| Greed | |
|---|---|
Greed title card |
|
| Format | Game show |
| Directed by | Bob Levy |
| Presented by | Chuck Woolery |
| Narrated by | Mark Thompson |
| Composer(s) | Edgar Struble |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 44 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Dick Clark Bob Boden |
| Editor(s) | Floyd Ingram |
| Running time | approx. 44 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Dick Clark Productions |
| Distributor | 20th Century Fox Television |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Fox |
| Original run | November 4, 1999 – July 14, 2000 |
Greed is an American television game show that aired on Fox from November 4, 1999 until July 14, 2000. The game consisted of a team of contestants who answered a series of multiple-choice questions for a potential prize of up to $2 million. The show was hosted by Chuck Woolery, with Mark Thompson serving as announcer.
Contents |
Greed premiered on November 4, 1999 and was widely considered as 20th Century Fox Television's response to the success of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. After renewing the show for the summer of 2000 with a possible return the following season, Fox abruptly canceled the program on July 14, 2000. Repeats of Greed have sporadically aired on GSN since January 2002 and in Australia on Fox8 since May 2006.
Six contestants were asked a question with a numerical answer between 10–999. Each contestant locked-in their answers using a keypad in front of them. After all six contestants submitted a guess, the answer was revealed and the contestant with the guess farthest from the correct answer was eliminated. The surviving contestants were stationed at podiums based upon the closeness of their guess to the correct answer, with the contestant who had the closest guess becoming the team's captain. If two or more contestants gave the same guess, the contestant who entered their guess before the other(s) received the higher ranking.
Toward the end of Greed's run, the qualifying round was eliminated and the position for each contestant was determined randomly in a backstage draw.
The team then attempted to answer a series of eight questions worth successively higher amounts, from $25,000 up to $2,000,000.
| Correct questions | Prize |
|---|---|
| 1 | $25,000 |
| 2 | $50,000 |
| 3 | $75,000 |
| 4 | $100,000 |
| 5 | $200,000 |
| 6 | $500,000 |
| 7 | $1,000,000 |
| 8 | $2,000,000 |
Questions one and two featured four options for a multiple choice question, and questions three and four featured five options. Starting with the surviving contestant whose guess was furthest from the correct answer in the qualifying game, the contestant was read a question and provided the choices. Following the contestant's selection, the team captain could accept the response or replace it with a choice of their own. Questions continued through the $100,000 level until the team captain accepted or gave an incorrect answer, or decided to end the game, at which point each member of the team received an equal share of the amount won. If the game ended following an incorrect answer, the team left with nothing.
Questions five through eight required four correct answers for each. The $200,000 question featured six choices, the $500,000 question featured seven, the $1,000,000 question featured eight, and the $2,000,000 question featured nine. Prior to question five, the team captain was given a "Freebie", which eliminated an incorrect choice for any one question. Prior to each question, the team captain was provided the category to the question and the option to end the game with the prize accumulated thus far, splitting it equally among the team members.
For questions six, seven and eight, the remaining contestants each provided a choice for the question. If the team consisted of fewer than five contestants, the team captain was also required to provide a choice. If additional choices were required after providing their own answer, the team captain could delegate another team member to provide a choice/choices until four answers were selected.
Correct answers were then revealed individually. If the team provided at least three correct answers, the host offered a cash buyout to the team captain to end the game before revealing the fourth answer chosen. For questions five and six, the buyout was $20,000 and $50,000, respectively. If the team captain chose to end the game, the remaining team members received an equal share of the buyout. For question seven, each team member decided individually whether to continue with the game or leave on their own and take a buyout worth close to $100,000 (which included a car and $25,000 in cash).
If the team (or any individual team members during question seven) chose to continue with the game, the fourth answer was revealed. If it was correct, the team split the cash award for that level's question. If an incorrect answer was revealed at any point, the team left with nothing.
A Terminator question was played prior to the fifth, sixth and seventh question, giving a randomly-selected contestant the option to challenge a fellow teammate to a one-question showdown for their share of the team's collective winnings. Win or lose, the challenging contestant was given $10,000 to keep if they chose to participate.
Both contestants made their way to podiums at the center of the studio and the host read a question. The first contestant to buzz-in and provide a correct response eliminated the other contestant from the game and claimed their share of the collective winnings. If a contestant provided an incorrect response or did not immediately respond following buzzing-in, they were eliminated from the game and their opponent collected their share of the winnings.
Contestants were originally required to wait for the question to be read completely before buzzing-in. Buzzing-in too early immediately eliminated the contestant, just as if a wrong answer had been given. This was later changed to allow contestants to buzz-in at any time if they knew the answer, though the host would immediately stop reading the question at that point.
