Who wants to be a Millionare...

[Mole 0]

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," the most successful game show in the history of prime-time television until ABC burned through its popularity by overexposing it, will return next month, complete with Regis Philbin, the hot seat, the lifelines and the steady progression of cash prizes.

 

ABC is expected to announce today the comeback of "Millionaire," not as a weekly series but as a one-week burst of one-hour shows in the last week of February. This time the show will be called "Super Millionaire," and to distinguish itself from the common reality show prize of $1 million, the top payout will grow to $10 million. If the show is successful, ABC may bring it back for one-week runs as many as three times a year.

 

But a "Millionaire" revival faces a number of obstacles. When it made its debut in 1999, "Millionaire" was the first entrant in the broadcast network trend toward unscripted shows in prime time. Now it enters a television landscape crowded with reality shows, many of them with gimmicks far more outrageous than the question-and-answer format of "Millionaire." And the show will have to re-establish its appeal to viewers, many of whom abandoned it when ABC began showing it on multiple nights every week of the year. ABC executives, however, expressed confidence that the fundamental appeal of the show was undiminished, even though it has not been on a network since 2002.

 

"The time just seemed right," said Lloyd Braun, chairman of ABC Entertainment, pointing to the growing success of the syndicated daytime version of "Millionaire," as well as to the network's research, which found viewers were still fond of the show. Mr. Braun emphasized that ABC had no intention of repeating its previous scheduling mistakes. "If it works," he said, "we are going to have a great deal of discipline with how we program the show, basically as a sweeps event that we run two or three times a year."

 

To try to create an event, ABC will go back to the original schedule plan in effect when the show first came over from Britain: one short burst over several nights during one week. The new "Millionaire" will start on Sunday night, Feb. 22 at 9. It will then play that week on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday nights at 10.

 

Mr. Braun said ABC considered three elements crucial to bringing the show back. "It had to be done in its original event form," he said. "We had to have Regis. And we had to freshen the format."

 

Also returning will be the show's executive producer, Michael Davies, who has always maintained that "Millionaire" worked best as an occasional entry. Mr. Davies and Mr. Braun jointly called Mr. Philbin last week. "He was a bit shocked," Mr. Davies said. "I think he thought we were pranking him. But he was totally enthusiastic." Mr. Philbin, the co-host of the morning show "Live With Regis and Kelly," could not be reached for comment.

 

The biggest format change of course involves the ultimate prize. "When `Millionaire' first came on, playing for a million dollars was revolutionary — never done before," Mr. Braun said. "Now winning a million is all over television. It's lost the wow factor."

 

Mr. Braun likened Mr. Davies's new format to the structure of a video game, in which players get to advance to higher levels if successful. As with many video games, the additional levels will be characterized by different graphics, colors and music. But instead of the new lives granted to a successful combatant in a video game, players on "Millionaire" will get extra lifelines, an important part of the original game.

 

In the original "Millionaire" contestants were allowed three lifelines to help them answer questions, including calling a friend. The new game will add three more, but only when a contestant reaches a second level. Mr. Davies said the details of the lifeline format would be revealed later.

 

In the new "Millionaire" all the dollar figures will be expanded tenfold. Players will eventually be asked questions worth $2.5 million, then $5 million and ultimately $10 million. Any question they miss at these elevated figures will result in the loss of all the money they made in the second level, although they will not have to relinquish their Round 1 earnings.

 

Wow, ABC must be hurting to bring this back.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

Except for MNF and any sports that they might have, I dont watch anything on ABC. I couldn't even tell you whats on each night on ABC.

 

Now, as for bringing back WWTBAM?..I'll probably watch it because I enjoyed the show, but its not going to do that well, even with the big $10 million prize. I also don't know why they would be putting it on at 10pm..

[1234-5678 0]

"The time just seemed right," said Lloyd Braun, chairman of ABC Entertainment, pointing to the growing success of the syndicated daytime version of "Millionaire," as well as to the network's research, which found viewers were still fond of the show. Mr. Braun emphasized that ABC had no intention of repeating its previous scheduling mistakes. "If it works," he said, "we are going to have a great deal of discipline with how we program the show, basically as a sweeps event that we run two or three times a year."

Lloyd Braun is out of the nuthouse again?

[Guest Krazy Karter]

The one celebrity week where Norm McDonald was on the last 2 days and had Kato Kaelin in the audience supporting him was GOLD.

 

Regis: Norm, for $1,000,000 is that your final answer?

Norm: You're trying to trick me, aren't you?

Regis: What do you mean?

Norm: When you give that tone of voice, that usually means you're lying

Regis: If you say so Norm

Norm: I'll go with B

Regis: Is that your final answer?

Norm: See, there you go again

Regis: Is that your final answer?

Norm: I'll go with A - Final answer

Regis: .....I'm sorry Norm, the answer was B

 

Norm throws up his hands and gives this "What the fuck?" expression that was PRICELESS.

[Lando Griffin 0]

That's not what happened. Norm walked away with $500,000 and his original guess was right.

[Guest Krazy Karter]

That's not what happened. Norm walked away with $500,000 and his original guess was right.

well, I was on the right track

[CanadianChris 0]

Except for MNF and any sports that they might have, I dont watch anything on ABC. I couldn't even tell you whats on each night on ABC.

 

Now, as for bringing back WWTBAM?..I'll probably watch it because I enjoyed the show, but its not going to do that well, even with the big $10 million prize. I also don't know why they would be putting it on at 10pm..

I've been boycotting ABC since they cancelled Sports Night and The Job back to back. I see nothing here that will change that.

[Placebo Effect 0]

ABC really has nothing that I watch, and that's surprising to me. Less Than Perfect earns an occasional watch, just because of Andy Dick, Will Sasso, and Eric Roberts. When it was on, I'd watch the Dragnet reruns on USA, but other than that, everything sucks...

 

But as far as Millionaire goes, meh, they've got February sweeps coming up, don't they? Either that, or I'm just nuts.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

I don't understand whey they're showing it in "blocks." Over-saturation was what killed it the first time...

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

So will the show end up having a contestant win $1,000,000 but then have to pay a shit load of taxes and it's all caught on camera and the contestant gets mad and Regis pops up and says "YOU GOT PUNK'D!"

 

Or how about Fake Contestants used to fool Regis?

 

RRR: Trying to find the "hook".

[Red Baron 0]

I also don't know why they would be putting it on at 10pm..

A good logical reason is that most reality TV Shows are over around 10, thus not really competing against Reality TV, American Idol, or any major sports games