Too late to look Stateside?
What do you do when a format is irreconcilably tired and boring? Well if you’re sensible, you get rid of it and commission something new … but that’s not how the folks over at ITV 1 think about Who Wants to be a Millionaire … nope, they want to tweak it and keep flogging that comatose horse until it either comes back to life or dies slowly, painfully and alone.
On Saturday night, quiz fans will be treated to “an entirely new version” of the programme that will “delight viewers and contestants alike”. In essence, what that means is that there will be no ‘fastest finger first’ selection process (instead that will be done by off screen auditions), there will be a time limit on the questions (15 seconds up to a £1,000 and 30 seconds on to £50,000) and if contestants get to £50k they’ll be offered the chance to swap a question if they don’t like it – my goodness it sounds ground breaking.
Almost admitting that the show has lost its way, the Sony Pictures Television press release claims that “The new show has buckets more emotion, more drama and a tension that will grip viewers at home.” That sounds to me like a washing powder update … I know we said the last detergent cleaned anything effortlessly, well this one has improved on perfection, but the old one wasn’t sh*t, honest.
Remember this is take two for a re-format of the UK version. The show changed from 15 questions to only 12 questions in 2007 to try and rescue the ratings, that obviously didn’t work, so it’s time for another go.
So just how new is this format which according to perennial presenter Chris Tarrant “take it to a new level of emotion and excitement that even I, in my 12 years of hosting the show, have not seen”?
Erm, on closer inspection … they’re not new at all.
‘Fastest finger first’ was eliminated in the US version of the show in 2002, yep that’s eight years ago. In 2007, Australia, New Zealand and Italy swapped to off-screen auditions and in 2009, even the Hungarians thought they’d have a piece of this ‘new’ format. So a truly ground breaking move to adopt that idea now.
But that’s not all. The ‘against the clock format’ has been part of the US version of the show since 2008, oh and they have it in Japan … and variations on it for several years in Taiwan and Australia.
Well, at least the question swap is an original idea, eh?
Nope, they’ve had that in the US since 2004, and also use a similar system in Spain, Colombia, Australia, Greece, Israel, Indonesia, India, Italy, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal and Turkey. Bravo, we have finally caught on.
So, what are we really getting on Saturday night as part of this innovative re-vamp?
Well, we are getting the US version of the show with Chris Tarrant, many years after no one gives a monkey’s about the programme any more.
Isn’t it odd that David Briggs, an Englishman invented the game … we gave it to the world, but we are the last people to make it good …
Sadly, I think it’s too late now for change, which is a shame, because in 1998 I would have given my eye-teeth to be in that hot-seat.
C’est la vie.
This is interesting news. I know some changes they’ve made in the past haven’t been popular, like losing the Phone-a-Friend lifeline. But I wonder if the new US version will be like this one? I saw the announcement on Buzzerblog, saying more strategy, new lifeline, and shorter route the top, but that was about it! Will see what happens here in the US.