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The Game Show Forum => The Big Board => Topic started by: chad1m on June 22, 2015, 05:38:37 PM

Title: Millionaire Returns To Escalating Money Tree, Revives 50:50 For New Season
Post by: chad1m on June 22, 2015, 05:38:37 PM
Starting this fall, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire has eliminated the randomized dollar figures, returned to an escalating money tree and replaced Jump the Question with 50:50. More details have been posted in an article on my blog:

http://chadmosher.com/wordpress/millionaire-roots/

Does placing the show closer to its original form make you more likely to watch?
Title: Re: Millionaire Returns To Escalating Money Tree, Revives 50:50 For New Season
Post by: The Pyramids on June 22, 2015, 05:55:48 PM
Yes, it does.
Title: Re: Millionaire Returns To Escalating Money Tree, Revives 50:50 For New Season
Post by: brianhenke on June 22, 2015, 05:58:40 PM
  Let's face it...I never liked the randomized question values...it was not the Millionaire that we all knew and loved...
 
  So if 50-50 is coming back, what should be the third lifeline? Phone a Friend is a longshot to return, so how about bringing back Ask the Expert?

  Brian
Title: Re: Millionaire Returns To Escalating Money Tree, Revives 50:50 For New Season
Post by: PYLdude on June 22, 2015, 06:01:29 PM
Not really, because it just smacks of desperation at this point.

The Plus One was a terrible idea in practice, I found, and shouldn't have made it out of this season.

I'll still watch, but I'm disappointed. I thought the shuffle format added life to the show that adding the clock failed to do.
Title: Re: Millionaire Returns To Escalating Money Tree, Revives 50:50 For New Season
Post by: PYLdude on June 22, 2015, 06:02:06 PM
  Let's face it...I never liked the randomized question values...it was not the Millionaire that we all knew and loved...
 
  So if 50-50 is coming back, what should be the third lifeline? Phone a Friend is a longshot to return, so how about bringing back Ask the Expert?

  Brian

Why do you need to add a third lifeline to the three you already had?
Title: Re: Millionaire Returns To Escalating Money Tree, Revives 50:50 For New Season
Post by: Kevin Prather on June 22, 2015, 06:11:59 PM
  Let's face it...I never liked the randomized question values...it was not the Millionaire that we all knew and loved...
 
  So if 50-50 is coming back, what should be the third lifeline? Phone a Friend is a longshot to return, so how about bringing back Ask the Expert?

  Brian

Considering the Plus One is basically Phone a Friend Minus the Phone, I'd say the set of lifelines is pretty good.
Title: Re: Millionaire Returns To Escalating Money Tree, Revives 50:50 For New Season
Post by: WarioBarker on June 22, 2015, 07:06:10 PM
Not really, because it just smacks of desperation at this point.
This, pretty much. Say what you will about the Shuffle format, but IIRC it was devised by Jay Wolpert.

Going back to the money tree and reinstating 50:50 is pretty much saying "Hey look we've got a host who isn't a loudmouth, we've brought back the money tree with safe spots, and we're bringing back 50:50 so you can snark about it supposedly being a guy in the back screwing players over! PLEASE WATCH US WE NEED THE RATINGS SO BAD."

I'll still watch, but I'm disappointed. I thought the shuffle format added life to the show that adding the clock failed to do.
I don't think adding the Clock was supposed to do anything except keep the budget tight (didn't really work) and studio time down (did work). Agreed on the Shuffle format, though.
Title: Re: Millionaire Returns To Escalating Money Tree, Revives 50:50 For New Season
Post by: clemon79 on June 22, 2015, 09:28:20 PM
Say what you will about the Shuffle format, but IIRC it was devised by Jay Wolpert.

Um, what's this mean?
Title: Re: Millionaire Returns To Escalating Money Tree, Revives 50:50 For New Season
Post by: PYLdude on June 22, 2015, 09:37:43 PM
Say what you will about the Shuffle format, but IIRC it was devised by Jay Wolpert.

Um, what's this mean?

Or have to do with anything?

