“Million Dollar Money Drop” is a Thrill Ride of a Game Show
Fox debuts its adaptation of the hit British quiz show The Million Pound Drop, now called Million Dollar Money Drop, this coming Monday, December 20th, at 8:00PM ET on Fox. If you’ve read here at all then you’ve probably seen the British version or at least know of it. There were some initial fears of how the show would be adapted for American audiences. Fox provided us a screener of the first episode. I’m happy to report that beyond a few visual changes, Million Dollar Money Drop is virtually the same as its international counterparts and is every bit as tense and dramatic.
By now you know how the game works. Drops on the set correspond to answers. You have a million in cash in front of you. Place all your money on one or more drops, always leaving one open. Money on wrong drops goes away. Whatever you keep after seven questions is yours, if you get that far. The actual changes to the show from the British version are slight.
*Seven questions instead of eight. Questions 1-3 have four choices and 60 seconds to answer. Questions 4-6 have three choices and 75 seconds to answer. Question 7 has 2 choices.
*After time is up players are, just once, given an option to use a Quick Change which gives them 30 extra seconds to move any money.
*Models move the money back from the surviving drop to the player’s area.
*Drops not being used in later questions are physically removed from the set, which is a nice touch.
*Set is inspired by the British version but Americanized. Music is full on American, but very good. Sounds a bit like Crazy Train to be honest, as stupid a comment as that is.
If you like the British version, you’ll like this. The pace, game, and general tone of the show is identical. It’s a tense, nerve wracking, suspenseful quiz show. Is it the next Millionaire like many want to make it seem? No. But it’s one of the more solid straight forward quiz shows we’ve had in years, and how often do we get a show where you just answer questions without any major gimmicks of luck? Again, it’s practically the same as the British version in everything but set and music and if that’s somehow enough to turn you away then that’s a shame.
The only giant difference is in the players, and that’s just different types of mentalities, I guess. The British contestants tend to play conservative for the most part. In the screener of the show I saw, the American contestants were gambling nearly everything, in the area of $800,000 to $1,000,000; constantly on questions where they either weren’t sure or questions based on surveys and studies where you really can’t know for certain. It was pretty exciting exciting and will make for some moments we’ll be talking about depending on how great or poorly it goes.
All that being said, will Americans respond to it? I don’t know. I think they’ll pick up on the drama but winning the million is nearly impossible and all you do is constantly see your prize dwindle, which is the polar opposite of anything they know and feel safe with. As we’ve seen with many recent shows, Americans don’t deal with change that well. I’m crossing my fingers for it and we’ll all be surprised together if it does well or not. I want it to do well, so I hope you check it out. It’s worth a view and given Fox’s track record with quiz shows recently I think it stands a shot. Million Dollar Money Drop debuts Monday, December 20th, at 8:00PM ET on Fox.
The one thing I don’t like from the clips I’ve seen is the music change, it just doesn’t seem as tense. A bit like the change between UK and US Duel. I’m sure I’ll get used to it eventually.
The 75 seconds rule smells like change for change’s sake. I can sort-of see the point of it, but honestly how difficult is it to pick a time limit that applies to all the questions and just stick with it?
Remember how the 60 second clock started at an arbitrary time on Million Pound Drop? I wouldn’t call that a consistent time limit.
Alex D,
Does MDMD continue the trend of excruciating painful pauses for ‘dramatic effect’ and ‘we’ll find out…right after these ads’ that started with DOND?
Of course I’m no expert, but I do believe that it was American Idol that started that. At least if I have my timelines correct, AI was doing it before DOND
That is correct. It DEFINITELY started with “American Idol”. They are known for it the most…”Deal” is the biggest game show for it…
I expect that I’ll be tuned in to “Million Dollar Money Drop”. I’ve stated before that I don’t think the show will catch on with American audiences, and I see that Alex has some of the same misgivings that I have about this.
Most Americans–especially the average Joe and Josephine–do not watch game show footage on this site, or on Another Website. So they will not be familiar with the footage of the UK version of this show. They won’t notice the difference.
