Millionaire: Jeremy’s Big Win

This past Wednesday’s episode of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? was a pretty good example of a game show that’s still got it after all these years. Jeremy Blais from Matunuck, RI walked away from the show with one of the biggest amounts of money that could be won.

What really had me enjoying this ride was the raw, genuine emotion from everyone involved. From Jeremy himself, to his family, the rest of the audience, and of course Meredith helped out with her method of hosting. And Jeremy was a really knowledgeable, and in some cases, lucky, contestant.

As more and more of these new primetime high jackpot game shows evolve, I’ve grown more and more sick of the constant overdramatic atmospheres. The obnoxious contestants who are seemingly booked for the sake of being obnoxious, the gimmicks, the ridiculous commercial tosses, which are supposed to add to the suspense, but in actually just ruin any suspense that was there to begin with (I’m talking to you, Who’s Still Standing!). I could go on.

Well, considering this is Millionaire, there was none of that here. Even with my issues with the questions being shuffled, the series proves that it can still put on a high-stakes event properly. Millionaire was one of the first game shows to have the flashing lights, the heart pounding music and the dark studio, and for the most part, at least in this country, they’ve been one of the only ones to put out the proper amount of dark intensity and feeling and still have it pay off in the end.

This was also the perfect balance of levity within the drama. Take for example when Jeremy accidentally high-fived Meredith too hard, and Meredith had me on pins and needles as she did everyone else when Jeremy guessed “Pizza” as the answer to the $250,000 question.

Some people might be wondering, especially since it‘s been quite a while since we‘ve had a top prize winner here, “What’s the big deal? People get up to the second tier somewhat often.“ It’s true, that does happen. And, well, no, Jeremy might not have made it to the top. But $250,000 is a great accomplishment and it was a very entertaining half-hour.

Millionaire: Season Premiere

The biggest thing I noticed is that, well, as far as I'm concerned, the show pretty much resembles the copycats that came out after Millionaire instead of Millionaire now. I'm not a fan of the questions being randomized. I think that bothers me more than any of the cosmetic changes would have.

The music I don't have too much a problem with after listening to it in action, both on the show and on the show's website when playing the online game. It's got a dramatic element; my TV speakers thumped like crazy to the sound of the question cues, particularly when the "heartbeat" part of the cues played.

I have my issues with the format changes, but Meredith is still at her best as a host. Over the years I've looked forward to seeing her emcee Millionaire, and from this aspect of it all, that hasn't changed one bit. She is still bringing her "A" game as far as I'm concerned.

WWTBAM: Tournament of Ten

Well it’s finally over! The Who Wants to be a Millionaire? two-week Tournament of Ten finished yesterday and we have our first winner in a little over 6 years! Congratulations, Sam Murray!

What really amazed me is how many contestants actually guessed right on the million dollar question after walking away. But in all honesty, I don’t really blame any of them for leaving. I always feel that if I were playing and I didn’t know the answer, that it’d be time to go. Especially in this case since it’s not like the regular play where contestants would usually have at least one lifeline to use during the question. And I'm sure if any of them saw Ken Basin lose back in August, they surely didn't want to see the same thing happen to them if they were wrong.

There were some really fun moments with this tournament, aside from the win itself, one of the most entertaining moments had to have been with Keilani Goggins with her presidential question. Tim Janus also had a great moment when he faked Meredith out when it came to being able to answer the question. As much as I love her on this show, I know the contestants sweat bullets in part to her “trickster” method in seeing if the answer‘s right or not. At the end, Jehan Shamsid-Deen scared the living daylights out of me as the timer dwindled down to practically nothing before leaving.

This was a lot of great fun and I hope the show does this again sometime.

GSN: Weekend Schedule Change

Weekends, effective November 28th, changes listed only:

9:00 am Hollywood Squares (Bergeron, SYN 1998-2004; replaces Match Game (SYN 1979-82))
9:30 am Whammy! (GSN 2002-03; replaces Password Plus (NBC 1979-82))
10:00 AM: Chain Reaction (GSN 2006; replaces Super Password (NBC 1984-89))
10:30 AM: Family Feud (O'Hurley, 2006-present; replaces Dawson Feud)
11:00 AM: Newlywed Game (with Carnie Wilson, replaces Whammy!)
11:30 AM: Catch 21 (replaces Chain Reaction)
12:00 PM: 1 vs. 100 (replaces Meredith‘s Millionaire & Bergeron’s Squares)
1:00 PM: Deal or No Deal (replaces 1 vs. 100)
3:00 AM: Catch 21 (replaces Dawson Feud (SYN 1977-85))
3:30 AM: Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (Vieira, 2002-present, replaces Password (CBS 1962-67))

Blech. So much blech. What an awful schedule. Seriously. I love Hollywood Squares and Meredith’s Millionaire, but there’s no redeemable qualities with these changes at all. None whatsoever. They couldn’t get a couple shows out of the vault?

