Final Answer, Interrupted: The Delayed Demise of WWTBAM

[TLEberle]

Oh, no question about it. I'm not disputing that. I'm just saying that if Millionaire tried to remain as specials, those series still would have come along, and their success (thanks to not having to fight Millionaire) would have forced ABC to make Millionaire into a series.

Winning Lines was gone in three months. Twenty-One might have lasted longer had NBC had some faith in the show and not had it dance around the schedule. The one show that I think gave Millionaire anything approaching a run for their money was Greed.

[BrandonFG]

Agreed there, and I think that's where Travis and I's idea of making it a regular series, but on the DWTS or Survivor model - airing 10 or 12 weeks at a time each spring and fall - come into play.

ETA: To Travis's point...wasn't Twenty One a top 30 show? I actually enjoyed that one, but NBC tinkered with it a little too much to make big money wins happen.

[JakeT]

Thinking about it now, it really amazes me just how rapidly Millionaire took the country by storm. It truly was a pop culture phenomenon, even after just the two-week trial run. I'm with Chris, though...without Millionaire, none of those exist. I remember watching Greed and immediately dismissing it as a copycat; it quickly grew on me.

Phenomenon is the only word for it...how else would you explain hysteria to a level in which would lead U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT to contact a complete nobody like me for an brief interview, much less actually quote me in their magazine...too bad Charles Manson had to be on the cover that week!

"Daddy, what's a magazine?"

Still one of the fondest memories of this old fart's life...

JakeT

[PYLdude]

Agreed there, and I think that's where Travis and I's idea of making it a regular series, but on the DWTS or Survivor model - airing 10 or 12 weeks at a time each spring and fall - come into play.

ETA: To Travis's point...wasn't Twenty One a top 30 show? I actually enjoyed that one, but NBC tinkered with it a little too much to make big money wins happen.

I thought the tinkering worked to its advantage, as to where instead of just having to win four matches to get a million, they made you do a little more work for it.

[BrandonFG]

While I don't disagree, IIRC, the show made those changes in order to claim the game show winnings record, which it held for about two nights. :p

Even with all the big money shows, this was at a time when winning a million bucks was still somewhat of a novelty.

/Catherine Rohm still had one friggin Pit Pass left

[TLEberle]

/Catherine Rohm still had one friggin Pit Pass left

And had been on-set for about twelve hours, is what I remember reading.

[PYLdude]

Rahim Oberholzer broke the record under the old format.

[TLEberle]

Rahim Oberholzer broke the record under the old format.

And Dave Legler won his sixth game four days after Curtis Warren was given a million dollar gift. $25k for a single game was still a whole lot of scratch.

It was a noxious arms race that made a few people fabulously wealthy.

[Loogaroo]

This might just be the OCD in me, but I never liked how the first game under Twenty One's new payout ladder was $25K. Why? Because it was the only place in the entire show that gave away an increment of $5K when everything else was in $10Ks. So whenever a champ got dethroned, they'd wheel out the cash money winnings... and there was that $5,000 mini-stack flapping around with nothing to pair it up with.

[Kevin Prather]

This might just be the OCD in me, but I never liked how the first game under Twenty One's new payout ladder was $25K. Why? Because it was the only place in the entire show that gave away an increment of $5K when everything else was in $10Ks. So whenever a champ got dethroned, they'd wheel out the cash money winnings... and there was that $5,000 mini-stack flapping around with nothing to pair it up with.

Would you have preferred a $10,000 round?

[Loogaroo]

Would you have preferred a $10,000 round?

Make the first game $20K and everything is jake.

[Matt Ottinger]

Would you have preferred a $10,000 round?

Make the first game $20K and everything is jake.

But see, then MY OCD kicks in and wonders why the first round isn't $25K, because it's a far more common game show prize and logically doubles to $50K and then again to $100K.

[TLEberle]

I'll admit that the "extra" $5,000 always bugged me as well. With the assumption that the show existed to win the game show winnings arms race, two options are to increase the prize for winning the game by $25,000 each time, or to go 25-50-75-100k, and each further win worth $100,000.

If it was me in charge and the object was to focus on a compelling game show and not on figures that are fun to say and represent with massive piles of money, each win would be worth $25,000. The bonus game would have six questions that add to $21,000, and then a much harder question in the same category that turns those thousands into ten thousands.

[Kevin Prather]

The bonus game would have six questions that add to $21,000, and then a much harder question in the same category that turns those thousands into ten thousands.

That's a great fix. Risking $15,000 for $6,000 more isn't quite as foolish as risking $150,000 for $60,000 more, especially if there's a 10x multiplier lying ahead.

[TLEberle]

That's a great fix. Risking $15,000 for $6,000 more isn't quite as foolish as risking $150,000 for $60,000 more, especially if there's a 10x multiplier lying ahead.

I beg your pardon; I didn't mention it but there would be no risk. Think of it like the Body Language Sweepstakes: pile up money in the first half and either keep it or multiply it in the second.