Another thing that could hurt the chances of this show’s success is that it is premiering during a week when television viewing is down for the Holidays. Folks have other things to do–plan and/or attend parties, do Christmas shopping, wrap presents, you name it. Viewership is down around this time, recovering after New Years’ Day. It’s an open question as to whether Fox was wise in scheduling this show for this particular week.
The networks were still airing new episodes of top-rated shows into early-mid December, plus a few midseason shows were thrown into the mix to see how they would do. Now that it appears that all of the fall shows are in rerun mode this week, it’s worth the effort to give MDMD a fighting chance.
The Monday premiere will be opposite the CBS comedies, the “Sing Off” finale and the penultimate episode of “Skating with the Stars.” “Skating” has been a disaster and should not do well. “Sing Off” has been strong for NBC and should do at least 10 million and 3.0+ demo for the planned 150-minute finale. The CBS sitcoms tend to rerun well, although the 8p hour (“Mother”/”Rules”) are the weak links of the four.
Honestly, I think if MDMD premieres with 7-8 million viewers and a demo between 2.0-2.5, Fox should be happy. It will not beat “Sing Off,” and will likely fall short against at least the second hour of the CBS sitcom block.
“Another thing that could hurt the chances of this show’s success is that it is premiering during a week when television viewing is down for the Holidays”
While true, there is the matter of a little show called Deal or No Deal that premiered Christmas week…
I don’t know why there’s so much concern for this debuting on December 20th… Deal or No Deal premiered on December 19th! I think this is great for EVENT programming – as I recall it’s going serial in January or February, and then it should be interesting. If you want to do a week-long debut, this is the way to do it!
Endemol is known for producing awesome game shows. In fact, let’s remember that three of their game shows are still on the air in some manner or another. Deal or No Deal is on “hiatus” but is currently being shown in “overkill” on the Game Show Network. Due to popularity, 1 VS 100 has returned, also on GSN. And Wipeout has been hitting the television audiences on a constant basis since it debuted in 2008 on ABC. This company knows what works and what doesn’t, so I’m sure they wouldn’t have created Million Dollar Money Drop if they knew it wouldn’t be a lasting success.
Can’t wait until the premiere in 2 days. Million Dollar game shows are always amazing! =D
And now for the stats….
If you spread your money evenly among your choices (of course, no money one of the drops), and successfully make it through all seven questions, you make about $37,037.04. Given the nature of the question material, this is a cheap show, and Americans want to see the excitement of money being won. Call it a hunch, but I don’t see this show developing much of an audience unless there are some six-figure winners in the mix early on.
OOPS! Error on my spreadsheet. You’ll end up with $4,629.63. The ratings will fall faster than the money.
Well, despite the fact that British contestants have won no more than £75,000 amongst the winning teams, it’s still had strong ratings; around 2-3 million viewers tune in every night (and remember, the UK has 62 million people, so 2 million on a major network is really good). :)
I do recall Alex posting a clip of a couple making it to the final question with £525,000 in hand. But they lost it all because they didn’t know that Charles and Diana married before Sharon and Ozzy. :(
Well I’d debate ‘really good’, giod for the channel possibly.
The show finished bottom in its timeslot on Friday.
Do you math again, if you spread your money evenly though all seven question, you will make $289.
$1,000,000 x 1/4 x 1/4 x 1/4 x 1/3 x 1/3 x 1/3 x 1/2 = $1,000,000/3456 = $289
So the odds of winning a million bucks on the show are 1 in 3456. I’d take those odds over the Lotto any day of the week!
However, this even spread will never happen as human nature and the allure of winning big will prevent it.
As easy as most trivia questions are on game shows these days, most should leave with a nice amount, too bad they will only cast morons who will blow it.
I join those who have reservations about the show. Having “Million Dollar” in the title is just going to call attention to the fact that no one will actually win it.
I’m just so glad they have both “Million Dollar” and “Money” in the title since in these times, I forgot what a dollar is…
Just be glad we’re not talking Zimbabwean dollars.
I wonder what the going exchange rates are for Zimbabwean dollars vs. GSN Oodles!
“questions where they either weren’t sure or questions based on surveys and studies where you really can’t know for certain.”
That’s the line that is going to annoy the crap out of me. Don’t get me wrong. I’m excited for the stateside launch of a potentially great game show, but the casting of morons aside I have a grave feeling that we’re going to end up hearing…
“Is it Tuna?”
