Clarifying “Millionaire” Changes
I should apologize about all the recent Who Wants to be a Millionaire? posts recently. We’ve been getting news about the show’s changes in small pieces and we’re trying to put together this jigsaw puzzle before the press release comes out. It’s sort of like a game for us here and we’re good at it. Because of this, we’ve been publishing information left and right and it’s getting muddled together. I figured it might be a good idea to just list everything clearly in one post, and you can discuss where you choose. All of this information comes from blog searches, host Meredith Vieira’s blog, or audiences at the rehearsals emailing us.
Millionaire will be adding two new lifelines next season. Both are taken from ABC’s short (and horribly scheduled) run of Super Millionaire. First up is Double Dip, which allows a contestant to give a second answer if the first is not correct. However, if you commit to the lifeline, you are not allowed to stop after that first wrong answer. According to Meredith’s NBC blog and commenters, it will be replacing Fifty/Fifty. Replacing Switch the Question, once you answer 10 questions correctly, will be Ask the Expert. Again, this is all from Meredith’s blog. In this lifeline, you get to talk to a former big winner in a Phone a Friend like fashion. I’m hearing the time limit to answer a question is coming, but no idea what the limits are Money stays the same. Format stays the same. I have no idea if we’re switching to the European graphics and music but counting that essentially every version on earth uses it now, I wouldn’t be shocked.
Again, this is what we unofficially know. We should be getting a release later this week, but this is just as clearly as we can put it and make it make sense. If this is true, it has some positives and negatives. About getting rid of Fifty/Fifty, what happened constantly, even randomly, was that the two answers the contestant thought were going to pop up did. It ended up not being a major lifeline. Now this isn’t all the time either, though. So giving you two guesses may be more of a help. However, the only major negative for that I can think of is that it’s an immensely popular lifeline in pop culture. 2waytraffic made a spinoff show (a bad one, but a show nonetheless) based off the lifeline. I can just sense complaints coming off because of that.
I really enjoyed Switch the Question, but I’m fine with that going too. It’s almost unMillionaire like to say “You can theoretically miss one question and still win the million,” since it’s been driven into our heads you have to answer all of them to win. Also, what always seems to occur is the contestant uses Switch on question 11 and what happens from there is a toss up. Most of the time I’ve seen it missed, though. I love the idea, but it backfired to some extent.
Only one negative of all the changes to me is the time limit. I always thought the really interesting part of Millionaire was that it’s almost the opposite of most game shows (at least when it started). Millionaire was about building tension and letting the contestant sit it out and worry. I can see the time limit causing a lot of players to freak out and lose earlier than they should. I’d love to know, though, of what purpose adding the time limit is. Do you think it’ll add to the experience as a viewer? Because I don’t. We see it heavily edited and sped up as it is. Basically the only reason I can come up with is they wanted to make editing the show less of a chore and speed up production on the show.
I don’t think many, if any of the changes are bad. Changes to the lifelines? Fine by me, I like them. Again, the time limit is the only change I feel is silly and needless. It doesn’t add to the show. If changes to the graphics are done, I’m fine with that also; I think the new graphics are great. I feel the techno remix of the theme removes some of the tense atmosphere, but also some of that dislike comes from the fact that I really just don’t like techno music. It’s just a general evolution of the format, and I’m very excited to see it. If I trust anyone in the industry to make large changes to a format as solid as Millionaire, though, it’s Michael Davies, the show’s executive producer. He’s the best person in the business right now and he won’t do anything that he believes fans won’t like.
I can tolerate most changes to Millionaire even that crappy techno music if they decide to use it but that time limit is going to kill it. It just goes against everything that is Millionaire which is slowly plotting out difficult questions seeing if you can talk it out but now it’s going to add a lot of unnecessary stress that is going to cause contestants to go away with less money.
