ABC Millionaire Coming Back

[TimK2003]

[quote name=\'goongas\' date=\'Jan 26 2004, 06:55 PM\']
"The later start time may cost ABC a large family audience; one of the game's early appeals was as a show parents and children could watch together. "
 [/quote]
 Perhaps ABC may consider/is considering re-airing the Millionaire episode on ABC Family on a different day at a more family-friendly time.

[TimK2003]

[quote name=\'cyberjoek\' date=\'Jan 26 2004, 02:42 PM\'] 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 :-)
 [/quote]
 Just as long as Millionaire doesn't pull a Fremantle and use a "Clip Chip" as one of the lifelines, ala the recent disaster formerly known as Card Sharks...

...Or a "'Live' Travel Trivia" question about the prior day's episode, like on Regis & Kelly.

[goongas]

Perhaps ABC may consider/is considering re-airing the Millionaire episode on ABC Family on a different day at a more family-friendly time.

If ABC Family can reair The Bachelor, they sure could reair Super Millionaire.  If they did an XYZ or popup edition, they would be even better.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'goongas\' date=\'Jan 26 2004, 05:07 PM\'] Legally, they have to change the name of the show if the rules differ too much from the original, like Super Greed instead of Greed. [/quote]
 Huh? Or else they infringe on the rights of.....themselves?

I think you need to brush up on your copyright law.

[goongas]

According to Steve Beverly, it is a FCC regulation.  I will try and find it.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'goongas\' date=\'Jan 26 2004, 07:21 PM\'] According to Steve Beverly, it is a FCC regulation.  I will try and find it. [/quote]
 Oh, well, yes, The Perfesser, of course, how could I have doubted you even for a second?

Two words: Card Sharks. Not even freakin' CLOSE.

[PeterMarshallFan]

[quote name=\'goongas\' date=\'Jan 26 2004, 10:21 PM\'] According to Steve Beverly [/quote]
 I think that will possibly make Chris doubt you more. ;-)

[goongas]

http://www.tvgameshows.net/faqjune.htm

"No, though the Paschal English elimination, which we commented on in a column, angered an awful lot of viewers and not just in his home regions of Atlanta and Columbus. Including the locale in the title of each Survivor game after the original makes each one a different program under FCC regulations. So, even if I or other viewers don't like it, Mark Burnett is free to alter his rules each time, as long as the show's title is changed. This was why when Greed changed its plateau structure for the May 2000 sweeps to eliminate the $500,000 level and add a $4 million peak, the show's title was temporarily changed to Super Greed. The change in the prize alignment potentially did alter player decision strategies."

[Matt Ottinger]

[quote name=\'Speedy G\' date=\'Jan 26 2004, 08:11 PM\'] If they're going to be on for five nights, isn't it rather dumb to avoid every single popular show on the air?  You can't just dodge every single show on TV that gets ratings in the hopes that yours are better... or can you?
 [/quote]
 Part of getting ratings is watching out for other shows that might draw an audience similar to yours.  And it's not as though they're hopscotching around the grids to avoid every popular show.  They have good reasons for airing at 10pm, and AMONG those reasons is the fact that other popular reality shows air earlier in the evening.  No big deal really.  It's smart scheduling, and as Weather Matt said, it could significantly help the local affiliates' 11pm newscasts.

[Timsterino]

[quote name=\'Sues Z\' date=\'Jan 26 2004, 05:49 PM\'] Aren't there still some primetime shows from the original run that never got aired? [/quote]
 No, all of the original shows were aired.

[Kevin Prather]

[quote name=\'goongas\' date=\'Jan 26 2004, 07:28 PM\'] http://www.tvgameshows.net/faqjune.htm

"No, though the Paschal English elimination, which we commented on in a column, angered an awful lot of viewers and not just in his home regions of Atlanta and Columbus. Including the locale in the title of each Survivor game after the original makes each one a different program under FCC regulations. So, even if I or other viewers don't like it, Mark Burnett is free to alter his rules each time, as long as the show's title is changed. This was why when Greed changed its plateau structure for the May 2000 sweeps to eliminate the $500,000 level and add a $4 million peak, the show's title was temporarily changed to Super Greed. The change in the prize alignment potentially did alter player decision strategies." [/quote]
 Also evidence by them changing "Greed" to "Greed: The Series" after capping the top prize at $2 million, versus adding $50,000 every round.

[Timsterino]

[quote name=\'pyrawoman\' date=\'Jan 26 2004, 07:09 PM\'] Pardon me if these things were already clarified above or at some other time, but I have a few questions:

1) Does anyone know for sure if SuperMillionaire is going to use the Fastest Finger or not? I didn't see it mentioned in the article linked to at the start of this thread, but the Prof says it will have FF. (Although I think he only references the NYtimes article.)

2) Does anyone know how to become a contestant for this show? I went to ABC.com and they said the auditions are open, but the link they give only goes to the syndicated version and says the auditions are closed.

3) If they do use the Fastest Finger, does anyone know if that counts and an official "game show appearance" , as far as getting on other game shows go, if you don't actually make it into the hot seat?

Just wondering about these things. [/quote]
 1) Yes, they are using the Fastest Finger. The official press release says so.

2) We do not know yet.

3) It will probably be looked at as it was in the ol' prime time days. For Millionaire purposes, it only counted if you make the hotseat. But, it also depends on each individual show. I think other shows may consider an ROF appearance a Game Show appearance. I dunno.

[Timsterino]

[quote name=\'ChuckNet\' date=\'Jan 26 2004, 07:54 PM\']

There are still people in the syndicated contestant pool. Since taping has ended for this season on the syndicated show, they may tap into that contestant database.

I still say the phone game's the best way...brought in players who knew how to play the game and often left w/at least $32K.

Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby") [/quote]
I still say that argument is ridiculous. How is a three round set of questions more superior then a 30 question test? That argument never made any sense to me.

Tim :-)

[Matt Ottinger]

[quote name=\'goongas\' date=\'Jan 26 2004, 10:28 PM\'] Including the locale in the title of each Survivor game after the original makes each one a different program under FCC regulations. So, even if I or other viewers don't like it, Mark Burnett is free to alter his rules each time, as long as the show's title is changed. This was why when Greed changed its plateau structure for the May 2000 sweeps to eliminate the $500,000 level and add a $4 million peak, the show's title was temporarily changed to Super Greed. The change in the prize alignment potentially did alter player decision strategies. [/quote]
 I believe this is more speculation and extrapolation on Steve's part than it is about any actual FCC rule.  Wheel of Fortune makes changes to the features of its game all the time.   Hollywood Squares had a different bonus game just about every season.  TPIR adds new games every year.  Jeopardy doubled its dollar values.  None of these shows had to change their names.

Survivor WANTS you to think of every season as a different series, so adding the location to the title is a part of marketing the show.  It might very well be accurate to say that this makes it a new series according to the FCC, but Burnett would have been free to make changes to his show regardless.  

Likewise, ABC will call this super-powered prime time show Super Millionaire simply to distinguish itself from the syndicated version, or for that matter the GSN reruns of the original.

[goongas]

Forgive me, I should know better, or shows don't want to follow rules, I don't know.  The FCC is more interested in network cursing than game shows right now anyhow.