“Millionaire” Starts with a $100,000 Question Friday

17 Oct

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

Time to jump into conspiracy theory mode which must make all these production companies laugh their asses off. On Thursday, October 16th’s episode of Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, contestant Adam Pinson made way up the money chain and collected $50,000 before time ran out. He’ll be back on Friday, October 17th, with a $100,000 question in the category of TV Dinners with just Double Dip left. Will he be the first in six years to break the bank and finally win the $1,000,000 top prize?

I really don’t think so because it’s not November. I’ve been writing for this site for over three years. I’ve been trained to understand that the big events happen in November for sweeps. However, that was really wrong on Tuesday’s million dollar Wheel of Fortune win. So could he actually win the big money? I’d place my bets on a $250,000 or $500,000 win; but what do I know? All I’m saying is I find it relatively tricky to see a release about a $100,000 question starting a show, since $100,000 wins aren’t all that rare and this has never happened to me before, as far as I can remember. Tune in tomorrow to find out if we have our first massive winner of the season. I know I’ll be there.

And hey, at least he got rid of the useless Ask the Expert lifeline. Useless this week, at least, since the Experts are writers for Entertainment Weekly. Yeah, they’re really going to help you with categories like South America and The Gene Pool. At least one of my favorite Millionaire contestants, the first female million dollar winner Nancy Christy, will be coming soon. She should be great.

A picture of Adam on the set courtesy of Valleycrest Productions Ltd. would be up here, but for some reason it’s having trouble uploading. I’ll get it up as soon as I can. Which will be tomorrow after I take up probably. So tired.

10 Responses

Ed Toutant
1
October 17th, 2008 at 4:21 am

I predict the question will be about the first TV dinner. It was a turkey dinner from Swanson’s. I have no inside information, and I could be wrong, but it’s a pretty standard trivia question.
Grant P.
2
October 17th, 2008 at 9:13 am

That was actually a MDQ on the original Millionaire CD-ROM game. I don’t know if they’ve ever reused a question from those games on the actual show.
Jay
3
October 17th, 2008 at 1:44 pm

Correct me if I’m wrong…but, wasn’t the first $1,000,000 won during the Month of October? The only reason I (vaguely) remember that is because I live in S. Fla….and there was either a hurricane or a tropical storm.

October, or not…I’m pretty sure it wasn’t during sweeps.
Xavier
4
October 17th, 2008 at 2:10 pm

The first Million was won at the end of January 2003. The second was won in May 2003.

And I just watched the episode, and am wondering why a release was let out for this episode. Seemed like a normal episode to me.
dropzone5
5
October 17th, 2008 at 11:22 pm

Adam, the contestant in question, was a College Jeopardy! finalist back in 2005. Nico Martinez wound up winning that tournament (speaking of whom, wasn’t he also on Millionaire a few years back?).

But really, now, what makes you think this guy’s going to claim the million? There have been some eps. where they started on the $100K question, and they either walked right then and there or went one more, but that was it. Heck, I remember in the Regis days they started with the Big One, but the guy walked.

…Wait, there was a release on this? Hmm…
Jake
6
October 18th, 2008 at 1:13 am

For the record, most syndicated game shows are based on continuity, so there is limited opportunity for Millionaire, Wheel of Fortune, or Jeopardy! to “schedule” big wins during sweeps periods.

If Jeopardy!, which has returning champions, had a contestant with a Jennings-like hot streak, all they could do is shuffle around their tournaments (Celebrity, Teen, College, or Otherwise). Bear in mind, Alex usually acknowledges when the show is heading into a regular season break for tournament play. It’s a small edit, but it still requires a bit of foresight as episodes can be taped months in advance. Same goes for Millionaire, they could reschedule their Pop Culture Week or their Engaged Couples Week to push their million dollar winners into the sweeps period. Beyond that, it’s really left up to the luck of the draw. Most of these shows, mind you, do have a very loyal audience, which brings me to…

Why was there a press release on this Friday’s episode? Millionaire wants to hop out of the kiddie pool and play in the big boy’s pool with Wheel of Fortune and their million dollar winner - that’s all. Anything to gain the attention of people who enjoy the show but don’t set out to watch it every day. I LOVE the show, but I don’t watch it or any other game show every day. If I heard a story that someone’s going for $100k, I’d probably tune in. Assuredly, there are a few other folks like me.

Long story short, if you were responsible for Millionaire’s ratings, wouldn’t you jump at the opportunity to release a press release on the heels of a fellow syndicated program just to drum up a few more eyeballs? I know I would.
Chad
7
October 18th, 2008 at 1:28 am

But won’t it be bad for the viewers to see Millionaire as “The Game Show Who Cried ‘Wolf!’”? I wouldn’t want to trick viewers into making them watch an ordinary episode only to see the viewers turn away when a big win actually occurs.
Darren
8
October 18th, 2008 at 2:19 pm

Folks, I have a question:

Where in the original article does it say there was a press release about anything?

The posting is dated Thursday, October 16, the day of the airing of the episode where Adam Pinson reached the $50,000 question. Maybe this is simply a report on stuff that happened.
dropzone5
9
October 18th, 2008 at 4:10 pm

From above:

“All I’m saying is I find it relatively tricky to see a release about a $100,000 question starting a show, since $100,000 wins aren’t all that rare and this has never happened to me before, as far as I can remember.”
Todd
10
October 18th, 2008 at 11:30 pm

I think Alex knows something we don’t know…