| Who Wants to Be a Millionaire | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Game show |
| Created by | David Briggs Mike Whitehill Steven Knight |
| Directed by | Mark Gentile (1999–2002) Matthew Cohen (2002–2010) Rob George (2010–present) |
| Presented by | Regis Philbin (1999–2002, 2004, 2009) Meredith Vieira (2002–present) |
| Composer(s) | Keith Strachan (1999–2010) Matthew Strachan (1999–2010) Jeff Lippencott (2010–present) Mark T. Williams (2010–present) |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of episodes | ABC (1999–2002, 2004, 2009): 374 Syndicated (2002–present): 1,622 (as of June 24, 2011) Total: 1,996 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Michael Davies (1999–2010) Leigh Hampton (2002–2010) Rich Sirop (2010–present) |
| Producer(s) | Leslie Fuller (1999–2002) Dennis F. McMahon (2002–2007) Jennifer Weeks (2007–2009) Tommy Cody (2008–2010) McPaul Smith (2010) Bryan Lasseter (2011–present) |
| Running time | Approx. 39–48 minutes (ABC) Approx. 22–26 minutes (Syndicated) |
| Production company(s) | Celador (1999–2007) 2waytraffic (2007–present) ABC (1999–2002, 2004, 2009) Valleycrest Productions (2002–present) |
| Distributor | USA Buena Vista Television (1999–2007) Disney-ABC Domestic Television (2007–present) Global Sony Pictures Television |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | ABC (1999–2002, 2004, 2009) Syndication (2002–present) |
| Picture format | 480i (SDTV) (1999–2011) 720p/1080i (HDTV) (2011–present) |
| Original run | ABC August 16, 1999 – June 27, 2002 Daily Syndication September 16, 2002 – present |
| External links | |
| Website | |
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (also known as Millionaire) is an American television quiz show which offers a maximum prize of $1,000,000 for correctly answering 14 consecutive multiple-choice questions of random difficulty.[1] Until 2010, the format required contestants to correctly answer 15 consecutive questions of increasing difficulty. The show is based on and follows the same general format as the original version of the show, from the United Kingdom, and is now part of the international Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? franchise.
The original version of the show aired on ABC from August 16, 1999 to June 27, 2002 and was hosted by Regis Philbin.[2] The current syndicated version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire began airing on September 16, 2002, and is hosted by Meredith Vieira. It continues to air in syndication five days a week with Vieira unless otherwise noted on the show's website.
The tenth season of the syndicated version of Millionaire premiered on September 5, 2011, and with it came the show's introduction to high-definition broadcasting.
Contents |
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire was introduced to the United States on August 16, 1999 as a primetime program on ABC, hosted by television personality Regis Philbin. The network version, whose episodes were originally shown only a day after their taping in New York City, became explosively popular in 2000 and at its peak was airing in the primetime five nights a week on ABC.[3] The show was popular enough that rival networks created or re-incarnated game shows of their own (e.g., Greed, Twenty One, etc.) and American imports of various British and Australian originals (such as Winning Lines, Weakest Link, and It's Your Chance of a Lifetime).
The nighttime version 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 with 28,848,000 viewers. In the next season (2000–2001), three nights out of the five weekly episodes placed in the top 10.[4] 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 before. ABC's reliance on Millionaire's popularity led the network to fall quickly from its former spot as the nation's most watched network.
The show was immensely popular in that anyone could originally qualify for the show by competing in a telephone contest with potential contestants across the country by dialing a toll-free number and answering three questions by putting objects or events in order. Callers had ten seconds to enter the order on a keypad, with any incorrect answer ending the game/call. The 10,000–20,000 candidates who answered all three questions correctly were selected into a random drawing in which approximately 300 contestants would compete for ten spots on the show using the same phone quiz method.[5] For the ABC version, accommodations for contestants outside the New York City area included round trip airfare (or other transportation) and hotel. The syndicated version no longer offers accommodations to contestants at the production company's expense.
