ABC Millionaire Coming Back

[zachhoran]

[quote name=\'catnap1972\' date=\'Jan 26 2004, 09:30 AM\'] [quote name=\'Timsterino\' date=\'Jan 26 2004, 12:23 AM\'] The recent British live version added the lifeline of "get rid of the current question for a new one". They could use that one and maybe another PAF or 50/50.
 [/quote]
I don't know how stupid it sounds but how about an "ask somebody on the street" lifeline? (ask somebody walking by the studio outside and see if they know it).  I can't see their allowing a second 50/50 (since you could use both on the same question and get a free answer), but another PAF might work ("do I go with what my wife said or what my brother said?") [/quote]
 Another idea would be to allow the contestant to get the advice of whomever is in the "relationship seat" for one question(though it would be a knockoff of the Second Chance from Povich 21)


If this is a hit again, perhaps WInkler and Levitt would consider resurrecting the cancelled H2 in primetime for CBS or NBC. Get Bergeron to host if he wanted to(or if they really wanted to be brave, convince Uncle Peter to come back for a weekly primetime show), play the games to time a la the 1968 primetime shows, first two games are secret square games, and have stakes similar to what they were on the syndicated show last season, or maybe a shade above that.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'catnap1972\' date=\'Jan 26 2004, 07:30 AM\'] I don't know how stupid it sounds but how about an "ask somebody on the street" lifeline? [/quote]
 "Hmm. I think I wanna use a lifeline, Reeg."

"Okay! Which one?"

"The What About That Guy? lifeline. I'd like to ask that homeless gentleman pissing in the gutter in that alley, there."

"Okay! Let's go down to the street! Sir! Sir, would you mind tucking that away? Good. This is Regis Philbin from Who! Wants To Be! A Millionaire! We have a question for you! Are you ready?"

"<burp>"

"Um, very good! Here it is...."

[BrandonFG]

[quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' date=\'Jan 26 2004, 09:05 AM\'] I"m all for bringing it back - but if this is true about $10 million prize I don't like it.  This whole thing about having multi-million dollar prizes all the time has gotten out of hand. [/quote]
 I agree. I know shows like Greed and 21 taught us that $1,000,000 is now worthless*, but a $10 mil prize is just a bit too much, and seems like a severe case of Mo Money Syndrome. I know ABC needs ratings, but this seems a little desperate. (For the record, I hated the escalating jackpot, it made me feel as if Millionaire sold out)

*I'd still take $1 million. :-P

[Neumms]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Jan 26 2004, 11:55 AM\'] "The What About That Guy? lifeline. I'd like to ask that homeless gentleman pissing in the gutter in that alley, there."

 [/quote]
 Given how obscure a $10 million question would be, you might be selling the pissing homeless guy short. Better chance of finding a Moroccan poetry expert under a bridge than in an audience at ABC.

It seems like the game is out of whack when winning $360,000 (or a million and a quarter, for that matter) would be a let down. Million dollar prizes are hardly commonplace. "Survivor" involves a 13-week elimination contest where you're gone from home, living in dirt for several months. Hell, on "Fear Factor," they're eating goat testicles for a mere $50,000.

Additional lifelines sound cool, though.

[passwordplus]

Are they running it at 9pm or 8pm? This could confuse some of the people who dont understand that the shows on GSN are RERUNS as opposed to NEW SHOWS. You'd be suprised how many fools in the GSN interactive wonder why Dharma and Greg didn't come on at 9pm :-)

They should try to keep the new and old one from running against each other since GSN has a cult following of the reruns. I am thinking that the reason we are gonna see it on ABC is the renewed popularity of the yr. 2000 eps. on GSN.

[passwordplus]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Jan 26 2004, 11:55 AM\'] [quote name=\'catnap1972\' date=\'Jan 26 2004, 07:30 AM\'] I don't know how stupid it sounds but how about an "ask somebody on the street" lifeline? [/quote]
"Hmm. I think I wanna use a lifeline, Reeg."

"Okay! Which one?"

"The What About That Guy? lifeline. I'd like to ask that homeless gentleman pissing in the gutter in that alley, there."

"Okay! Let's go down to the street! Sir! Sir, would you mind tucking that away? Good. This is Regis Philbin from Who! Wants To Be! A Millionaire! We have a question for you! Are you ready?"

"<burp>"

"Um, very good! Here it is...." [/quote]
 LMAO @ that one. You should try out for stand comedy somewhere clemon79.

[Matt Ottinger]

The New York Times article (all we have to go on at this point) is a little confusing about the structure of Super Millionaire, but it did say:

[A]ll the dollar figures will be expanded tenfold. Players will eventually be asked questions worth $2.5 million, then $5 million and ultimately $10 million.

So while we purists can bemoan the Mo' Money Syndrome all we want, this makes it look like it's going to come down to some poor schlub RISKING multi-millions to win multi-millions more.  Unless you knew an answer cold, I'm not sure how many people woud be willing to risk that kind of money, even with a VERY comfortable $320,000 cushion to land on.