Whammy! continues to be run into the ground. Deal or No Deal will be seen *FIVE* times on Saturday. And knowing now much it airs on the weekdays… this is just way too much of one show. And I thought the Thanksgiving marathon was overkill. You know, I remember there was a time period from about 4 years ago to now, there’d be a few schedule changes where there’d be something that would happen that I wouldn’t like, but in spite of the negative feelings, there much more of the schedule’s changes would be positive and I’d find myself enjoying more of the channel. This is not the case anymore. Right now there’s 3, if not 4 shows that I can sit down and enjoy on a daily basis. No variety is really to be had at all now. We have the same shows with limited runs seen over and over again. The only Goodson-Todman classics left now are Match Game, Family Feud, and the original Password. It makes me dread the possibilities of future weekday schedules.

Hell, even with the reality garbage that came along, there were more classics than this in 2004.

Millionaire: Season Premiere

I cannot believe it has been eight years already since this version debuted. It took a little bit of time, but soon enough I really began to love Meredith on the show and I love her spirit as well as personal rapports with the contestants.

As for the millionaire tournament structure? There’s a part of me that sees this as pure gimmick. But at the same time, I understand completely why this was devised. I mean, let’s face it, it’s been 6 years since there has been a million dollar winner. We’ve gotten close a few times after Nancy Christy’s win, but no cigar. It’s also not like it was something unnecessary that was just thrown out of thin air. It seems to be very well thought out. And if it guarantees a winner, then I am all for it.

WWTBAM Primetime Finale: "You Just Lost A Lot of Money"

Um, well... wow.

Well, it actually happened. Someone actually lost the million dollar question, and also $475,000. It’s actually pretty interesting from my side, because all last week I was wondering if this would ever happen here. I’ve read that it’s happened in other countries, especially in Japan, but I always wondered if someone would ever take such a blind risk here in America. With the question, I was constantly going back and forth between A and C. But I always say with this show, if you don’t have any positive idea on what the answer is and there’s no shot at real help… yeah, time to say goodbye. I would have taken my $500,000 and gotten my tail the hell out of there. Sure, he had a lifeline left, but Ask The Audience is really designed for pop culture-type questions, and for many of the ones early on in the game like with the one featuring Betty White and The Proposal; not really for big stumpers like LBJ and his favorite beverages.

I’ve also thought about being a contestant on this show, and as much as I want a million dollar winner, there is no way I would be so daring with the top question. There is just no way. Especially in this economy. I have always disagreed with the “I came with nothing, I’ll leave with nothing” philosophy in game show land. Well, he didn’t leave with nothing, but a similar type of thinking and risk taking was evidently going through his head. Talk about depressing. When I heard there was a "million dollar moment" coming, I was really hoping that said moment would involve confetti. As depressing as it was, he did display his cocky side. I thought even more so than John Carpenter. But, hey, at least John knew what he was doing when he answered the million dollar question.

Meredith saved the night though. It made perfect sense to go out with this particular celebrity guest, and who’d have guessed they’d switch things up?

Definitely one of the most memorable game show finales I’ve seen, that’s for sure.

Online Pick of the Week (8/14): Super Millionaire

During all the latest Millionaire hoopla, I thought I’d watch a couple episodes of the last ABC primetime version of the show, Who Wants to Be a Super Millionaire?, where the top prize was worth a whopping $10,000,000!

I really liked this version. Again, like with any other version he‘s done, Regis is right on top with his vigor, energy and passion for the contestants. This was evident within the first five minutes alone. There were also the other new aspects of the show that I liked. I loved the Three Wise Men lifeline. And Double Dip added another new twist. Interestingly enough, no one tried it the way it could have worked, with 50:50. You could have easily tried 50:50 and then Double Dip, leading to a no-lose situation. I wonder why that isn’t the case anymore on current versions of the show.

There were also a few really memorable moments. Who can forget Todd Kim, or as Regis would call him, “The Kimmer,” trying to figure out which show featured the first ever condom commercial, Robert “Bob-O” Essig playing, or a nervous Dede Bradley calling Regis “dude.”