ABC has occasionally brought back the show for specials, including 2004's Who Wants to Be a Super Millionaire, which raised the top prize to $10,000,000, and another in 2009 which celebrated the show's tenth anniversary.[6]
In 2002, Buena Vista Television (now Disney-ABC Domestic Television) began selling a new version of Millionaire for daily syndication, with Meredith Vieira hosting. The syndicated program was initially proposed and developed under the assumption that the primetime show would still air on ABC, but that version was canceled a few months before the syndicated version premiered.[7]
Potential contestants, depending on touring tryouts or tryouts held at ABC's New York studio center, are required to pass an electronically scored quiz[8] comprising thirty questions which must be completed in ten minutes. Contestants who pass the general knowledge test are then interviewed by the production staff, and those who impress the production staff the most are then taken for a videotape interview. Later they are sent a postcard in the mail stating whether they are in a pool of potential contestants, which by the producers' discretion are sent to New York for their tapings.[9] The syndicated version has no Fastest Finger question; each new contestant is called in after the preceding contestant's game ends.
Vieira has won two Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Game Show Host for her hosting duties on the syndicated Millionaire (one in 2005, the other in 2009).[10] The format is licensed by Sony Pictures Television as part of the acquisition of 2waytraffic in 2008,[11] though the U.S. version is still distributed by Disney. Episodes of the syndicated version of Millionaire run 30 minutes every weekday.
Since the spring of 2007, guest hosts have appeared in the second half of each season of the syndicated Millionaire. So far, Al Roker, Tom Bergeron, Tim Vincent, Dave Price, Billy Bush, Leeza Gibbons, Cat Deeley, Samantha Harris, Shaun Robinson, Steve Harvey, John Henson, Sherri Shepherd, Tim Gunn, D.L. Hughley, and even Regis Philbin have appeared as guest hosts. Of those contestants that appeared on weeks featuring guest hosts, almost none carried over to the following week.
GSN acquired the rerun rights to the U.S. version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire in 2003.[12] The network initially aired only episodes from the three seasons of the original prime-time run, but additional episodes were later added, including the Super Millionaire spin-off, which aired on GSN from 2005 through 2007, and the first two seasons of the syndicated version,[13] which aired from 2008 through 2011.
On the ABC versions, ten contestants competed for the right to play the main game on each episode.[14] The contestants were presented with a question and a list of four answers which needed to be put in a specific order (e.g., ordering four historic events starting with the most recent, ordering the size of animals starting with the smallest, etc.). Using keys on their podiums, each of the contestants attempted to enter the correct order in the shortest amount of time. If the main game ended and there was still time available for another game, the remaining contestants would play another Fastest Finger round for a chance to play the main game. If two or more contestants tied with the fastest time, those contestants played an additional Fastest Finger question to break the tie.
If all contestants answered the question incorrectly, the round was repeated with another question. If any of the contestants were visually-impaired, the host read the question and four choices all at once, then repeated the choices after the music began.
The Fastest Finger round was eliminated from the syndicated series.[15]
Once a contestant is in the "hot seat," their goal was to correctly answer 15 consecutive multiple-choice questions of increasing difficulty[1] from progressively harder sets of questions. Each question is worth a specified amount of money; in most formats, the amounts are not cumulative.
Upon correctly answering questions five and ten, the contestant is guaranteed at least the amount of prize money associated with that level. If the contestant gives a wrong answer to any subsequent question, their game is over and their winnings will drop down to the last milestone achieved. If the contestant answers a question incorrectly before reaching question five, they leave with nothing. However, the contestant has the option of "walking away" without giving an answer after being presented with a question.[16] In this case, the game ends and the contestant is awarded the amount of money the contestant earned for a previous correct answer.[16]
Beginning in 2008 and continuing until 2010, time limits were introduced for each question.[17] Contestants were given up to 15 seconds each for questions 1–5, 30 seconds each for questions 6–10, and 45 seconds each for questions 11–14. Unused time was banked, and should the contestant reach Question 15, the contestant had 45 seconds plus however much time the contestant banked. Usage of lifelines temporarily paused the clock while the lifelines were played. If the clock reached zero before a contestant could provide a final answer, they were forced to walk away with the winnings they had at that point. However, if a contestant used the Double Dip lifeline and ran out of time prior to making a second guess, they were considered to have provided an incorrect answer and lost all winnings down to the last milestone achieved.
