Did 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire' kill the gameshow?

I caught an episode of 'Strike it Rich' on Challenge the other night, from around 1999 and i remembered just how funny it was, and a brilliant show all around with Michael Barrymore being an excellent host.

It was a format which had lasted since the mid 80s, and it suddenly got cancelled. Other big gamehshows were starting to dissepear around that time too, Catchphrase, Family Fortunes a few years later on was only good enough for daytime for a series then it got cancelled completely.

Who wants to be a Millionaire started around that time too, 1998 wasn't it? I remember at the time the whole buzz of it being that you could win £1 million with only 15 questions and no screwing about. Fantastic at the time, and it was getting massive viewing figures. So fantastic that the £10,000 jackpot for doing ALL THAT WORK on Strike it Rich seemed pointless. Same with other gameshows.

So did Who Wants to be a Millionaire kill the gameshow? Because quite frankly now that WWTBAM is on its way out, i say bring back proper gameshows like 'Strike it Rich', with Barrymore if at all possible! It was a fantastic format!

suddenly got cancelled: well there did just found a dead man in his pool:

but bar that I agree!

Oh yes, almost forgot about that! Shame really, because it wasn't his fault was it? Even so, didn't his 'My Kind of Music' show last after that accident?

It's the old thing about what is "in" and "fashionable", rather than what people actually WANT, or what is genuinely entertaining...

It's all got to turn around soon, and come full circle... hasn't it???

Yes I think it has killed the gameshow.

Everything seems to want to imitate it; the music, lights, set...

But worse of all is the grinding slowness of it all! It's so boring! So many shows have the "is it this, is it that" element with one question taking about 5 minutes to answer.

The "quick fire" quizzes and game shows of the past were so much better, Bob's Full House for example, (ok a bit cheesy) allowed Bob to really build up to the end with questions coming thick and fast - none of this dilly-dallying and pondering and fake tension building with music and lights on sometimes depressingly easy questions.

Remember this is not the Bring back the Strike it lucky thread it just a sub plot to the main post: Before anyone says

I agree about WWTBAM being too slow . They just drag it out too much. It was ok when it first started but like most things they did it to death and showed it almost every week and its boring now.

I agree we need more fun game shows but would much rather see new ideas rather then the return of 'Catchphrase' & 'Strike It Rich'.

there Nothing when with Stirke it Rich its a great Format! the main game only last 9mins at the very least!

It was Millionaire and then the Weakest Link which killed the game show, instead of having fun and winning a fridge freezer, it's all about getting a question right or wrong, winning money or going home with nothing

A similar thing is happening now due to Deal or no Deal, with questions being out of favour

I agree, the blame doesnt only lie with WWTBAM. The Weakest Link is another show done to death.

I agree. Although WWTBAM is run by Celedor, we could argue that "one-style" Endemol also killed the traditional gameshow.

I remember when Who Wants to be a Millionaire first started gameshows were certainly beginning to get timeshifted, then the Weakest Link came along and ITV decided to revamp Catchphrase with Nick Weir and so on.