Who wants to be a millionaire?

[davemackey]

Brief observation: the second syndicated season of "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" is over and there were no $500,000 or $1,000,000 winners this season.... after all that to-do was made about winners of those amounts being paid annuities rather than a lump sum.

[Jimmy Owen]

I'll put this on the table for discussion.  Why not have a minimum of three contestants per day at different plateaus and have each one answer four questions or so and come back the next day?  Sorta like they did on the old $64KQ.  One could be going for the million, one just starting out, one in the middle, etc.

[dscungio]

I think it would be a continuity problem for viewers.  People are used to seeing one person at a time sit in the Hot Seat and then play until he or she walks or loses.  If you jumped from contestant to contestant, then the viewers will be confused, wondering "Why's he leaving now?"  Also, they'd have to keep track of three or more players at once.  It's too much for the average viewer.

I'm assuming this is what you're proposing: Player A comes in and answers five questions for $1,000.  Then they say, "OK, go in the back and take a break while we bring out Player B."  Player B comes in to answer his or her first five questions.  Viewers at home would now be wondering why Player A is gone.  Is he leaving the game with $1,000?  Is he done?  Does he get more questions?  He was on a roll...

I also realize that time is an issue.  The players have an unlimited amount of time to think.  Someone's five-minute deliberation on a $64,000 question would bump the airtime of someone else who is waiting to play for $2,000.  "Your turn--Oh, we're out of time."




-Dean

[davemackey]

"Millionaire" lends itself to a more linear approach - one contestant at a time. Plus, the way the syndicated show is structured now, they're now cycling through roughly 2 or 3 contestants per show anyway. You don't like who's in the Hot Seat? Come back in 10 minutes, because there'll be someone else there.

[Jimmy Owen]

[quote name=\'davemackey\' date=\'Jul 24 2004, 09:41 AM\'] "Millionaire" lends itself to a more linear approach - one contestant at a time. Plus, the way the syndicated show is structured now, they're now cycling through roughly 2 or 3 contestants per show anyway. You don't like who's in the Hot Seat? Come back in 10 minutes, because there'll be someone else there. [/quote]
 Yeah, but they're only going for a thousand.

[GS Warehouse]

[quote name=\'Jimmy Owen\' date=\'Jul 24 2004, 07:17 AM\'] I'll put this on the table for discussion.  Why not have a minimum of three contestants per day at different plateaus and have each one answer four questions or so and come back the next day?  Sorta like they did on the old $64KQ.  One could be going for the million, one just starting out, one in the middle, etc. [/quote]
 I had a similar proposal for a $ale of the Century revival some time back.  I cited two reasons for this format: so the episodes can be aired out of order and to hold the really big wins for sweeps months.  The board shot it down like a one-winged duck for the same reasons cited above.

[Ian Wallis]

I'll put this on the table for discussion. Why not have a minimum of three contestants per day at different plateaus and have each one answer four questions or so and come back the next day? Sorta like they did on the old $64KQ. One could be going for the million, one just starting out, one in the middle, etc.

This is something they could probably do very easily - since the show isn't aired in order anyway, they could edit it so there are contestants at several different levels.  

My question though:  why change something if it isn't broken?  "Millionaire's" ratings are up this season, so I think it would throw things off too much if the format were suddenly changed after five years.  I guess I'd vote to leave things the way they are.

Also, I'm not overly upset nobody won the big money this season.  It seems like $1 million is given away on TV quite frequently these days - it should be hard to win, and it just proves that it's a tough game.

[bandit_bobby]

Hey, it's not my fault Jeporady! has really kicked Millionaire's butts for the past two months or so. They've given away about three times as much money as WWTBAM since Ken Jennings first appeared in early June. This shows we just can't be that reliant on Sweeps Periods to give away the really big bucks/prizes now.

[uncamark]

I saw somewhere (not the Perfesser's web site, praise the lord, but I don't remember where) that they've held back two big wins that were supposed to air this month until the fall.  Don't know when, don't know who, so don't consider this a spoiler.