“Millionaire” Dance Party

23 Jul

Posted by Alex Davis as Syndication, UK, Video, Who Wants to be a Millionaire?

I really should have done this a lot earlier. Since we’ve switched our focus from agony over Price is Right to agony over Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, I did mention that no foreign changes are coming to the US version of the popular syndicated quiz show. I talked about the new UK version and how just a few small changes irked me. It didn’t make the show bad; it just make it awkward. I felt a video is in order, so here you go. Courtesy of the always helpful people at Bother’s Bar, here’s a clip of the recent version of England’s Who Wants to be a Millionaire?.

11 Responses

Marc Power
1
July 23rd, 2008 at 5:59 pm

I don’t mind the theme music personally, but I see why people wouldn’t like it, it tones down the seriousness of the show.
James Lacerenza
2
July 23rd, 2008 at 7:17 pm

I don’t mind the music either; it’s just that everyone here in America is familiar with the original soundtrack. And yeah, it does loosen the tension - not a good thing.
Shon
3
July 23rd, 2008 at 7:21 pm

The music is not as dramatic as it usually is which is a problem. I loved the “Super Millionaire” sound track. The reason it worked was they added dramatic guitar riffs and other orchestral type sounds. The new British music sounds washed out. It’s sort of the same problem that “Merv Griffin’s Crosswords” had. A dark dramatic set and cheesy theme music.

One the positive side I love the new graphics they show in their questions.
Neville
4
July 23rd, 2008 at 8:05 pm

It has a nice beat and I can dance to it - 78! :)
Wheelloon
5
July 23rd, 2008 at 9:41 pm

I don’t mind the cues at all, I actually like them! They don’t beat Super Millionaire’s *which, for gawd’s sake, the show should without a doubt use now*, but they’re definitely not bad…

The graphics package is also better, IMHO, than what we have now as well. The black background for the money amounts and that gold faze in effect don’t look right, IMHO, but it’s nitpicky…

OH, and btw, why the hell are you bothering with the changes like this Davies? The show doesn’t need it. If you wanted more big winners, tone down the q’s slightly, or just restore the dollar values to what they were on the network version. I’m also in the group in not supporting the time limits either…

Then again, it would give them a chance to change their title…

IT’S TIME FOR THE MEGA-HARD SUPER BANZAI FAST IMPOSSIBLE TO WIN WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11111!!!!!!11111111one!!!!11
Martin P.
6
July 24th, 2008 at 1:06 pm

I have been watching the new version of everything over in the UK for quite a while, and when I first watched it I thought it was horrible. I didn’t like the 12-question format, I didn’t like the music, and the question entrance was bizarre. However, I host a bar version of Millionaire and decided to change over to the 12-question format, and people like it a lot better. I mean they like the easy questions, but they didn’t think that it hurt the show by getting rid of some of them. The music had actually grown on me, if you hear new level one music it is a nice change. I just wish on the other two levels there was an actual recognisable rhythm, which I think it is lacking. But unlike Super Millionaire I am glad they attempt to change it.

Now for the time limits! OMG! Well that should ruin the show big time. I think part of the tension of the show (does anyone remember Oggy sp?) is that the contestant agonises in the chair trying to solve the question or make a decision about what’s next. By putting a time limit there the aren’t even going to second guess they are just going to either solve or take the money, which will eliminate a lot the tension of show. I really hope they wouldn’t do that.

As for the life lines. I liked Double-Dip. I always thought they should give you an option of whether you wanted Change the Question or Double Dip after $25,000. But ask the expert! I think that is just another corporate plug (like ask the audience AOL — remember how much of a disaster that was!) I think that the phone-of-friend is just fine.

But I am not going to make any judgments yet about the show. However, I did figure that they would change the show after I saw the British format of the show.

::Proceed with Caution guys…let’s hope the changes don’t get the show cancelled.::
Mike
7
July 24th, 2008 at 1:10 pm

OHNOES! Another game show is making changes! Cancellation is imminent!!!!!

Good heavens. The Price is Right, Jeopardy!, and Wheel of Fortune have all made changes in the past 2 decades, yet they’re all going strong.
Darren
8
July 24th, 2008 at 1:38 pm

We had a talk by a former WWtBaM-US researcher at the National Puzzlers’ League convention earlier this month, and some things he said might help explain one of the changes anyway — striking down the first tier of questions to just two.

Let’s say the writers put forth a $100 question, “What colour are fire engines?” That seems simple, doesn’t it? They’re red. Everyone knows that. Try this experiment: find two documented sources that say so. (Wikipedia doesn’t count.) If you can’t, the question can never be used. Also, they’re red, except when they’re yellow. Or white, or orange, or whatever other odd colour some contestant’s hometown might have painted them, and God help you in your impending lawsuit if you throw that answer in as a distractor. A question like this might end up looking like:

“Which *of the following* does source X say is the most common color for fire engine in the US?”

A Red — B Pink — C Aquamarine — D Bathtub

The very easy questions are almost as hard to write as the very hard ones for these reasons. Million-dollar questions are rare, but they have to come up with five easy ones for every contestant. It makes sense to cut them because a) it relieves a headache for everyone on staff, b) it gets the middle, more interesting game moving faster, and c) a player getting a $300 question wrong only makes *everyone* feel bad, so why let it happen?
Travis P
9
July 24th, 2008 at 2:34 pm

The main reason ITV had to revamp the show as they had a choice. Either revive it with a new look or axe the show altogether.

The final series (March-July 2007) featuring the original format were getting the lowest ratings for the show on a Saturday night. ITV decided to move the show to silly times (5.30pm, 9.30pm) and it also produced many low money winners. Questions arose that Celador were increasing the question difficulty (only a handful reached £32,000 or above). Bascially the standard was like your Syndie version but this was as a weekly primetime show. Being a true fan, I felt the show was on it’s last legs and didn’t see the show that much back then.

When the revamp came for a celebrity run, ratings shot back up and it brought a new lease of life to the format. We have been watching it on a regular basis, also the new 12 question have produced more contestants in the hotseat. While ITV decided to make a clever schedulng move by airing the civillian editon every Tuesday at 8pm, while Uefa Champions League wasn’t airing. ITV have been impressd with this and decided late last year to recomission the show to Spring 2009.

The 24th series returns on 16th August where this series will celebrate the show being ten years on air.
Gene
10
July 24th, 2008 at 3:09 pm

I don’t really like the new music im fine with the graphics and the opening. The Dance Party Music Ruins the show feel and i quickly lose interest . Some Versions of millionaire change the graphics and kept the original music i wont mind if they made music similar to the original music.

I like the Super Millionaire music
Ed
11
July 24th, 2008 at 7:12 pm

That clip was tedious. It certainly helps make the argument for setting a time limit. Or at least tighter editing. Or not having two people at once in the hot seat.