Millionaire Season 9

[JasonA1]

I've been on vacation a few weeks, giving me the chance to catch up on this year's game show offerings. I found myself watching the new Millionaire most often. The trivia is as good as ever, and the new format is keeping my eyes peeled. I was floored at how much material is packed into one show. However, after a few days, it became apparent this was not a rare occurrence. No matter what, the show is trying to go through as much game as possible.

That would normally be good news around here, but it was the biggest flaw this season IMO. Meredith is almost never explaining why an answer is correct. And either through editing or producer encouragement, there's little deliberation seen on the part of the contestants. It makes it frustrating when you see a contestant jump the question within seconds. I imagine they took more time in the studio to decide that. I'm also surprised how much money is going out the door this season vs. the past.

Plus: there's sometimes an audience game? Huh. But this is the most Millionaire I've seen in years, and the most Meredith I've seen since her version started. That's gotta count for something. How are everybody else's impressions halfway through the season?

-Jason

[dale_grass]

I really enjoy this version, mainly due to more material, which is incidental to the pondering being excised.  I'm also digging the randomness of it all.  Total mindf**k for the contestant.

[MSTieScott]

I caught some repeats from the beginning of the season during my Christmas vacation. Playing along at home, the randomizing of the question difficulty really irks me -- there were a couple of questions where I wasn't sure whether I could intuit the correct answer by the context of the question, or if it was a you-know-it-or-you-don't type question. That's not fun.

Although I noticed that when they showed the categories pre-randomization, if I quickly memorized the first three categories and noted where they moved to, those first three categories were the easiest of the game. Has that stayed in effect as the season has progressed?

And one other question: Meredith reveals that the contestant's answer is correct, then goes to commercial before revealing what value the question is worth. Has there ever been a case where they did that and the value wasn't a five-digit figure?

[Hastin]

[quote name='MSTieScott' post='254556' date='Jan 12 2011, 08:15 PM']Although I noticed that when they showed the categories pre-randomization, if I quickly memorized the first three categories and noted where they moved to, those first three categories were the easiest of the game. Has that stayed in effect as the season has progressed?

And one other question: Meredith reveals that the contestant's answer is correct, then goes to commercial before revealing what value the question is worth. Has there ever been a case where they did that and the value wasn't a five-digit figure?[/quote]

Yes, when they randomize the categories, the lower ones are always easier and then they get shuffled around. I like this, it adds some strategy.

I've noticed they've really tried to do away with the whole toss to commercial before value thing they started in the first few episodes.