Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (American game show)


Contributors to Wikimedia projects

Article Images

In the United States, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (also known simply as Millionaire) is a television game show which offers a maximum prize of $1,000,000 (originally lump sum; now annuitized) for correctly answering 15 successive multiple-choice questions of increasing difficulty. The show is based on and follows the same general format of the original version of the show from the United Kingdom, and is now part of the international Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? franchise.

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire
Who Wants to be a Millionaire? title card

Who Wants to be a Millionaire? title card

Created byMichael Davies
StarringRegis Philbin (1999–2002)
Meredith Vieira (2002–Present)
Tim Vincent (2007 Substitute)
Tom Bergeron (2007 Substitute)
Al Roker (2007 Substitute)
Dave Price (2008 Substitute)
Billy Bush (2008 Substitute)
Leeza Gibbons (2008 substitute)
Country of originUnited States
No. of episodes1,000+
Production
Running time60 minutes (1999–2002) (includes 16 minutes for commercials)
30 minutes (includes 15 minutes for commercials) (2002–Present)
Original release
NetworkABC (1999–2002)
first-run syndication (2002–Present)
ReleaseAugust 16, 1999 –
Present

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire debuted in the United States on August 16, 1999 on the ABC television network, and was hosted by television personality Regis Philbin. In its initial run, it had the question mark at the end of the title just like its British counterpart. When it returned for its second run, the question mark was removed from the title.

The network version, whose episodes were originally shown just a day after their taping in New York, became explosively popular in 2000, and at its peak was airing in prime time four nights a week on ABC. The show was popular enough to find rival networks creating or reincarnating game shows of their own, and created a brief renaissance of sorts for United States based game shows (e.g. Greed, Twenty One, etc.) as well as a flurry of American versions of UK originals, such as Winning Lines and The Weakest Link.

ABC used Who Wants to be a Millionaire in so many prime time slots that when the show's popularity faded by the fall of 2001, it was left with a dearth of original programs on June 27, 2002. ABC's overall Nielsen Ratings suffered as a result of the show's decline in popularity. Michael Eisner, then CEO of The Walt Disney Company (ABC's parent), a former page at Jeopardy! and The Price Is Right, thought that the show would be successful like many other daytime television shows. However, he had realized too late that a hot show like Millionaire would tire more quickly in prime time than in daytime.[1]

Millionaire's place as a daytime show was granted when ABC's sister company, Disney-ABC Domestic Television, revived the show as a daily syndicated offering with Meredith Vieira in 2002. This version, also taped in New York, will begin airing its seventh season on September 8, 2008, and has earned Vieira an Emmy for best game show host.

Format

The goal of the contestant is to answer 15 multiple-choice questions correctly, each of increasing difficulty. Each question is worth a specified amount of money, with which a contestant may walk away at any time they do not know the answer to a question (the amounts are NOT cumulative).

  • Question Values

Dollar changes as of 2004:

$25,000 (from $32,000)

$50,000 (from $64,000)

$100,000 (from $125,000)

Have
(and can walk away with)		 Correct Answer amount Missed Answer amount
$0 $100 $0
$100 $200 $0
$200 $300 $0
$300 $500 $0
$500 $1,000 $0
$1,000 $2,000 $1,000
$2,000 $4,000 $1,000
$4,000 $8,000 $1,000
$8,000 $16,000 $1,000
$16,000 $25,000 $1,000
$25,000 $50,000 $25,000
$50,000 $100,000 $25,000
$100,000 $250,000 $25,000
$250,000 $500,000 $25,000
$500,000 $1,000,000 $25,000

When season 7 of the Vieira version debuts on September 8, 2008, the graphics will be updated, including a new “Millionaire Menu", which will have categories of the contestant’s entire pyramid of 15 questions which will be revealed at the beginning of the game. In addition, time limits will be added for answering the questions, the player will be given 15 seconds for the first five questions and 30 seconds for the next five, followed by 45 seconds for the next series of four. The contestant will be allowed 45 seconds for the final question plus any banked time which was not yet used.

Lifelines

If the contestant needs help at any point, s/he can use one, two, three, or even all four of their lifelines. These enable the contestant to get help from family/friends, the audience, and even the computer.

For the seventh season[2], it has been revealed that two lifelines will be eliminated, and will be replaced with two new lifelines.

Current lifelines

  • Phone A Friend: Sponsored by AT&T, the contestant can call one of several pre-selected "friends" anywhere in the country and hear what they think the answer is. The "friend" has 30 seconds to give an response, with the contestant then having to either give the correct answer, or walk away with their winnings.