Don't really get how it ties into your overall point.
Title: Re: Millionaire Returns To Escalating Money Tree, Revives 50:50 For New Season
Post by: TLEberle on June 22, 2015, 10:38:15 PM
so how about bringing back Ask the Expert?
Yuck; Ask the Expert was piles of bad when it was someone who was more celebrity partner than expert.
Title: Re: Millionaire Returns To Escalating Money Tree, Revives 50:50 For New Season
Post by: Kevin Prather on June 23, 2015, 01:25:34 AM
so how about bringing back Ask the Expert?
Yuck; Ask the Expert was piles of bad when it was someone who was more celebrity partner than expert.

But when it was someone legit like Ken Jennings or John Carpenter, it was great.

Your point stands though. You know which way they're gonna lean.
Title: Re: Millionaire Returns To Escalating Money Tree, Revives 50:50 For New Season
Post by: weaklink75 on June 23, 2015, 03:03:37 PM
The $50K milestone for question 10 is good though - it might make more people decide to go for the 250K/500K/1M questions with the higher fallback amount in play.
Title: Re: Millionaire Returns To Escalating Money Tree, Revives 50:50 For New Season
Post by: tvmitch on June 23, 2015, 03:15:41 PM
The $50K milestone for question 10 is good though - it might make more people decide to go for the 250K/500K/1M questions with the higher fallback amount in play.
Pure idle speculation, but I sense that getting to $50K is going to be a tough road...tougher than average.

I'm excited for the format to return to its roots, I was never a huge fan of the current mix format. I didn't mind the clock a couple years back though.
Title: Re: Millionaire Returns
Post by: TLEberle on June 23, 2015, 03:19:00 PM
The Plus One was a terrible idea in practice, I found, and shouldn't have made it out of this season.
I liked it. With Phone a Friend after the friend rings off the player is left to make the decisions of "was she right?" and "do I go for it/bail out/use another lifeline?" and that's it. With Plus One you can have a longer discussion about the question at hand and then whether to take the money. The one thing that Phone a Friend has over Plus One is the sense of urgency imposed by the time limit.

The $1,000 prize for everyone is annoying, and I think $50,000 is a little too high, but I like the direction they're going.
Title: Re: Millionaire Returns To Escalating Money Tree, Revives 50:50 For New Season
Post by: Kevin Prather on June 23, 2015, 03:50:20 PM
The $50,000 milestone is interesting. On one hand, players are currently only GUARANTEED $25,000 by answering 10 questions, but at the same time, answering those 10 questions usually entitles the player to around $50-60,000 which they are free to leave with. The only hit on the budget will be the fact that the free guess is reintroduced, this time for $100,000.

Is it high? Maybe. Will Q11 be harder to reach as a result? Perhaps. But once Q11 is attained, will Q12 and Q13 be easier to reach? I think it might.
Title: Re: Millionaire Returns To Escalating Money Tree, Revives 50:50 For New Season
Post by: BrandonFG on June 23, 2015, 05:06:55 PM
Interesting that you can whiff the first question and still walk away with more money. That said, I do like the $1,000 house minimum. Will a contestant still have to forfeit half of his or her jackpot for walking? I never was a big fan of that rule.

Wouldn't mind seeing them ditch the "theme song". I found it completely generic and forgettable.
Title: Re: Millionaire Returns To Escalating Money Tree, Revives 50:50 For New Season
Post by: TLEberle on June 23, 2015, 05:24:08 PM
Will a contestant still have to forfeit his or her jackpot for walking? I never was a big fan of that rule.
I have to think that rule is going to disappear as well, because you wouldn't have dollar figures that climb if that was the case.

What's curious to me is that I thought the Super Mix format was created because the production company couldn't use the original recipe formula. What happened to change that? Sure, there's one fewer question and the money climb is different, but just about anybody would look at the new format and say it is very similar to what we first saw in 1999.
Title: Re: Millionaire Returns To Escalating Money Tree, Revives 50:50 For New Season
Post by: BrandonFG on June 23, 2015, 05:36:16 PM
I think your point still applies, but I modified my post to say "half of his or her jackpot".
Title: Re: Millionaire Returns To Escalating Money Tree, Revives 50:50 For New Season
Post by: TLEberle on June 23, 2015, 05:38:54 PM
I think your point still applies, but I modified my post to say "half of his or her jackpot".
Right, I think it's gone back to the old way that you can stop with the actual value of the last question you answered correctly.
Title: Re: Millionaire Returns To Escalating Money Tree, Revives 50:50 For New Season
Post by: chad1m on June 23, 2015, 06:14:43 PM
Correct. If the contestant has correctly answered the question worth $10,000 and chooses to walk away instead of answering the question valued at $20,000, he/she will receive $10,000.
Title: Re: Millionaire Returns To Escalating Money Tree, Revives 50:50 For New Season
Post by: PYLdude on June 24, 2015, 03:53:13 AM
I'm also curious to see why they're suddenly allowed to use the old format again as opposed to Randoquiz. Was there a moratorium in place?