50/50 while I can tolerate that going is essentially another move by the show to save money. Here’s why, when you use the double dip you are locked in to doing that question no matter what. So on the tougher questions no one is going to have the guts to use it (Unless they have an inkling as to what the answer is). You see with the 50/50 there is no commitment to lock in a final answer where as the double dip you have to lock in a final answer.
There are just too many measures this season to save money and I don’t like it.
The lifeline changes seem decent to me. Double Dip seems like a logical evolution of 50/50 to me. Adds a little extra drama too I think.
I worry about the Ask the Expert though. Big time Millionaire winners aren’t experts in everything, only what they were asked. I think we’re going to see a lot of experts not have any idea what the answers to the questions are.
I hope theres some way for them to keep switch the question. I thought it was a cool notion.
AS FOR THE TIME LIMITS….. I suppose they wouldn’t be terrible for the first questions. But the 16,000 question really should have plenty of time for consideration. And the third tier shouldn’t have any time limit whatsoever. After, that’s lifechanging money, and those tense moments are what makes Millionaire, Millionaire.
I think we all agree that we hate this “time limit” thing. Sure it would be ok for the first few questions, but the contestant quickly get it right the majority of the time anyway. The Double-Dip seems like a good idea (it was a good idea on Super Millionaire) . Ask the experts, on the other hand, doesn’t. I don’t have a problem with the music because I think you have to change with the time (besides, you can’t use the same theme music forever).
Time limit: Hate the idea.
Double-Dip replaciing 50-50: I could see it working, but I’m lukewarm about it.
Ask the Expert replacing Switch the Question: My only qualm with that is, they could easily run out of big winners.
Any word on the possible categories?
I feel mixed, but the 50:50 should stay and the time limit will make it go by faster. What’s wrong with the lifelines? Should they bring it back?
Davies does deserve the benefit of the doubt here, he sure has earned it!
The time limit is the only change that I worry about, like most everyone else. I just hope Davies realizes that the show is so overdue for a jackpot win. We’ve had a good deal of them on game shows recently, and I think there will be a good handful of them this coming season. (Yes, Even DonD will finally have one :p) And I would hope Millionaire gets back into this category again this season!
Like many of you, I don’t like the time limit bit. I don’t place much value on the Ask the Expert – I’d rather have the Switch the Question myself. I’d rather have seen the Double Dip replace the Switch the Question – then we could see people try to save the 50:50 for the upper tier. Or get both Switch and Dip after Q10. I generally never mind new music and graphics.
My biggest potential problem is the question of why they are making so many changes at once? Wheel of Fortune, which seems to add and subtract rounds, wedges, and other goodies around more than any other show, still doesn’t make this many changes in between seasons. I hope that it FEELS like the same show – a few rule differences will pale in comparison to changing the entire aura. I’m not tuning into Millionaire expecting to see a different show – I want to see Millionaire! :)
I think it’s going to be weird to see WWTBAM without the 50:50 lifeline, but I do see how it would make sense to replace it with Double Dip. Should make things a bit more interesting. I also don’t mind Ask the Expert replacing StQ.
I’m still not liking the time limit idea (obviously, I’m not the only one), but now that I think about it, I think there’s a chance that they’ll make said limit(s) generous enough that contestants still have enough time to think things through well enough, especially for the tougher questions. If that’s the case, then maybe I won’t mind it as much as I do now. Then again, that could possibly make the time limit idea kinda pointless altogether, so… yeah. I still don’t like it.
I don’t mind if they update the graphics. Updating the music is just… weird to me. Not good, not bad, just… weird. Maybe that’s just me, though.
As I’ve previously mentioned, I’m very curious as to what the time limits will be for the questions. As Alex notes, given that Michael Davies is the one overseeing this change, it could be a lot better than what’s been feared.
Double Dip replacing 50:50? The two big problems with 50:50 were…
1) Questions about “randomness” of the two choices
2) There were numerous contestants who would use the 50:50, then promptly go to PAF or another lifeline.
