Super Millionaire in other countries?

[efbyon]

Curious thought...given the relative success of Super Millionaire here in the US, I would think that Celador may be considering shopping the format to other countries.  Anyone out there know whether or not this is the case?  (or will be the case?)  I would think that the UK could be next in line; just imagine how Chris Tarrant would plug "the next DIE-mension of Millionaire."    Of course, it's anyone's guess as to whether or not ITV would be willing to pony up 10 million pounds.

Speaking of whom, has Chris himself commented on the SM format publicly?

Fred Byon

[uncamark]

[quote name=\'efbyon\' date=\'Mar 4 2004, 09:22 AM\']Curious thought...given the relative success of Super Millionaire here in the US, I would think that Celador may be considering shopping the format to other countries.  Anyone out there know whether or not this is the case?  (or will be the case?)  I would think that the UK could be next in line; just imagine how Chris Tarrant would plug "the next DIE-mension of Millionaire."    Of course, it's anyone's guess as to whether or not ITV would be willing to pony up 10 million pounds.[/quote]
Celador may not call it "Super Millionaire," per se, and may not bump up the dollar amounts in other countries, but could offer the whole "next dimension" concept as a way of freshening the show in the UK and elsewhere--the ABC press releases did say that Celador had come up with the lifelines (and they may very well have been thought up in the original development plans for the show but bumped for various reasons).

[TravisP]

It might be used with the new format for the UK. Where I say "Might" is on two factors:

1) It will definatly not be for £10 Million as ITV cannot afford it, but the top prize could be set at £2 Million or perhaps £5 Million. Since Celador/ITV might not need to worry as we haven't had a £1 Million winner for 2&1/2 years while it has been 2 Years (Yes 2 whole years) when we last had a £500,000 winner, loads of £250K winners but no half-millionaires.

2) If it does go ahead the weekly show must be put on hold say a month or two as the best way of approaching is to do the weekly series as it is now from September up to December and instead of continuing with a new series leave it on hold and perhaps re-start in early February/March and use that month break of having the show stripped across say seven/ten nights in the middle of the month at the same time, 9.30pm would suit as ITV showed this before with I'm A Celebrity being stripped across two weeks at the same time slot.

[CarShark]

[quote name=\'TravisP\' date=\'Mar 4 2004, 02:59 PM\'] It might be used with the new format for the UK. Where I say "Might" is on two factors:

1) It will definatly not be for £10 Million as ITV cannot afford it, but the top prize could be set at £2 Million or perhaps £5 Million. Since Celador/ITV might not need to worry as we haven't had a £1 Million winner for 2&1/2 years while it has been 2 Years (Yes 2 whole years) when we last had a £500,000 winner, loads of £250K winners but no half-millionaires.

2) If it does go ahead the weekly show must be put on hold say a month or two as the best way of approaching is to do the weekly series as it is now from September up to December and instead of continuing with a new series leave it on hold and perhaps re-start in early February/March and use that month break of having the show stripped across say seven/ten nights in the middle of the month at the same time, 9.30pm would suit as ITV showed this before with I'm A Celebrity being stripped across two weeks at the same time slot. [/quote]
 No millionaires in the past 2+ years? Wow! They must have really amped up the difficulty level something fierce. How many millionaires have there been in England total?

[ChuckNet]

the ABC press releases did say that Celador had come up with the lifelines (and they may very well have been thought up in the original development plans for the show but bumped for various reasons).

The WWtBaM book from 1999 actually stated that one of the original lifelines under consideration was a panel of "experts" for the contestant to be in contact with.

Chuck Donegan (The Illustrious "Chuckie Baby")

[TravisP]

[quote name=\'STYDfan\' date=\'Mar 5 2004, 07:16 AM\'] No millionaires in the past 2+ years? Wow! They must have really amped up the difficulty level something fierce. How many millionaires have there been in England total? [/quote]
 Three £1 Million winners: Judith Keppell (November 2000), David Edwards (April 2001) and Robert Brydges (September 2001). While there are seven £500,000 winners the last person was Roger Walker back in February 2002 and there are LOADS of £250,000 to mention. However no couple or a celebrity has hit the £500,000 mark.

[dickoon]

[quote name=\'efbyon\' date=\'Mar 4 2004, 03:22 PM\'] Speaking of whom, has Chris himself commented on the SM format publicly? [/quote]
 I don't believe so and a quick search doesn't suggest anything.

My own view: UK Super Millionaire is probable, but not for a while. Chris Tarrant seems to be taking things a lot more easily than he used to be; he used to juggle a daily radio show and intensive daily Millionaire? for 10 days at a stretch. Perhaps he's made enough millions to retire on (it's probably not far wrong to guess conservatively at GBP 2 million per year, all told, for the last five years) and so is doing only one weekly show to keep his hand in. On top of that, Celador are starting to do Millionaire? as corporate entertainment for football clubs (Tarrant hosting!) which is a fairly strained sort of fit.