And count me in the camp of liking the current theme better than the old one.
Title: Re: Millionaire Returns To Escalating Money Tree, Revives 50:50 For New Season
Post by: Johnissoevil on June 24, 2015, 09:18:20 AM
Starting this fall, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire has eliminated the randomized dollar figures, returned to an escalating money tree and replaced Jump the Question with 50:50. More details have been posted in an article on my blog:

http://chadmosher.com/wordpress/millionaire-roots/

Does placing the show closer to its original form make you more likely to watch?


I never stopped watching despite the change.  But it's nice to see the show revert the money structure back to what it was, and good to see 50/50 reinstated.
Title: Re: Millionaire Returns To Escalating Money Tree, Revives 50:50 For New Season
Post by: narzo on September 03, 2015, 03:04:03 PM
and off it goes to 1am in Austin, from 3pm, so Tyra's new talk show can have a home. 
Title: Re: Millionaire Returns To Escalating Money Tree, Revives 50:50 For New Season
Post by: Marc412 on September 03, 2015, 06:06:56 PM
It'll come on at 1AM in Philly too, where it used to air at 2PM.
Title: Re: Millionaire Returns To Escalating Money Tree, Revives 50:50 For New Season
Post by: MikeK on September 03, 2015, 06:12:28 PM
Consider yourself lucky.  Millionaire won't be seen at all in Cleveland after next Friday, for a second stint in the last 5 years.
Title: Re: Millionaire Returns To Escalating Money Tree, Revives 50:50 For New Season
Post by: PYLdude on September 03, 2015, 07:15:20 PM
In New York, Millionaire is moving to a new station (sorta).

WLNY, now the sister station to original syndie Millionaire home WCBS, will be airing the double run weekday afternoons beginning at 4:00 PM. This will replace The Queen Latifah Show, which occupied that spot and only that spot after WCBS dropped it in favor of adding Hot Bench in its place. It also puts Millionaire back in Judge Judy's crosshairs for the first tine since 2003.

WABC will keep the show for a twelfth consecutive season, but like WPVI is reducing the episodes to the late night airing. The show's also moving back twenty-eight minutes and will air at 1:35 AM, replacing the Live Well and Byron Allen shows that occupied the slot since the station dropped Scrubs two years ago. I don't know what, at the moment, is taking its 1:07 slot. They're obviously not expanding Nightline, so I would figure it's a flip flop of the timeslots, sight unseen.

Similar things happening in Lalawood, as KDOC is doing the same thing that WLNY is while KABC keeps the late night airing.

KTRK is also reducing to late night, KFSN is keeping the show at 11:30 AM, and KGO and WTVD are keeping the double runs. WLS doesn't air the show.
Title: Re: Millionaire Returns To Escalating Money Tree, Revives 50:50 For New Season
Post by: BrandonFG on September 03, 2015, 07:26:01 PM
According to the TV Guide online listings, it stays put in the 12:00 hour on WVBT, but I found out there's going to be a 2:30 pm episode on WNLO. The thing is, WNLO is the CW affiliate...for Buffalo.

How that showed up in the Norfolk/Virginia Beach listings, I have no idea. :-P
Title: Re: Millionaire Returns To Escalating Money Tree, Revives 50:50 For New Season
Post by: PYLdude on September 03, 2015, 10:53:55 PM
Update to my previous post: apparently WABC is making the 1:07 to 1:35 Millionaire move on Monday.