In addition, starting with season 7, the Phone A Friend lifeline will have more detailed information about the contestant's three potential lifeline friends, such as name, hometown, and photos.

  • Ask The Audience: The contestant asks the audience to see what they think is the best possible answer.
  • Double Dip: Previously used in Who Wants to Be a Super Millionaire, this lifeline allows the player to make two guesses at the question; however, once used, they had to answer the question. This lifeline is available from the start of each contestant's game.
  • Ask the Expert: Once a contestant reaches the $1,000 level, they will have the opportunity to call an expert via live face-to-face video call, sponsored by Skype. The person can be anyone, such as a scientist, a celebrity, a newsmaker, a politician, or a past Millionaire winner. It is implied that the lifeline will function like the Phone A Friend. Such people include Bill Nye. This is a modification of the Three Wise Men lifeline from Super Millionaire.

Eliminated lifelines

  • 50:50: The computer will narrow down the four possible answers, eliminating two that are incorrect.
  • Switch the Question: The computer will replace, at the contestant's request, one question, with another of the same monetary value.

Note: "Switch the Question" was only present in the syndicated version of the show, and must be earned by answering the $25,000 question. It could be used on any remaining question. Any other lifelines used prior to this lifeline on the same question were considered "lost" and will not be reinstated.

Special editions

The show has had various special editions such as: Celebrity Edition (where winnings go to a charity), Champions Edition (where big winners come back and split their winnings with a charity), Top of the Charts Edition (similar to Celebrity Edition but with musical artists who have chart-topping hits and their winnings go to their charity of choice), Zero Dollar Winner Edition (where those who took home nothing got a second chance) Family Edition where, for example, a father and son face the questions together. Also notable is an edition aired in February 2001 in which H&R Block calculated the taxes of winnings so the contestants could earn their stated winnings after taxes, called Tax-Free Edition. During two seasons, there was also a Couples Edition where married couples played together. In recent years, special contestant episodes such as Play to Pay for Your Wedding Edition (featuring engaged couples), College Edition (featuring undergraduate college students, taking place in Walt Disney World), Teacher Edition (featuring schoolteachers), and Walk In & Win Edition (featuring audience members who haven't taken the audition test, also from Walt Disney World) have aired annually. The first season featured a Twins Edition (featuring twin contestants), which played similar to the Couples Edition and Play To Pay For Your Wedding Edition.

Themed question shows featuring questions concerning professional football (Super Bowl Edition), celebrity gossip (Celebrity Scoop Edition), the movies (Netflix Million Dollar Movie Edition; Academy Awards Edition) and pop culture (Pop Culture Edition) have aired on occasion as well.

The prime time show began as a half-hour show aired over several consecutive nights, but was made into a multi-weekly hour-long show when it was added permanently to the schedule in January 2000, allowing more Fastest Finger contestants to reach the Hot Seat in each episode. In special events it may be extended from half an hour to an hour. Episodes of the syndicated show run 30 minutes in length every weekday.

Champions Edition

In 2000, previous Millionaire contestants were on a special edition where they would go for the hot seat again, winning half for charity. Examples of contestants were: John Carpenter (the first US winner), Dan Blonsky, Neil Larrimore, Stephanie Girrardi (the first woman to see the million-dollar question) and more.

Rule changes

By January 2001, the U.S. edition of the show struggled from not having a $1 million winner for over five months, so producers instituted a one-time skins game-type bonus of $10,000 per episode retroactive from the last episode the top prize was awarded. The bonus started at $1,710,000 and increased by $10,000 in the next hour show that was not won. With this bonus instituted, the top prize grew to $2 million (over 100 shows), making the first attempt at the million dollar question (by Gary Gambino in February 2001) actually worth twice its value. Eventually, the bonus grew to $2.18 million, when Kevin Olmstead won the eventual prize on April 10, 2001. However, two such prizes were awarded due to an error in a question during the time the bonus was in place, when Ed Toutant won the top prize and the bonus was at $860,000 on January 31, 2001. When he continued in an episode not aired until September 7, 2001, he also answered all 15 of his questions correctly, and was given $1 million and the $860,000 bonus. It has not been reinstituted since.

In 2001, contestants (from previous primetime episodes) who missed a question in the first tier and left with no winnings were invited back for a special edition of Millionaire. This was repeated in 2003 for contestants from the first season of the syndicated program.

In 2002, unlike the U.K. version where some questions have joke answers, the $100 question always has a joke answer posed by Meredith Vieira as the last answer choice.

In the original US version of the show, the values progressed to ...$16,000, $32,000 (safe), $64,000, $125,000... During the Meredith Vieira run, the Switch the Question lifeline was added once the new, safe, $25,000 level (formerly $32,000) was attained. The values then reached $50,000 and $100,000 before the "traditional" 13th level question for $250,000.

