“Family Feud”, “Millionaire”, and “Deal or No Deal” Start New Seasons Monday, September 7th

Monday’s a big day for all you game show fans.  Three big fan favorites are starting their new seasons and each have some interesting changes to keep you hooked in.  First we have the second season of Deal or No Deal.  The show, as many know, moved to Connecticut for the new season but everything’s apparently going to look the same.  Same look, same game, and the same big prize of $500,000.  No one won it last season, though some came close.  We’ll have to see about this season.  No real giant twists are in the mix as far as I can tell but special theme weeks are being added like usual.  Weeks of nurses, teachers, firefighters, and police officers will be present like last season, along with weeks of Halloween and Christmas shows.  Unique to this season is WWE Week.  If wrestling is your sort of thing you can see people apparently named Dolph Ziggler and Divas Eve and Maria guest on the show.  But for all those like me who absolutely despise wrestling, it’s just another week of shows with a minor annoyance.

Who Wants to be a Millionaire starts its eight season with host Meredith Vieira.  Last season brought on a major format revamp, including the clock, the categories, and new lifelines Double Dip and Ask the Expert.  All those new elements are going to remain in the show for the new season.  The biggest change is the introduction of a new money chain which gets gets rid of those pesky $100 questions and starts right off at $500, then $1,000; $2,000; $3,000; and $5,000.  The next tier ups the ante even more with an earlier chance at a five-figure payout.  You’ll get $2,500 for each question you get up to question 10, which is worth $25,000.  The final five still remain at the big payouts of $50,000; $100,000; $250,000; $500,000; and the ultimate prize of $1,000,000.  Millionaire is also including the Tournament of 10, where the top ten performers from the first 45 episodes will get to the chance to risk their previous winnings to answer one $1,000,000 question with no lifelines.  The top seed to do it will have their total augmented to $1,000,000.  This could really create some exciting gameplay, since people may be prone to risk their money more than before in order to get into that top ten.  Don’t forget that the nine people left in the Ring of Fire from ABC’s anniversary edition this summer are going to be the first nine contestants (though they will be playing under the old money chain) so we may be seeing some giant wins in the debut week.  Don’t miss it.

The biggest and most exciting changes are coming to Family Feud.  I know we’ve been over it repeatedly, but for those who want to vent about it anymore, here’s your chance.  The show is reintroducing the Bullseye round, where teams get the chance to increase their initial banks of $15,000 up to a potential $30,000 bonus round payoff ($10,000 more than previous seasons).  The other big change, never done in the show before, is any team winning five games wins a brand new car.  I was on the set for a week of shows and that car adds more tension and excitement to the show than a simple prize increase could.  I honestly do believe it’s the best addition the show has made in a long long time.  I was there when the car was given away, and you won’t want to miss it.  I wouldn’t want to miss the first week of shows either.  Just a warning.

And there we have it.  Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy!, The Price is Right and Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader are debuting in the next few weeks as well and we’ll have posts devoted to that coming.  Which of the three coming Monday are you most excited for?