So their post-primetime is going to look like this:

11:00- Eyewitness News
11:35- Jimmy Kimmel Live
12:35- Nightline
1:05- Eyewitness News rebroadcast (had been airing at 2:07 AM)
1:35- Millionaire
2:05- OK! TV (new pickup, WLNY dropped the show after airing it since the premiere)
2:35- World News Now

I'm assuming that after next week, the Daytime Jeopardy! experiment is over, right?
Title: Re: Millionaire Returns To Escalating Money Tree, Revives 50:50 For New Season
Post by: J.R. on September 04, 2015, 12:40:15 AM
According to the official site, it appears that "Millionaire" will make its return after a multi-year absence to the Des Moines market.

It will air on KDSM 17 (Fox affiliate) at 8:00 AM and 3:30 PM.
Title: Re: Millionaire Returns To Escalating Money Tree, Revives 50:50 For New Season
Post by: bosox1256 on September 10, 2015, 11:56:35 AM
Millionaire is out in Providence this year, WJAR replacing it with "Crime Watch Daily", a new show.
Title: Re: Millionaire Returns To Escalating Money Tree, Revives 50:50 For New Season
Post by: aaron sica on September 10, 2015, 01:10:59 PM
To make room for "Crime Watch Daily" at 3 (boy, does that show have a lot of clearances!)  the afternoon game show block on WPMT in York is moving up an hour - Millionaire hour to 1, and Feud to 2. The already existing double-run reruns of Feud stay at noon.
Title: Re: Millionaire Returns To Escalating Money Tree, Revives 50:50 For New Season
Post by: Ian Wallis on September 14, 2015, 06:24:49 PM
I watched the season premiere today and enjoyed it.  This is more like it.  The shuffle format of the past few years just wasn't that interesting.  Chris was maybe a bit subdued as host, but not bad for a first episode.  I'll be watching this more often this season.
Title: Re: Millionaire Returns To Escalating Money Tree, Revives 50:50 For New Season
Post by: TLEberle on September 14, 2015, 06:45:55 PM
I watched the season premiere today and enjoyed it.  This is more like it.  The shuffle format of the past few years just wasn't that interesting.  Chris was maybe a bit subdued as host, but not bad for a first episode.  I'll be watching this more often this season.
He had a couple of very inappropriate jokes that reminded me too much of Regis, and he also did the fake-outs that were laborious and awful when Meredith did them. Other than that it was nice to have someone with roots in hosting things doing the hosting.
Title: Re: Millionaire Returns To Escalating Money Tree, Revives 50:50 For New Season
Post by: Kevin Prather on September 14, 2015, 10:06:36 PM
He had a couple of very inappropriate jokes that reminded me too much of Regis, and he also did the fake-outs that were laborious and awful when Meredith did them. Other than that it was nice to have someone with roots in hosting things doing the hosting.
I only noticed one real fake-out, and I thought he did a great job with it. He fooled me.

As for his "inappropriate" jokes, I'm assuming one of them was the undoubtedly scripted one during the introduction?
Title: Re: Millionaire Returns To Escalating Money Tree, Revives 50:50 For New Season
Post by: TLEberle on September 15, 2015, 01:06:12 AM
I only noticed one real fake-out, and I thought he did a great job with it. He fooled me.
I'm not fooled because no host has done the fake-out on a wrong answer.

Quote
As for his "inappropriate" jokes, I'm assuming one of them was the undoubtedly scripted one during the introduction?
For the contestant from Spokane in the second episode, it was revealed that one of her several jobs dealt with sex education. She brought her brother as a Plus One and Chris made an unfortunate joke juxtaposing the two. The contestant after her is a police lieutenant and her husband an officer. Chris asks "at home, which of the two of you does the arresting?" At a minimum it was in poor taste.
Title: Re: Millionaire Returns To Escalating Money Tree, Revives 50:50 For New Season
Post by: Kevin Prather on September 15, 2015, 01:17:56 AM
I don't get the double run, so I had to find the episode online. I think we agree to disagree. When two police officers marry, I think that joke writes itself, and I imagine the couple on the show would be the first to tell you that, especially when the host of The Bachelor is in the room.
Title: Re: Millionaire Returns To Escalating Money Tree, Revives 50:50 For New Season
Post by: Thunder on September 16, 2015, 02:03:10 AM
Seconded, and that joke still applies to only one police officer in the marriage.

Lighten up, Francis.