When the clock format was adopted, the on-screen graphics were updated and a new "Millionaire Menu" was introduced that showed a category for each question. The categories are revealed at the beginning of the game and are always visible to the contestant. Some of the prize levels also changed at the start of Season 8; this took effect after the ninth contestant from the 2009 primetime run played.[18]
The format was revised again for the beginning of Season 9, on September 13, 2010. In this new format, the clock was removed, and the number of questions was reduced. Instead of 15 consecutive questions, there are now 14 questions distributed into two rounds. Players are given three lifelines in this iteration: "Ask the Audience" and two "Jump the Question" lifelines.
The stage was also significantly redesigned in which the Hot Seat was removed and replaced with two video screens which display either the current question in play or the contestants' cumulative total and progress during their game. As a result, the host and contestant now stand throughout the game. Other aesthetic changes were made, including adding new camera angles and new music cues.
Ten questions are asked in round one, each assigned one of ten different money amounts: $100, $500, $1,000, $2,000, $3,000, $5,000, $7,000, $10,000, $15,000, or $25,000. The dollar values are randomized at the beginning of the game. The contestant is then shown the original order of difficulty for the ten questions as well as their categories, and those are then randomized as well. This means that the difficulty of the question is not tied to its value, and may be worth as little as $100 or up to $25,000. The dollar values for each question remain hidden until a contestant either correctly answers a question or uses the Jump the Question lifeline.
In this format, the value of each question answered correctly is added to the contestant's bank, for a maximum total of $68,600. A contestant who completes the round successfully can walk at any subsequent point with all the money in his or her bank, or can walk before the round is completed with half that amount (e.g., a contestant who banked $30,000 would leave with $15,000). Contestants who give an incorrect answer at any point in the round leave with $1,000.[19]
Since the beginning of Season 10, certain weeks of the show are designated as "Double Your Money" weeks. In those, a certain question in Round 1 is designated the "Double Money Question." When a contestant answers such a question correctly, the monetary value behind the question is doubled and added to his or her bank, giving him or her the possibility of adding up to a maximum of $50,000 to his or her bank on a single question. However, when a contestant uses the Jump the Question lifeline, he or she forfeits the doubled money.[20]
The final four questions are played for set values ($100,000, $250,000, $500,000, and $1,000,000) and a correct answer augments the contestant's winnings to that point, as in the previous formats.[19] A contestant can walk away with all the money in his or her bank; an incorrect answer drops the contestant to $25,000.
Unlike Round 1 and the previous format, there are no categories for the Classic Millionaire questions and the question values are not cumulative.
In the event that a contestant leaves and time is running out, a random audience member is given one chance to win $1,000 by answering the next question intended for the previous contestant. Regardless of the outcome, the audience member receives a copy of the Millionaire video game for Nintendo's Wii console or, more recently, the Xbox 360 game.
| Question number | Question value | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999–2004 | 2004–2009 | 2009–2010 | 2010–present[21] | |
| 1 | $100 | $500 | Random value ($100, $500, $1,000, $2,000, $3,000, $5,000, $7,000, $10,000, $15,000, $25,000) | |
| 2 | $200 | $1,000 | ||
| 3 | $300 | $2,000 | ||
| 4 | $500 | $3,000 | ||
| 5 | $1,000 | $5,000 | ||
| 6 | $2,000 | $7,500 | ||
| 7 | $4,000 | $10,000 | ||
| 8 | $8,000 | $12,500 | ||
| 9 | $16,000 | $15,000 | ||
| 10 | $32,000 | $25,000 | ||
| 11 | $64,000 | $50,000 | $100,000 | |
| 12 | $125,000 | $100,000 | $250,000 | |
| 13 | $250,000 | $500,000 | ||
| 14 | $500,000 | $1,000,000 | ||
| 15 | $1,000,000 | |||
The $1 million top prize was initially a lump-sum payment, but later changed to an annuity.