Nevertheless, we've heard mutterings a few times now that Tarrant is thinking of giving Millionaire up, though there is an argument that it has been a play for more money because ITV will be reluctant to lose a Saturday night staple when they don't have reliable Saturday night staples to the extent that they used to. Perhaps ITV and Tarrant have settled on one show per week for the foreseeable future, perhaps not.

An interesting question is whether ITV will ever want to do Millionaire as stripped event television ever again; I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here! works well as a stripped event for them, even though Survivor didn't, and their very occasional Coronation Street stripped weeks must work well too, else they would have abandoned the concept. I think the most realistic prospect for UK Super Millionaire is for Tarrant to give the show up, it to be off-air for a couple of years, then a triumphant return, probably with a new host. So UK Super Millionaire is more likely than not, but I would wildly estimate its arrival at somewhere around 2010.

Cheers!
Chris

Footnote on Tarrant riches: the Midlands Showbiz Rich List is quite interesting reading, not least for mention that Jasper Carrott and wife, who own 15% of Celador, have fallen a long way because Celador's value has fallen from GBP 300,000,000 to GBP 50,000,000. What's happened there? They haven't had any global big new hits for a while, but surely that's not enough...?

[tommycharles]

One thing I noticed very quickly when I moved to the US from the UK is that the term "Saturday Night Staple" doesn't really seem to apply to US network television. Did it used to be a big deal, or have networks over here always settled for less on Saturday nights?

[That Don Guy]

[quote name=\'tommycharles\' date=\'Mar 6 2004, 05:12 PM\']One thing I noticed very quickly when I moved to the US from the UK is that the term "Saturday Night Staple" doesn't really seem to apply to US network television. Did it used to be a big deal, or have networks over here always settled for less on Saturday nights?[/quote]
Saturday night is usually written off in the USA as the night most people go to the movies or rent a movie to watch at home.  Except for shows like Cops and America's Most Wanted, I think the closest things to "Saturday night staples" go back a couple of decades - The Love Boat and Fantasy Island, and before that The Carol Burnett Show.
Also, there was a time when every network aired a movie on Sunday night, but with the popularity of HBO and movie rentals, most of the networks have shifted to airing normal programs on Sundays - what were "Saturday night staples" are probably now "Sunday night staples".

(ObGameShows: Wasn't What's My Line? a Sunday night staple in its day?)

-- Don

[uncamark]

[quote name=\'That Don Guy\' date=\'Mar 6 2004, 10:53 PM\'][quote name=\'tommycharles\' date=\'Mar 6 2004, 05:12 PM\']One thing I noticed very quickly when I moved to the US from the UK is that the term "Saturday Night Staple" doesn't really seem to apply to US network television. Did it used to be a big deal, or have networks over here always settled for less on Saturday nights?[/quote]
Saturday night is usually written off in the USA as the night most people go to the movies or rent a movie to watch at home.  Except for shows like Cops and America's Most Wanted, I think the closest things to "Saturday night staples" go back a couple of decades - The Love Boat and Fantasy Island, and before that The Carol Burnett Show.[/quote]
Until the end of the 70s, Saturdays were a big deal on TV, going back to "Your Show of Shows" to Jackie Gleason to George Gobel.  The last Saturday night lineup to be a big deal was CBS in the 70s, with "All in the Family," "MASH" (for one year), Mary Tyler Moore, Bob Newhart and Carol Burnett.  The last big hit Saturday night show (not counting the two Fox staples) was [Ernie Anderson] "The Looooovvvvve Boat." [EA]

[zachhoran]

[quote name=\'uncamark\' date=\'Mar 6 2004, 11:41 PM\']
Until the end of the 70s, Saturdays were a big deal on TV, going back to "Your Show of Shows" to Jackie Gleason to George Gobel.  The last Saturday night lineup to be a big deal was CBS in the 70s, with "All in the Family," "MASH" (for one year), Mary Tyler Moore, Bob Newhart and Carol Burnett.  The last big hit Saturday night show (not counting the two Fox staples) was [Ernie Anderson] "The Looooovvvvve Boat." [EA] [/quote]
 I think Golden Girls finished top 10 its first two or three years, but even still, probably no bigger of a deal than Love Boat was.

[Ian Wallis]

The last Saturday night lineup to be a big deal was CBS in the 70s, with "All in the Family," "MASH" (for one year), Mary Tyler Moore, Bob Newhart and Carol Burnett.

"All in the Family", seen Saturday nights at 8 p.m., was the No. 1 rated show for five years running (1971-75).  It's estimated audience (according to TV Guide) was between 30 and 40 million.  When it was moved to Monday nights in the fall of 1975 it was no longer No. 1.

That CBS Saturday night lineup is considered one of the best of all time.  It was certainly one of the highest-rated.  But viewing patterns change over the years, as previously pointed out in this thread.