Prior to the $2 million question, each team member again individually decided to quit with their share of the team's collective winnings or continue playing. If any team members chose to continue, a question with nine possible answers was presented, of which four were correct.
In the only instance in which a contestant chose to play the $2 million question, the remaining contestant was given thirty seconds to select four answers and was warned that if four answers were not selected within the time limit, the game would end and the contestant would leave with nothing.
Following the selection of answers, correct responses were revealed individually. No buyout was offered following the reveal of the third correct answer. If all four chosen answers were correct, the contestant (or team) won $2 million.
Daniel Avila was the only contestant to reach this level, risking $200,000 to go on and play for $2.2 million on the episode that aired November 18, 1999.[1] However, Avila missed the question based on a Yale University study about the four smells most recognizable to the human nose (peanut butter, coffee, Vicks Vaporub, and chocolate; Avila incorrectly guessed tuna as one of his choices), and left with nothing.
In the first month of Greed's run, the top prize was worth $2 million plus an additional $50,000 for each game where the top prize was not won. As no team had reached the jackpot question and provided the necessary correct answers, the jackpot reached $2,550,000 in the first month. When the program became a permanent series, the top prize was changed to a flat $2,000,000.
In February 2000, eight previous Greed contestants were brought back for a "Million-Dollar Moment," with one taking place at the end of each of four episodes. Two contestants faced off with a Terminator-style sudden-death question, and the winner was given a $1 million question with eight possible choices.
The contestant had 30 seconds to study the question, then 10 seconds to lock-in the four correct answers to win the money. Correct answers were revealed one at a time, and if all four were chosen, the contestant won an additional $1 million. However, if any of the answers were wrong, the contestant won no additional money but kept any money won on previous episodes.
Curtis Warren became Greed's only Million Dollar Moment winner when he successfully answered a question about movies based on television shows on the episode that aired February 11, 2000.Greed. 20th Century Fox Television. 11 February 2000. Warren was the program's biggest winner and briefly held the title of biggest U.S. game show winner of all time with $1,410,000, but his record was beaten within a week as David Legler won $1,765,000 on NBC's Twenty One. Curtis has since been surpassed by others.
Greed became Super Greed for a month in May 2000. The qualifying question was eliminated, and the values for the top three questions were doubled, making the eighth question worth a potential $4 million. In addition, any team that went for the seventh or eighth question was guaranteed $200,000 regardless of the outcome of the game. During the seventh question, each team member was individually offered a buyout worth $150,000 (a car and $75,000 in cash) to quit the game.
| Correct questions | Prize |
|---|---|
| 1 | $25,000 |
| 2 | $50,000 |
| 3 | $75,000 |
| 4 | $100,000 |
| 5 | $200,000 |
| 6 | $1,000,000 |
| 7 | $2,000,000 |
| 8 | $4,000,000 |
| Country | Name | Host | Channel | Prize | First year aired |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arab World [2] | يا قاتل يا مقتول Ya Qatel ya Maqtoul |
Marcel Ghanem | LBC | US$1.000.000 | 2002 |
| Argentina [3] | Audacia | Eduardo de la Puente | El Trece | 500.000 AR$ | 2001 |
| Australia | Greed | Kerri-Anne Kennerley | Channel Ten | A$1.000.000 | 2001 |
| Finland [4] | Gr€€d | Petteri Ahomaalla | MTV3 | €170.000 | 2001–2003 |
| Germany [5] | Ca$h—Das eine Million Mark-Quiz | Ulla Kock am Brink | ZDF | 1,000,000 DM | November 21, 2000–2001 |
| Italy [6] | Gr€€d | Luca Barbareschi | Raidue | L1,000,000,000 | 2001 |
| Poland [7] | Chciwość, czyli żądza pieniądza | Mirosław Siedler | Polsat | 1,000,000 zł | 2001 |
| Portugal [8] | A Febre do Dinheiro | Carlos Cruz | SIC | 100.000.000 $00 | 2000–2001 |
| Russia [9] | Алчность Alchnost |
Alfred Koch Igor Jankowski Alexander Tsekalo |
NTV | 2.000.000 руб | September 10, 2001–April 30, 2002 |
| South Africa | Greed | Revin John | SABC3 | R1,000,000 | |
| Spain [10] | Audacia | Jordi Estadella | TVE | 100.000.000 ₧ | October 19, 2000 |
| Sweden | Vinna eller försvinna | SVT | |||
| Turkey [11] | Aslan Payı | Mehmet Aslantuğ | aTV | 1 Trillion TL | 2000 |
| United Kingdom [12] | Gr££d | Jerry Springer | Five | £1,000,000 | 2001 |
| Venezuela [13] | La fiebre del dinero | Fausto Malavé | Venevision | 100.000.000 Bs. | May 25, 2001 |