Contestants are given a series of lifelines to aid them with difficult questions. They can use as many lifelines as desired per question, but each lifeline (with the exception of Jump the Question) can only be used once per game. Three lifelines are available from the start of the game. Depending on the format of the show, additional lifelines may become available after the contestant correctly answers the fifth or tenth question. In the timed format of the show, the clock froze when a lifeline was being used and later continued from where it was stopped.
The Ask The Audience lifeline was expanded in 2004 to include users of AOL Instant Messenger.[22] Users wishing to participate added the screen name MillionaireIM their buddy list and received an instant message when a contestant used his or her Ask the Audience lifeline. The message contained the question and four possible answers, and Internet users sent replies with their choices. During instances where the AIM side of the lifeline failed to work, the contestant was only able to rely on the studio audience's response.
Eleven contestants have answered the final question correctly and won the top prize (nine on the ABC version, two on the syndicated version). An additional two contestants won $1,000,000 without answering the final question: Robert "Bob-O" Essig on Super Millionaire, and Sam Murray in the Tournament of 10. Only one contestant, Ken Basin, has answered the $1,000,000 question incorrectly.
Seven contestants correctly answered all 15 questions and won the top prize of $1,000,000 on the ABC version. Two contestants won more than $1,000,000 during a period in which the top prize grew by $10,000 on each episode until the top prize was won. A tenth contestant, Robert Essig, won $1,000,000 after answering the twelfth question during the original Super Millionaire series of episodes, but did not reach the final question for $10,000,000.
Two contestants on the syndicated version have correctly answered all 15 questions and won the top prize of $1,000,000. During the Million Dollar Tournament of 10, Sam Murray, who had previously supplied correct responses for eleven questions, risked his winnings on a special $1,000,000 question.[26]
Various special editions and tournaments have been conducted which feature celebrities playing the game and donating winnings to charities of their choice. During celebrity editions, contestants were allowed to receive help from their fellow contestants during the first ten questions. Additionally, other special weeks have been conducted featuring two or three family members or couples competing as a team, as well as both a "Champions Edition" (where former big winners returned and split their winnings with their favorite charities) and a "Zero Dollar Winner Edition" (featuring contestants who previously missed one of the first-tier questions and left with nothing).
Other themed weeks featured college students, teachers, and brides-to-be. In addition, the syndicated version once featured an annual "Walk In & Win Week" with contestants who were randomly selected from the audience without having to take the audition test.
In February 2001, there was a Tax-Free Edition in which H&R Block calculated the taxes of winnings so the contestants could earn stated winnings after taxes.
Special weeks have also included shows featuring questions concerning specific topics, such as professional football, celebrity gossip, movies, and pop culture. During a week of episodes in November 2007, to celebrate the 1,000th episode of the syndicated Millionaire, all contestants that week started with $1,000 so that they could not leave empty-handed, and only had to answer ten questions to win $1,000,000. During that week, twenty home viewers per day also won $1,000 each.
By January 2001, no contestant had won $1 million in the 71 shows that aired over a period of five months. The top prize was then changed from a flat $1 million to an accumulating jackpot that increased by $10,000 for each episode the top prize was not won. $710,000 was initially added to the jackpot for the previous 71 shows that produced no millionaire.
On April 10, 2001, Kevin Olmstead answered the final question correctly and won $2.18 million, making him the biggest winner in television history at the time. The top prize for answering the final question correctly returned to $1 million following Olmstead's win and has remained unchanged since. After Ed Toutant's initial appearance, in which he answered a $16,000 question containing an error, he was invited back for a second attempt to answer all 15 questions for $1.86 million, the jackpot at the time of his original appearance. Toutant completed the task and won the jackpot; his episode aired September 7, 2001.
In 2004, Philbin returned to ABC for 12 episodes of a spin-off program titled Who Wants to Be a Super Millionaire in which contestants could potentially win $10,000,000. The program aired five episodes during the week of February 22, 2004 and an additional seven episodes later that year in May.