I think what really made it enjoyable besides the new lifelines is that in spite of all the changes made, the show still focused well on the contestants and the question material.

The clip chosen is from the second show, where Bob-O plays the million dollar question. Super Millionaire, my online pick of the week!

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? 10th Anniversary Special Debut: Review

It’s really hard to believe this show is ten years old now. After a five year absence of primetime Millionaire, the show made its big return tonight!

Regis is as energetic as ever. It’s as if it’s night one of Millionaire in 1999 all over again. I loved the amount of energy tonight in the studio. It’s perfect for the show’s first time back at night in five years. I also enjoyed how the show’s opening spanned through all of the different eras.
I like how the new graphics for the show are well incorporated with the nighttime staples, like fastest finger. I also am glad to see Ask the Expert.

I’m not surprised that the timer was added within the show. And as with the daytime version, the timer itself I still don’t have much of a problem with, however, I really can’t stand the fact that the timer starts as the answers are being read. And it’s an even bigger problem with a host like Regis who likes to mingle a bit more with the contestants. With one of the earlier questions in the show, the contestant nearly ran out of time. The timer shouldn’t start until after all the possible answers are already read. I was worried that the timer aspect may affect the nighttime show in a negative way, because as mentioned, Regis likes to mingle. But my fears seem to be unfounded. Not a problem when it comes to that.

I was and still am a bit skeptical about the celebrity question at first. As much as I love the idea of Vanessa Williams appearing on night 2, celebrities on every episode was one of the things that killed it in 2002. But the good thing here is that they’re not on every episode all show.

Still, all around good show tonight and I am looking forward to future installments.

Primetime Millionaire Returns In August

I am really excited about this. I’ve always felt ABC was incredibly stupid at some points in handling this show. For one thing, it was stupid to air the show up to three nights a week. It was stupid to have frequent all-star episodes. All it did was turn viewers off. And then several years back, I remember hearing that they let the Millionaire contract lapse and I thought this was also nothing other than incredibly stupid. But now they’ve finally done something right!

According to what’s known, Millionaire will contain a format based on the original version combined with elements of the new format used in current first-run syndication. It’ll be interesting to see which elements are added. I wonder if they’ll use the time limit. Or if they’ll use the Ask the Expert lifeline.

And what’s more, Regis will be back! I love Meredith to death, but with her demanding schedule, it’d be pretty impossible for her to host the nighttime show. And it only makes sense for Regis to come back to the nighttime show. I hope this does not mean that Million Dollar Password is definitely dead, but sadly I wouldn’t be surprised if it was. It was pulled and never talked about again.

But back to Millionaire. It’s coming back! And so is Regis! Yes!

GSN: January Schedule Changes

Beginning the week of January 5th. Changes listed only:

WEEKDAYS:
9:30 am Card Sharks (CBS 1986-89; replaces Tic Tac Dough)
12:00 am Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? (ABC 1999-2002; replaces Millionaire, Syndie (2002- Present))
1:00 am Wheel of Fortune (syndie 1994-95 season, replaces That’s The Question)
1:30 am Jeopardy! (syndie 2004-05 season, replaces Camouflage)
2:00 am Family Feud (syndie 2006-present version with O’Hurley, replaces Beat the Clock (CBS 1979-80))
2:30 am Match Game (CBS 1973-79, replaces Now You See It (CBS 1974-75))

WEEKENDS:
10:00 am Blockbusters (NBC 1987, replaces the 1980-82 version)

I’m not really that disappointed about Tic Tac Dough leaving because at least they ran through all the episodes they leased. And I do think Card Sharks with Bob Eubanks does deserve a spot on the weekday schedule, but I’m not liking it too much that they’re starting over with episode 1. That will make it the third time already that they’re in some form rewinding the show back to the beginning after not getting at least half-way through with another cycle of the show.
As much as I prefer Cullen’s Blockbusters over the Bill Rafferty version, Cullen’s version has aired a lot over the past few years and I think it deserves a bit of a break from the schedule. The Rafferty era hasn’t been seen in a while and a weekend timeslot is perfect for it considering the amount of episodes it had.

However, I am disappointed about Beat the Clock and Now You See It leaving. All I wanted to see were 4 more episodes of Beat the Clock from the finale week, and Now You See It would have gotten up to the series finale next month anyway. Couldn’t they have just waited until all the available episodes were shown at least once before pulling both shows, or at least move Now You See It to 2 am?