[SRIV94]

[quote name=\'passwordplus\' date=\'Jan 26 2004, 11:39 AM\'] Are they running it at 9pm or 8pm? This could confuse some of the people who dont understand that the shows on GSN are RERUNS as opposed to NEW SHOWS. You'd be suprised how many fools in the GSN interactive wonder why Dharma and Greg didn't come on at 9pm :-)

They should try to keep the new and old one from running against each other since GSN has a cult following of the reruns. I am thinking that the reason we are gonna see it on ABC is the renewed popularity of the yr. 2000 eps. on GSN. [/quote]
The NYT article states that it will air 2/22/04 (Sunday) at 9PM ET, then the remaining shows that week (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday) will air at 10PM ET.

I'm a little surprised they'd displace 20/20 for WWTBAM, but c'est la vie.

And, no, I'm not surprised how many GSN interactive players wonder why DHARMA & GREG isn't on next (if the boards are any indication--some members excepted).

Doug

[inturnaround]

[quote name=\'fostergray82\' date=\'Jan 26 2004, 12:18 PM\'] [quote name=\'Ian Wallis\' date=\'Jan 26 2004, 09:05 AM\'] I"m all for bringing it back - but if this is true about $10 million prize I don't like it.  This whole thing about having multi-million dollar prizes all the time has gotten out of hand. [/quote]
I agree. I know shows like Greed and 21 taught us that $1,000,000 is now worthless*, but a $10 mil prize is just a bit too much, and seems like a severe case of Mo Money Syndrome. I know ABC needs ratings, but this seems a little desperate. (For the record, I hated the escalating jackpot, it made me feel as if Millionaire sold out)

*I'd still take $1 million. :-P [/quote]
 And I, for the record, would take the $10 mil over the $1 mil.

Look, I know there's a basic feeling that big prizes are inherently bad, but I don't share that. Sure, some shows can't be played for $10 million (Password, Match Game, Body Language), but WWTBAM is a show that can benefit from more questions and more money, IMO. C'mon...imagine the suspense that can be built on those higher tier questions.

So, don't hate the game just because of the prize. Judge the game on the game itself...and I think there might be something to adding lifelines and extending the game.

[GS Warehouse]

[quote name=\'SRIV94\' date=\'Jan 26 2004, 01:03 PM\'] I'm a little surprised they'd displace 20/20 for WWTBAM, but c'est la vie. [/quote]
Barbara plans to leave 20/20 this fall anyway, so maybe this is preparation?  Anyway, I'm kind of indifferent here.  Will we actually see a $10M question?  Don't bank of it.  Greed had lots of players more content to leave with $200K than go for $2M.  But I see one bit of scheduling shrewdness with placing all Super Millionaire shows at 10pm: since Fox does not program at that hour, they can't drop an extra American Idol or Simple Life in to face SM.  Ratingswise, Thursday will be the night of keep an eye on the most, as SM will go against ER and Without a Trace (note that SM will not oppose Law & Order on Wednesday).

[SteveRep]

[quote name=\'GS Warehouse\' date=\'Jan 26 2004, 01:53 PM\'] But I see one bit of scheduling shrewdness with placing all Super Millionaire shows at 10pm: since Fox does not program at that hour, they can't drop an extra American Idol or Simple Life in to face SM. [/quote]
Nor mini-nets UPN or WB.

I think the 10:00 scheduling is inspired.

Of course, we'll never hear the end of "How I Saved The Network .... Again!"

[cyberjoek]

Perhaps one of the new lifelines would be a "wildcard" IE: use this to be what ever of the other lifelines you would like it to be.  Also on 2 50:50s on a question: you would only be able to eliminate 2 answers ever from a question otherwise it isn't a 50:50 shot :-)
-Joe Kavanagh
I can't wait to see this :-)

[Thad Dixon]

[quote name=\'cyberjoek\' date=\'Jan 26 2004, 02:42 PM\']I can't wait to see this :-)[/quote]
Me neither.  Personally, I'm just hoping that ABC has learned not to spoil any big wins before they air this time....if we get any big wins at all, of course.

[tommycharles]

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'Jan 26 2004, 01:02 PM\'] Super Millionaire [/quote]
 Hang on just a second....did you invent that term or did the article use it and I missed it? Because calling it "Super Millionaire" just doesn't work, IMO. WWTBAM..nothing more, nothing less.

[tvwxman]

Regarding the scheduling...

As a guy who works for an ABC affiliate who knows that we desperately need help from the network to goose the 11pm newscast ratings...  I commend ABC for FINALLY listening to the affiliates and programming Millionaire in the 10pm slot...

However, one of the successes of Millionaire the first time around was due to the fact that it was a show that families could watch and play together...Davies even said that having the lower tier questions did great wonders for children's self esteem , as they played the game on the couch with loved ones...

Having Super Millionaire would be great for the 10pm slot, but I can't imagine the ratings being as strong as an 8pm show....

Hey, it's better than I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here 2.

Matt (who predicts right now that we will NOT even see a question worth $5 Million, let alone get to the $10 Million tier, if the risk is to fall all the way back to 10 Grand)