(Apologies to Dan Avila for bringing it back up.)
Crossing fingers for a great initial run (& ratings!)
Apart from the 75-second limit after question 4, the two main changes (one less question, bundles of 20k rather than 25k) seem sensible to speed up the game slightly and increase the chance of winners. The set looks great too.
I do wonder if losing the live aspect will harm it at all – probably not in the case of the show itself, though losing the stats on people playing at home takes something away from the format – but the US have never had it to be taken away.
Only thing I can say regarding the usual low amounts won is if it returns you can pretty much guarantee they’ll at least do specials, if not tweak the rules, where the amount to play with is more than a million dollars.
The Quick Change seems rather pointless. It’s likely (if the British show is any example) to lead to second guessing and even more and bigger losses.
Why not have had a lifeline that, say, lets them on one question (except the final one) place their money on all the trapdoors? It would make more winners much more likely…
Funny world we live in. In Britain, *You* move your own money back. Here: you get Miss USA 2009 Kristen Dalton to do it for you. (Googled it up)
Nice idea, I guess, but doesn’t that take some of the fun away? I mean, it is “Your Money”…
Moving the money back actually serves a purpose on the British version , because it’s live it’s necessary to take the time to move it all back. Plus it gives a nice little pause for replays, etc. American gameshows seem to love having models in and it seemed like they were struggling to think of a suitable place to put them in for this format.
I agree with the Quick Change seeming pointless, half the fun of MPD is when contestants occasionally realise their error when it’s too late. Often though, their realisation turns out to be wrong and it turns out they put the money on the right answer in the first place. We’ll have to see how it works in practice. At the end of the day, if you don’t know the answer in 60 seconds, an extra 30 isn’t going to make it much easier.
Ok, I’ll add to the Quick Change debate.
I agree that it seems somewhat pointless. UNLESS, they could use it after 1 or more of the drops have opened.
Obviously, you couldn’t do this on question 7 and the times that multiple drops open at the same time might defeat this opportunity (could easily just open 1 at a time, as they will likely abuse for tension), but if done right, this could earn contestants a lot more money. (or cause gut-wrenching tragedy)
Regarding the quick change, I was at 2 of the tapings and the quick change turned out to be a pretty spectacular gimmick. On 2 different occasions, the couples got so caught up in the excitement they didn’t fully comprehend the question. Once the dust and dollars had settled, they realized the majority of their money was, most likely, on exactly the wrong answer. If you think moving a million in 60 seconds is a panic, wait till you see it with 30 seconds.
And to those of you who think no one’s going to win big money, well, i saw one couple walk off with 300 k. Not bad for an hour and a half of work.
Trying to find out how to audition for Million Dollar Drop . My husband and I enjoyed this show it get were gonna watch it all the time or DVR each show.We would love to be contestants on the show!
Go to their site Fox.com/milliondollarmoneydrop & scroll down & click casting…it will list all the shows that are looking for contestants & the requirements. I was interested myself but one of the requirements is “Live in drivng distance to Los Angeles” and that eliminates me.
how do u get on million dollar drop games show let me k asap
I LOVE THIS SHOW IT IS FUN TO LOOK AT AND IT IS ALOT OF MONEY ON THE LINE YOU CAN WIN…I JUST WANT TO KNOW HOW CAN I GET ON THE SHOW,,WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO TO BE ON THERE..SOMEONE TELL ME…
Million Dollar Money Drop producers are LAME. After they found out that the couple in fact had answered the question correctly; instead of doing the HONORABLE THING and giving the couple the $800,000 they actually won — these LAMES (producers) only offered them another chance to be on the show and start all over again.
Attention couple: DON’T DO IT! Get a lawyer and sue the pants off that show’s producers.
Alex, call me stupid too, i guess. I just assumed the song was Crazy Train from the first time I heard it. Seems appropriate for the show.
Ann, you like so many others are overlooking the fact that the couple would have walked away with nothing regardless of the outcome of that question. The producers should absolutely not offer up 800k. It’s an unfortunate situation with no clear solution. I think they are dealing with it fairly well.