To me, 50:50 was the weakest of the “Original 3″ lifelines. With Double Dip, you would at least not have the problem of burning lifelines, since your game ends if DD doesn’t pay off.
Ask the Experts replacing Switch the Question? As an earlier poster mentioned, the biggest problem with Switch was that it seemed as if every contestant used it at $50,000, burning a lifeline on what’s essentially a free guess.
I’d rather keep the lifelines the way they are, plus adding Switch and Dip after #10. 50:50, to me, worked like all game shows do: it’s pretty much luck of the draw. You either get lucky about which two are removed or you don’t, and if you don’t, c’est la vie.
The time limit, like many of us say, is the only thing bothering me. It seems like it’ll get players to burn lifelines out of haste as a stalling technique (if they have lifelines left), or guess at something hastily and lose a ton of money. Then again, that may just be Davies’s logic behind putting it in. Though I wonder: if you run out of time, do they treat it as a wrong answer or (like in Australia, after they instituted the 60-second shot clock) as a walkaway?
Then again, is it the format or is it the contestants that’s making the game hard?
OK, NOW I Think Millionaire’s asking for abomination. 50:50 gone and 2x in its place. If this were to be Meridith’s final season, I would not blame her at all for leaving.
Thanks for the comprehensive list of changes:
I like the idea of the 50/50 change to Double Dip…I think that Double Dip is a stronger lifeline and adds a different level of suspense to the show.
However, I am very lukewarm about the Ask the Expert. I thought it was a bizarre lifeline on Super Millionaire..it took away from the show in my opinion especially because Regis constantly had to mention them. It seems like two “phone a friends” and a little bit redundant.
I think the lifelines should be Switch the Question, Ask the Audience, and Double Dip and once you get to the 10th question you get the Phone a Friend. I think the Switch the Question lifeline would work better in the earlier questions. It usually ended up people using it at $50,000 and then haphazardly guessing. I think using the phone a friend still makes you accountable for answering the questions even at $50,000.
I hope they adopt the music and the graphics. I love it and think it is a nice change and update to the show. You saw what happened in the UK when they did little to change Millionaire.
I also think that they should adopt the 12-question format in lieu of the time limits. Like I said earlier, the feeling of constantly choosing whether to take a guess or take the money is very suspenseful for the show and the lack of time limit prolongs that and gets the audience invested. The time limit will just add on a level of hastiness that will ultimately get rid of the suspense because if the he/she doesn’t know they will take the money just so they won’t run out of time. I hope they realise that after a couple of seasons.
Overall, I welcome the changes and looking forward to how they turn out this next season.
WOW i hope they don’t use the new uk music i don’t like it at all. I hope they make a similar mix to the original music
The Time Limit thing whats this weakest link? I always enjoy the part when the contestant is thinking about the answer. Theres going to be a lot more people walking away with small amounts of money
I Guess the lifelines changes are decent. I like Double Dip better then flip
I think Millionaire would work with just new music and some new lights changes and a new lifeline and it could work. And stop with the guest hosts
As to the time limits, I agree with your guess about shortening the production time (after all, paying the crew overtime can be a killer). I haven’t seen the Australian version with the clock, but I was a regular at the Disney “WWTBAM-Play It!” attraction which gave you 15 sec. each on the first five, 30 each on the next five, 45 each on the next four, and a whopping 55 seconds on question 15. Of course, the possibility exists that with time limits in place we would see fewer “out of left field” questions after the second plateau in favor of questions that are more readily answerable, although doing so quickly would be the challenge. They need to do SOMETHING . . . it has been years since the last big winner.
I saw the new changes in place today and decided that I didn’t want to try and be a contestant after all. It was nerve racking before but now, with the clock ticking, you can’t take the time to figure out the right answer without pressure. Please, Millionaire, don’t keep ALL the changes!! The show is going to go through contestants like liquid through a sieve with this new format. And I think that will hurt the show in the long run.