Who Wants to be a Millionaire?

Not really compared to the rate of episodes for other shows, it's at a steady pace.

WWTBAM - 461 episodes since September 1988

Weakest Link - 1,000th episode reached in December 2006 (on air since Aug 2000)

Deal Or No Deal - 394 episodes since Oct 2005.

Whoops

To be honest it has got rather stale, they have had several winnners of the £1Million now so it's kind of lost it's intrest

They should give it at least a year off, then double the jackpot, and offer the first ever TV gameshow prize of £2million.

WWTBAM definitely isn't as much of crowd puller as it was a few years ago.

The jackpot might of been the initial selling point, but I'd say now it's the format that's more important - and they don't seem to get as much out of the contestants as in earlier years.

WWTBAM would be MUCH better if they altered the design of the set and changed a few lifelines to something different and of course, if they didn't reveal the £1Million pound winners before the show aired. Plus put it on 2-3 times a year for a week or so.

Then the show would be great again!!

As it stands, the show is alright but not as good as it first was. A return to more classic gameshows would be more worthwile to ITV.

Incidentally, do the computer game versions of WWTBAM and the DVD games of the show, plus books and pub machines of WWTBAM still rake in the money any more these days? :

Probably, think about it though, everybody of any age knows the format of the show and can easilly play it with friends and family

I wouldn't suggest any changes to the set or anything like that. That'd be a bad idea.

It's quite funny seeing how Deal or No Deal will catch up it's number of episodes soon!

They do need to change the format of Millionaire slightly I reckon. Minus the cashbox and monitor set, its pretty much stayed the same since 1998 - albeit a new title sequence and lighting effects.

They have to be careful though. Changing the format can kill a show - look at Blind Date, it resulted, amongst other things, in Cilla walking out.

The "Play the question at home" text game is pretty useless as you have to wait for a qualifying question on the following Monday as to whether you're selected or not. Now that's quite crafty as they keep you texting.

The actual 15 question, 3 lifeline formats should remain pretty much unchanged - but it should definately get a new look. The question graphics have been exactly the same since launch.


The US super millionaire version had two additional lifelines which I think came into play for the final 5 questions (so after £32,000 is won) - and were exchanged for their existing lifelines IIRC.

One was "double dip" - giving two answers rather than one. The other was "three wise men", asking advice of a panel of experts - not keen on that one myself, but the first is OK perhaps as a replacement for 50:50.

Personally I dont think there is anything wrong with the graphics, studio, music etc. its the format that needs looking at.

And what about the host?


Actually I don't mind Chris Tarrant - but it really annoys me how he emphasises the point of the show airing on a specific day - when recorded months earlier - such as in the Christmas Day episodes he'll mention it's Christmas Day every other sentence.


And one option - how about doing it live. They did it once and that didn't go too badly - it would certainly stop the winners being leaked!



As for revamping the actual format - not sure how it would work, but could it be done with two people playing against each other?

I dont mind Chris Tarrant but I wouldnt say that I really like him as the host either.

2 people playing against each other is a good idea.