And what’s replacing these shows at night I find to be pretty disappointing. I was never a big fan of That’s The Question or Camouflage, and I love seeing Wheel of Fortune, but with it and Jeopardy!, seriously, I thought we were through with this repeating of the same episodes of shows a day. I realize that people can’t see/record these shows on GSN during the day, but I like the idea of having a bit of a bigger variety of shows. And the Match Game replacement for Now You See It I also find to be kind of a letdown since it’ll be late ‘74-’75 episodes again. This would have been a great time to get out something like PM or the 1990 version, which we haven’t seen in a while. And I could do without an extra Feud airing.

Syndie Millionaire: Season Premiere

The start of the seventh season on daytime syndicated Millionaire saw some new changes to the show, as pointed out recently during the summer.

There are the changes to the graphics and music. Also the addition of the two lifelines Double Dip from Super Millionaire and Ask The Expert. The potential topics from questions are now shown, and we can’t forget that dreaded clock. It’s pretty interesting seeing these changes play out.

I must say, it’s not the clock I have a problem with. The clock helps add suspense. But I do think that the clock should not start until after all of the possible answers have been read. That just sounds more fair to me.

Nothing much to say about Double Dip. It’s done the exact same way as it was on Super. I really like the Ask The Expert lifeline. I can’t say I’m going to miss 50:50 all that much and I never really liked Switch the Question.

The graphics take a bit of getting used to pretty much for the fact that they‘re brand-new, but in watching the episode again, I really don’t mind them at all. While they are obviously different, they still help keep the feeling of the show. Same with the music and the ticking embedded in it obviously fits with the new addition of the clock.

Meredith’s still herself, which is good. I do love her on this show.

Syndie Millionaire: Official Changes for this Season

Awhile back I posted about the rumored changes for the syndie version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire?. Well now, here’s the real deal; this season we’ll see the following additions and changes:

- Lifelines: Say goodbye to the 50/50 and Switch the Question lifelines; they are being retired. In their place will be what was originally rumored: Double Dip from Super Millionaire, and Ask the Expert (which pretty much just seems to be Three Wise Men from the Super era, minus two).

I’m actually excited about these changes, especially the Ask The Expert. And to be quite honest, I never really liked Switch the Question.

- Time Limits: The time limits are a-comin’, and since this version according to a somewhat recently aired GSN documentary featured the show already does have one, these are going to apparently be much more strict. The first five questions will have 15 seconds per question, 30 seconds for the next five, 45 seconds for questions 11-14, and for the million dollar question you get 45 minutes plus any remaning time for previous questions.

I was iffy about this at first, but at the same time, it does get a bit irksome waiting and waiting for a question to be answered. And the time limits do sound fair to me. For instance, in many cases, contestants answer the first five questions in even less than 15 seconds.

- Graphics/Music: A few minor changes will be had too; I’m kind of liking the new graphic here, but I’m curious about the other possible new ones. There’s apparently new music added as well.

Granted, I don’t work behind the scenes, but I have the feeling there won’t be too many changes with that, or at least any new music probably won‘t abandon the feel of the show. Hopefully these changes will be good ones also.

Syndie Millionaire: Rumored Changes

The rumor mill’s a-turnin’ with daytime syndie Millionaire. For the most part, no real big changes. And I notice that a lot of them are elements from Super Millionaire.

Double Dip - I had to dig out an episode of Super Millionaire so I could refresh my memory as to how this works. Basically the contestant gets two shots at answering a question. I can easily see that working. I’m pretty positive that they’d have Double Dip in the higher question range just like on Super Millionaire. And this could be a good way to help contestants play the game a bit longer.

New Lifeline: Ask the Expert - I’m imagining that this is similar to Super Millionaire’s Three Wise Men, sans two people. I loved this lifeline (and not just for the music cue), so if it does come to fruition I’m interested in seeing this play out.

Subjects from Upcoming Questions Revealed - This will obviously seem to help determine whether a player will walk away or continue the game. I just realized this would be a bit redundant; reason being, whenever it’s time for a new question, it’s read and the four possible answers are shown and the contestant already knows what’s been asked. The only difference is that when a question is read, it’s a bit more specific. And knowing what the question also determines whether or not a player will choose to leave.

Time Limit - I’m wondering how a real time limit on this show would work. And there’s also the fact that on the GSN documentary Game Show Hall of Fame: Who Wants to be a Millionaire, it was noted that this version already has some form of time limit. How much shorter could they make it? I’m surprised it’s that big an issue, since the show is shot on tape.