2 vs 1.) To apply email twotribes@endemoluk.com.

So there we are.

And happy St George’s Day to you all. I asked on Twitter what was the most English gameshow, apart from Pointless (because that’d always win) and Only Connect (made in Wales) and Jordan Hass was the first to respond with Bullseye, which seemed reasonable enough.