How do you revive a 20-year-old game show? Put it on an island, not unlike the setting of every “Survivor” and cast an (over) familiar face from that series.
In the “Deal or No Deal Island” (9:30 p.m., NBC, TV-PG) debut, we meet the contestants and see the new wrinkles they’ve concocted for the game. With Howie Mandel serving as executive producer, his former role has been assumed by Joe Manganiello, a muscle-bound and tattooed specimen familiar to viewers of “Spider-Man” and HBO’s “True Blood.” According to some of the contestants, “He’s hot!” — an opinion open to some debate. But that’s not the point of “Deal or No Deal Island.”
As on the old show, players will be given metallic briefcases filled with sums from one penny to a million dollars and will then compete in challenges and bluffs to turn their sums into larger ones. According to Manganiello, a man given to grand pronouncements, a player might be able to leave with “life-changing” money because there is more than $200 million at stake.
But before the play begins, a helicopter arrives and briefcases of various denominations are tossed into the dense green undergrowth. Throwing money out of a flying object could be seen as a metaphor for a streaming/broadcast industry that collectively lost $5 billion in 2023. Or merely a stunt to get things rolling. Suffice it to say, nobody watches “Deal or No Deal Island” for the metaphors.
Players include Boston Rob Mariano, a survivor of “Survivor: Marquesas” way back in 2002 and too many reboots and “All-Star” reunions. He’s also run “The Amazing Race.” He’s joined by Claudia Jordan of “Celebrity Apprentice” and “Real Housewives of Atlanta” fame. Both prove my long-held opinion that the best way to be cast on a reality show is to have already appeared on one.
Among the new faces is Aron Barbell, a 26-year-old accountant from the Chicago area. He has been cast as the skinny, physically unimposing “nerd,” an awkward Woody Allen type stumbling along among hunks and hotties of the personal trainer variety. Hair and makeup has given him everything short of tape to hold his glasses together. And there’s some comedy in a 98-pound weakling named “Barbell.” It’s like calling a bald man “Curly” or an NFL linebacker “Tiny.”
There’s no telling if Barbell will win a “life-changing” jackpot. The real question is whether this is merely his first shot at the reality TV genre. While he can always fall back on his Excel spreadsheets, I have a feeling he’s on his way to becoming a familiar face.
TONIGHT’S OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
— The voice of Patton Oswalt animates the 2007 culinary cartoon comedy “Ratatouille” (6 p.m. Freeform, TV-PG).
— “The Voice” (8 p.m., NBC, TV-PG) returns for its 25th season of swiveling chairs and talent scouting.
— The queen of a wellness empire spends some downtime with a man she meets on retreat in the 2021 romance “The 27-Hour Day” (8 p.m., Hallmark, TV-G).
— “TMZ Investigates” (9 p.m., Fox, TV-14) wraps up its first season with an hourlong glance at the public’s (and media’s) fascination with the romance between Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce.
— Bandits rob a bank just for kicks on “NCIS: Hawai’i” (10 p.m., CBS, TV-14).
CULT CHOICE
An intrepid team (Stephen Boyd, Raquel Welch, Edmond O’Brien, Donald Pleasence and Arthur Kennedy) is shrunk to microscopic size and injected into the body of an injured scientist to repair his brain in the 1966 special-effects adventure “Fantastic Voyage” (8 p.m., TCM, TV-PG). A rare pop artifact from the Cold War/Space Race era that has not been remade. While directors from James Cameron to Guillermo del Toro have been linked to rumored reboots, as of now, we’ll have to stick to the original.
SERIES NOTES
A local bank faces accusations “The Neighborhood” (8 p.m., CBS, TV-PG) … Young love ends in murder on the season finale of “America’s Most Wanted” (8 p.m., Fox, TV-14) … “The Bachelor” (8 p.m., ABC, TV-PG) … Kemi defies tradition on “Bob Hearts Abishola” (8:30 p.m., CBS, TV-PG) … One step at a time on “NCIS” (9 p.m., CBS, TV-14) … “Bad Romance: A Special Edition of 20/20” (10 p.m., ABC).
LATE NIGHT
Jimmy Fallon welcomes Zendaya, Austin Butler, Mark Ronson, Chance the Rapper and Kings of Leon on “The Tonight Show” (11:35 p.m., NBC).
Amy Poehler and Fred Armisen visit “Late Night With Seth Meyers” (12:35 a.m., NBC) for its 10th anniversary celebration.
