Howie Mandel plays host to “Deal or No Deal” (7 p.m., NBC) for the fourth time this week. He’ll be back tomorrow night, too. By then we’ll know if “Deal” is a hit or a miss.

With its 26 identically clad briefcase women, “Deal” makes an odd statement about the declining status of women in the game show firmament. You don’t have to be Gloria Steinem to object to the objectification of female participants whose only purpose is to open a case on Howie’s command.

It wasn’t always this way. On the primordial game show “What’s My Line?” panelists Arlene Francis and Dorothy Kilgallen bantered on an equal footing with Bennett Cerf and moderator John Daly. Men and women seemed to share the game show laughs and one-liners all the way through the “Hollywood Squares” era.

But by the 1980s, the clock started running backward. On “Wheel of Fortune,” Vanna White appeared as a pretty face dressed in gaudy clothes whose sole function was to turn letters for other people. But now, Vanna seems like a relative rocket scientist compared to Howie’s harem of statuesque satchel-toters.

If this doesn’t sound baffling or offensive to you, try to imagine a show in which the gender roles are reversed, where a D-list female has-been comedienne bosses around a room of robotic musclemen. And wouldn’t Kathy Griffin be just right for the part? (By jingo, I think I’ve just come up with a new show for Bravo!)

Seriously, “Deal or No Deal” is not a bad show. And it’s one of those rare programs that everybody from ages 2 to 102 can watch together without feeling embarrassed or offended. But NBC should keep in mind that their “family hour” audience also includes young girls, who have every right to aspire to become something other than a pretty piece of furniture.

Tonight’s other highlights

¢ An autistic student vanishes on a field trip on “Without a Trace” (7 p.m., CBS,).

¢ On back-to-back episodes of “The O.C.” (Fox), winter arrives (7 p.m.), Seth’s holiday blend (8 p.m.).

¢ Making spirits bright on a two-hour edition of “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” (7 p.m., ABC).

¢ Death by staircase on “CSI” (8 p.m., CBS).