Watching Millionaire the other day, I noticed that Chris Tarrant has been wearing the same suit with that purple tie as he introduces the programme, for the past 2 months or so. Surely he must be a little sweaty by now or had it cleaned or something??? It is pretty hot now so it would be wise to consider wearing a different one in these temperatures.
In the Radio Times this week, he does say that he reckons that the show does not have that "Must Watch" feeling as much as it used to do and that Celador and Chris have asked ITV1 to cut down on the number of shows it wants to make the show last longer.
Fair enough. I still watch the show whenever I can and I think it's still pretty watchable. I mean, what about other shows, such as Weakest Link etc. That is still very watchable and that is on every day all year round!
So I think Chris should not really be that worried. How do you think they could spice up the next series of WWTBAM when it returns??? Any ideas???
I'd be interested in how they recorded WWTBAM Classic, In the first few weeks Chris used to sign off with "Tune in next time to find out how far he goes" and other very generic statements. Lately he's actually been saying "Tune in next time to find out how far <contestants name> goes", did they realise the former sounded a bit poor
It must have taken a long time to have recorded a load of one liner sentences. I wonder if a crowd was actually there listening to Chris record them all.
Or, as I have said above, does he come in each day and do each comment fresh, but wearing the same suit???
I think only once a week is a good idea for WWTBAM, as some time ago it was on all the time, many people were switching off and it had lost it's cult status in a way. Though when it first came on, it was on every night for 2 weeks then it would take an 8 week break, then come back, etc etc, but once a week on a Saturday is a good idea, as I like to see it in the schedule, but WWTBAM Classic is now on too much and it is getting crap. Though it would be hard to imagine ITV without it.
Though ITV made a bad mistake in 2000, when they had to schedule 2 episodes of WWTBAM, a Euro 2000 game, which over ran and Corrie, all between 7pm and 11pm in One night, now that was stupid. But I'd be certain that you won't see viewing figures of 11 Million plus on a regular basis for Millionaire again. Though the Ingrams helped it a bit I suppose.
THe episode I saw earlier this week saw Chris refer to the show as being around a year old (so late 1999). Also, the show has now switched from 4:3 to widescreen. I think Keppel won in late 2000 (at the same time as the last One Foot in the Grave).
I think Millionaire needs a long break; it should leave until next Autumn - it's the only way it will regain interest. It needs a really long break and then people will say "What happened to Millionaire?"
Also, I think they need to revamp the set again and the titles. The best set came in series three where they ditchted the box with money in. They recently changed the set to make it more pink and I don't think it has the right effect. It needs to be dark, gloomy and mysterious like the early series.
I also think the opening titles play a big part in generating excitement for a programme. The original titles were really psycological - people staring at a bright light, transfixed on the chance of winning one million and they'd be brainwashed by the lights. The sound was really deep and gloomy and harsh.
Now they've changed the titles and they're bright(er) and the music is tinnier and the people are smiling and moving about quickly and there are silly "whooshing" sound effects.
They need to restore the original titles, or make some new, gloomier ones.
In my opinion, WWTBAM should return to its old scheduling. It should take a long break now and return with nightly programmes every couple of months or so - remember when Chris used to make those highly topical jokes during the show?
Or maybe, perhaps make it live? I don't know if it's possible - I know that podium thing takes ages to screw in and the programmes consist of scenes cut and spliced together, but surely they could change it slightly and get away with it being live? That would restore at least some tension...
In my opinion, WWTBAM should return to its old scheduling. It should take a long break now and return with nightly programmes every couple of months or so - remember when Chris used to make those highly topical jokes during the show?
Or maybe, perhaps make it live? I don't know if it's possible - I know that podium thing takes ages to screw in and the programmes consist of scenes cut and spliced together, but surely they could change it slightly and get away with it being live? That would restore at least some tension...
Indeed - that's a good idea. It would certainly make it more tense watching a live show.
I don't see why they need to unscrew the podium, I'm sure they could get away with leaving it screwed in throughout the show.