Finally, the Ask the Audience lifeline was expanded. Instead of just the studio audience giving answers, users of the AOL Instant Messenger could participate as well. If they had asked the screenname MillionaireIM to allow his or her participation, then they would receive an instant message if a contestant used his or her Ask the Audience lifeline. The message would contain the question and four possible answers, and they would send their answer back. This was the first time in history that the public had been able to interact with a game show while it was being taped. When the tape was shown, the results of the poll would first show the studio audience's response, then the IM users' response. The AIM side of the lifeline failed to work at times. In these instances, the game show's policy was to allow the contestant to only rely on the studio audience's response. The AOL Instant Messenger Ask the Audience lifeline has been suspended as of the fifth season of the syndicated version of the show following the withdrawal of sponsorship of the program by AOL.

The AOL Instant Messenger Ask the Audience also made it theoretically possible for potential phone-a-friends to see the question before they were called by the contestant, but it is unknown if this advantage was taken of to any extent.

For the seventh season, the contestants will now have a time limit to answer the question. They will have 30 seconds to answer the first five questions, and 45 seconds to answer questions 6-14. If they fail to answer within the time limit, they will be forced to walk away with their current winnings, however, they will not drop down to the $0, $1,000 or $25,000 limits. If they make it to the $1,000,000 question, any time that they did not use to answer the first fourteen questions will be banked and rewarded at this question, meaning that the player will have more time (theoretically close to 8 minutes) to answer the question. In addition, two lifelines will be eliminated and replaced with two new lifelines.

Popularity

The primetime version of the show initially drew in up to 30 million viewers a day three times a week, an unheard-of number in modern network television. In the 1999-2000 season, it averaged #1 in the ratings against all other television shows. The next year (2000-2001), it also frequently placed within the top three or top five programs; finishing at #3 in the ratings[1]. However, the show's ratings began to fall during the 2000-2001 season, and by the start of the 2001-2002 season, the ratings were only a fraction of what they had been one year ago. ABC's reliance on Millionaire's popularity led to the network's falling quickly from its former spot as the nation's most-watched network.

The show was immensely popular in that one could qualify for the show by competing in a telephone contest with hopefuls across the country by dialing a toll free number and answering three questions by putting things or events in order by using your telephone keypad. The 10,000-20,000 people who answered all three questions correctly were entered into a random drawing in which approximately 300 people would compete for 10 spots on the show using the same phone quiz method.

Episodes of the primetime version have been rerun on GSN since September 2003 (except August 1999 & 2002 shows). Prime time Who Wants to be a Millionaire is the highest-rated regularly-scheduled program on GSN.

Spin-offs

Celebrity versions

The show began to dabble in celebrity versions of the game in mid-2000, at the height of its popularity. The first version featured stars such as Drew Carey, Rosie O'Donnell, Queen Latifah, and Dana Carvey; later celebrity players included P. Diddy, Vanessa Williams, Chevy Chase, Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich, Norm MacDonald, and future Millionaire host Meredith Vieira. Later, Carol Alt, Martin Short, Florence Henderson, Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes, Tyrese, Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Charlie Sheen, Jon Stewart, Joey McIntyre and more. Drew Carey is the only celebrity to be on Millionaire twice (First time was $500,000 and then the second time was $32,000 which was a drop from $125,000 for a grand total of $532,000). Rosie O'Donnell is the only celebrity to be on Millionaire and then later be a Phone-A-Friend. She along with Steve Martin, Sam Simon and Kim Basinger are the only celebrity phone-a-friends. P. Diddy ($125,000), Jon Stewart ($125,000), Queen Latifah ($250,000), Martin Short ($32,000 which was a drop from $250,000), Heidi Klum ($250,000), Kelly Ripa Consuelos ($250,000), John Leguizamo ($32,000 which was a drop from $125,000), Martina McBride ($125,000), Ben Stiller ($32,000 which was a drop from $250,000) Lance Bass ($125,000), Emeril Lagasse ($125,000), Vivica A. Fox ($125,000), Nick Lachey ($32,000 which was a drop from $125,000), William Shatner ($32,000 which was a drop from $64,000), David Duchovny ($32,000 which was a drop from $500,000), Denis Leary ($125,000), Drew Carey (see above) and Jack Black ($125,000) are the only Millionaire celebrities to also go on Live With Regis and Kelly (Ripa being the co-host). Drew Carey, Rosie O'Donnell and Norm MacDonald (in that order) are the only celebrities to win $500,000. The show was a huge hit in the ratings, and since they were playing for charity, and for fear that celebrities would be too embarrassed to miss an early question, all players were allowed to receive help from their fellow players to attain the $32,000 level, resulting in some humorous exchanges when a celebrity player got stumped. A classic example of this occurred in an episode (second episode of second celebrity edition for $300) where Jon Lovitz could not identify limes as the second ingredient in Sprite (after lemons), which prompted Kermit The Frog, who was there just for support, to amusingly ask him, "Hey Jon, What color am I? (referring to the fact that he and limes are both green)," after which Lovitz answered the question correctly (Kermit in which is the only muppet and celebrity audience member to be on Live). ABC began to rely heavily on celebrity episodes - for most of the 2001-02 season, fully half of the series were celebrity or other "special editions", a move which coincided with the show's drop from the top of the ratings. When celebrities played the game, because they were playing for charity, all were guaranteed at least $32,000, even if they missed a question before reaching it (which happened to one contestant when she missed the $32,000 question but left with $32,000 anyway; in addition, KISS singer Gene Simmons was left with $32,000 even though he missed his $16,000 question). In most cases, all contestants got a shot at the main game. In cases in which that did not apply, at the end of the series, all contestants that failed to get into the hotseat were automatically given $32,000.

