According to Zap2it, "all five shows [during the week beginning December 19, 2005 and ending December 25, 2005] finished in the top 15 among total viewers, peaking with 14.1 million people watching the Wednesday, December 21, 2005 installment. For the week, Deal or No Deal averaged about 12.7 million viewers and a solid 4.3 rating in the adults 18–49." The show appeared again on NBC each night February 27, 2006 through March 3, 2006 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT with the top prize (and some of the higher-valued cases other than the top prize) escalating until the prize reached $3 million (and the lowest-valued case going up to $.03). As of March 6, 2006, the show settled into regular time slots at 8:00 p.m. Mondays and Fridays, with the top prize returning to its original $1 million. Wednesday episodes were added at 8:00 PM due to the show's consistent ratings success. In something of a ratings coup, the April 3, 2006 episode of the show, a two-hour special, outperformed the NCAA basketball tournament final in a head-to-head competition. During both of the two-hour shows, the second hour scored even higher ratings than the first. Once it became a regular series, Deal or No Deal consistently placed within the 20 most popular programs on television, at times landing the top 10. The June 5, 2006 two-hour season finale, which featured Celine Dion via satellite, marked a series-high rating for the program, bringing in over 18 million viewers and a strong 5.5 share in the 18–49 demographic. The episode was easily the highest-rated show on any network for the week of June 5, 2006 through June 11, 2006, outdistancing the number-two show, a repeat episode of CSI, by almost six million viewers. The finale experienced similar success in Canada, with 1.5 million viewers tuning in. (However, CSI and nearly all other fall TV series had completed their seasons two weeks earlier and were either in reruns or pre-empted by this point.) Season two (2006–2007) The show returned with new episodes in September 2006, airing on Mondays and Fridays at 8:00 p.m. and Thursdays at 9:00 p.m. the latter time slot being perhaps the most competitive in U.S. television, as Deal or No Deal faced a pair highly rated programs, CSI on CBS, and Grey's Anatomy on ABC. Both shows were in the top 10. Deal'''s Thursday time slot had initially been intended for