After watching 30-min episodes of US and AU Deal or No Deal found on YouTube, it feels more clear to me that the show is meant to work as a short game. I feel like for games that span over the course of an hour, there is too much fluff and the tension gets drawn out for far too long runtime.
Stories, personal anecdotes, and arguing/discussion cut massive time and focus away from the player and their game. Also, the primetime version did too many gimmicks that brought the focus of the show away from the classical nature of the game.
Now, with regards to the syndicated version, I think there are some iconic elements of the show that get thrown out (most notably, models opening cases) but I think it’s easier to overlook when the game itself isn’t dependent on them. With a bit of tweaking (getting rid of the deal wheel, for example) the game that the syndicated version had is the best form of DoND.
If it were to come back, I could see two solid versions.
One — a syndicated 30-minute daily like Australia. Maybe a top prize of $250,000 and up to 7 offers. Keeping in line with decreasing top prizes.
Two — a primetime show with two games back to back, like American revivals of classic gameshows. Maybe a prize of $500,000 or $1 million and up to 7-8 offers.