It was announced in 2005 that the syndicated show would bring back celebrities for a special edition to air in November 2005, but those episodes never materialized.

Syndication

In 2002, Disney's Disney-ABC Domestic Television started selling a new version of the show for daily syndication, with a new host, Meredith Vieira (who previously appeared on the nighttime show during a celebrity week where all the money would go to victims of 9/11). It was initially proposed and developed under the assumption that the prime time show would still be airing on ABC, but the prime time show was cancelled a few months before the syndicated show premiered. The syndicated version doesn't include the Fastest Finger competition; contestants are brought out individually during each half-hour show after passing contestant auditions (which consist of a written test and an interview, unlike the phone qualifying on the ABC version).

Because of Vieira's commitments with her new job at NBC News, substitute hosts are frequently used, and have represented the traditional "big three" networks -- Tom Bergeron (employed by Disney for Dancing with the Stars), Al Roker (who also happens to work alongside Meredith Vieira on Today), and Tim Vincent (of NBC-syndicated Access Hollywood) each guest-hosted a week's worth of shows during the 2006-07 season. [2]. CBS News weatherman Dave Price hosted a week of shows in March 2008, and NBC's Access Hollywood reporter Billy Bush reportedly also filled in for episodes that aired in April 2008. [3] [4]

During a week of episodes in Season Six (November 2007), to celebrate the syndicated version's 1,000th episode, all contestants that week started with $1,000 (which meant that no contestant could leave with nothing), and only had to answer ten questions to win the $1 Million. Also, 20 home viewers each day during that week won $1,000 each.

Qualifications

Unlike the original network version, where aspiring contestants made a phone call, answered a few questions correctly on the phone, and were randomly selected, leading to a fastest-finger competition to determine the player in the hot seat, the current version uses a more traditional game show procedure, similar to what is used for most game shows. This toughens the contestant pool.

In a 2007 interview with Jeopardy! champion Bob Harris, who has participated in tryouts for the current Millionaire, contestants, depending on touring (in markets of local Millionaire affiliates) or studio (in the ABC studios in New York) tryouts, are required to pass a quiz between 30 and 40 questions which is electronically scored.

Contestants who pass the general-knowledge test are then interviewed by production staff. Persons who impress the production staff the most are then sent to New York for the show for their taping.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/television/2003638513_tvgameshowaudition28.html

Who Wants to Be a Super Millionaire

In 2004, Regis Philbin returned to ABC for 12 episodes of a spin-off Millionaire called Who Wants to Be a Super Millionaire or better known as Super Millionaire. The show offered a $10 Million top prize. The show premiered in February 2004 and showed 5 episodes. The show returned later in May 2004 for 7 more episodes.

  • $1,000
  • $2,000
  • $3,000
  • $4,000
  • $5,000
  • $10,000
  • $20,000
  • $30,000
  • $50,000
  • $100,000
  • $500,000
  • $1 Million
  • $2.5 Million
  • $5 Million
  • $10 Million

The Lifelines:

  • AT&T Phone-A-Friend
  • Ask The Audience
  • 50:50

New lifelines

The new lifelines were only given to a contestant once they answered the $100,000 question correctly.