Contestants again answered a series of 15 multiple choice questions for higher dollar values.
| Question number | Question value |
|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000 |
| 2 | $2,000 |
| 3 | $3,000 |
| 4 | $4,000 |
| 5 | $5,000 |
| 6 | $10,000 |
| 7 | $20,000 |
| 8 | $30,000 |
| 9 | $50,000 |
| 10 | $100,000 |
| 11 | $500,000 |
| 12 | $1,000,000 |
| 13 | $2,500,000 |
| 14 | $5,000,000 |
| 15 | $10,000,000 |
Contestants were given the standard three lifelines in place at the time (50/50, Ask the Audience, and Phone a Friend) at the beginning of the game. However, after correctly answering the $100,000 question, the contestant earned two additional lifelines: Three Wise Men and Double Dip. The "Three Wise Men" lifeline involved a panel of three experts, one of whom was always a former Millionaire contestant and at least one of whom was female. When this lifeline was used, the contestant and panel had thirty seconds to discuss the question and choices before the audio and video feeds were dropped.
After Super Millionaire ended, the Double Dip replaced 50:50 on the syndicated version.[28] In addition, Switch the Question was also eliminated from the syndicated version and replaced with Ask the Expert, a modification of Three Wise Men.
Super Millionaire produced only one millionaire, Robert "Bob-O" Essig, in February 2004. He answered 12 questions to win $1,000,000, but left the game before reaching the $10,000,000 top prize.
To celebrate Millionaire's tenth anniversary, the show returned to ABC primetime in August 2009, with Philbin hosting, for an eleven-night event.[29] The Academy Award-winning movie Slumdog Millionaire and the 2008 economic crisis helped boost interest of renewal of the game show.[7]
The episodes featured game play based on the previous rule set of the syndicated version (including the rule changes implemented in the seventh season) but used the Fastest Finger round to select contestants. The end of each episode also featured a celebrity guest playing a question for a chance at $50,000 for a charity of the celebrity's choice but still earning a minimum of $25,000 for the charity if the celebrity answered the question incorrectly. The celebrity was allowed to use any one of the four lifelines.
The finale of the tenth anniversary special on August 23, 2009, featured a contestant named Ken Basin, an entertainment lawyer, Harvard Law graduate, and former Jeopardy! contestant, who went on to play the first $1,000,000 question in the Clock format era. Basin was given a question involving Lyndon Baines Johnson's fondness for Fresca. Using his one remaining lifeline, Basin asked the audience, which supported his own hunch of Yoo-hoo rather than the correct answer. He decided to answer the question and lost $475,000, the first and so far only time in the U.S. version that a $1,000,000 question was answered incorrectly.
After the show’s broadcast, Basin posted an entry in his blog about his experience in the show, including why he went for Yoo-hoo. He explains that he remembers seeing a photo of LBJ meeting The Beatles and drinking a Yoo-hoo, a photo which he has not been able to find since.[30]
Beginning in Season 8, in response to the show's lack of a top-prize winner since Nancy Christy in 2003, the syndicated program introduced the "Million Dollar Tournament of 10”. For the first 45 episodes of season 8, each contestant's progress was recorded, and the top ten performing contestants were seeded based on how far they progressed and, in the case of a tie, how much time they banked.
In November 2009, the top ten seeds returned one at a time at the end of each episode to answer a single question valued at $1,000,000 without the use of any lifelines. Contestants were given the opportunity to risk previous winnings in the event of an incorrect answer or walk away with their winnings from their prior appearance if they chose not to answer the question. Correctly answering the question placed the contestant in the running for the $1,000,000 prize, while incorrectly answering the question reduced the contestant's previous winnings to $25,000.
In the event that more than one contestant correctly answered the $1,000,000 question, only the top seed won the top prize.
A version of this game called Who Wants to Be a Millionaire – Play It! was a former attraction at the Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida and at Disney California Adventure Park in Anaheim, California. The game was very similar to the television version—when a show started, a "Fastest Finger" question was given, and the audience was asked to put the four answers in order. The person with the fastest time was the first contestant in the Hot Seat for that show.
| Preceded by Win Ben Stein's Money |
Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game/Audience Participation Show 2000–2001 |
Succeeded by Jeopardy! |
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