  • Three Wise Men: Backstage at a panel were three people, a past Millionaire and two experts. The panel had 30 seconds to hear the question and help out with the answer. When not being asked, the panel of experts were kept in darkness.
  • Double Dip: This lifeline was a chance for the contestant to have 2 chances to answer the question (meaning that if the player got a wrong answer in his first attempt, he had another chance to find the right one). Once a player chose to Double Dip, he/she had to answer the question. An incorrect guess on the first try did not cost the player any money. If he/she got the second guess wrong, he'd go back to the $100,000 level.

Who Wants To Be A Millionaire - Play It!

A version of this game named Who Wants To Be A Millionaire - Play It! was formerly an attraction at the Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida and at Disney's California Adventure in Anaheim, California. The game was very similar to the television version. On each question, the audience, using a keypad attached to the back of the seat in front, chose A, B, C, or D. When a contestant chose to stop playing, the next contestant was picked from the audience member who answered the most questions correctly and most quickly. This version was not played for cash. For every question answered correctly, the contestant received a pin, and after reaching the "safe havens", a baseball cap and polo shirt. The top prize was a three-night cruise for four aboard the Disney Cruise Line. When the prime-time US version was on the air, the prize was a chance to be in the contestant pool of the series.

Notable contestants

Million Dollar Winners on ABC

Note: Ed Toutant originally answered a flawed $16,000 question incorrectly and left with only $1,000. He was invited back later and went all the way to the final question.

Million Dollar Winners in syndication

To date, no contestant on either the ABC or syndicated versions of the show has ever answered the million dollar question incorrectly, either getting it right or walking away with $500,000. On the ABC version, they would have lost $468,000; on the current syndicated version, they would lose $475,000 (the monetary value of question 10 was reduced from $32,000 to $25,000). The most money ever lost on the show to date has been $225,000 (in the syndicated version), when a contestant answered their $500,000 question incorrectly, lowering their prize from $250,000 to just $25,000 (see complete list below of contestants who missed their $500,000 question). Also, a different theme music will sound if the contestant misses the million dollar question.[5]

To this date, there has not been a million dollar winner since Nancy Christy in 2003.

$500,000 winners on ABC

  • Michael Shutterly, August 25, 1999 (first contestant to walk away with $500,000)
  • David Fite, January 10, 2000 (used the Phone a Friend lifeline in the final question)
  • Rob Coughlin, January 23, 2000 (used the 50:50 lifeline in the final question)
  • Stephanie Girardi, February 17, 2000 (first female contestant to walk away with $500,000)
  • Mike Menz, April 27, 2000
  • Drew Carey (celebrity edition) May 2, 2000 (first celebrity to walk away with $500,000)
  • Rosie O'Donnell (celebrity edition) May 3, 2000 (first female celebrity to walk away with $500,000)
  • Tom O'Brien, June 11, 2000
  • Joe Kelleher, July 23, 2000
  • Phil Gibbons, August 15, 2000
  • Pat Thompson, November 8, 2000
  • Norm Macdonald (celebrity edition), November 12, 2000
  • Justin Ray Castillo, November 26, 2000
  • Jim Matthews, December 6, 2000 (used the Ask the Audince lifeline in the final question)
  • Gary Gambino, March 1, 2001 (used the Phone a Friend lifeline in the final question)
  • David Stewart, April 1, 2001 (used the Ask the Audience and Phone a Friend lifelines in the final question)
  • Steve Perry, April 22, 2001 (used the Ask the Audience, 50:50, and Phone a Friend lifelines in the final question)
  • Moe Cain, May 1, 2001 (used the Phone a Friend, and Ask the Audience lifelines in the final question)
  • Rob and Mary Beth McNally (couples edition), May 17, 2001 (first and only couple or team thus far to walk away with $500,000) (used the 50:50 and Phone a Friend lifelines in the final question)
  • Tom Hobbler, June 5, 2001
  • Mary Burke, June 14, 2001

If Norm Macdonald went for the $1 Million and said Final Answer, he would've been right for the $1 Million, as is also the case with Pat Thompson, Mary Burke and Tom O'Brien.

$500,000 winners in syndication

If Ogi Ogas went for the $1 Million and said final answer, he would have been right.

If Jeff Gross and Lyn Payne went for the $1 Million and said final answer, they would have been wrong.

$500,000 question wrong on ABC

$500,000 question wrong in syndication

$0 Winners on ABC

This list only contains those contestants who sat in the hot seat and won nothing by giving a wrong answer between questions 1-5 (dollar values $100-$1,000). It does not contain other people who left with nothing because they did not win any of the fastest finger rounds, and therefore failed to get into the hot seat at all.

$0 winners in syndication

Additionally, Dede Bradley was on Super Millionaire on May 21, 2004 which offered a top prize of $10 Million and went home with nothing when she missed question 5 (worth $5,000 as opposed to $1,000).

References