Season 10 Set Report

[Deleted]

Hey everybody,
I just came back from New York to see the 1st taping of season 10 of "Millionaire", and I wanted to give a report on that day.

Set:
Not much difference from Season 9 except that the colored stairs returned on parts of the set.

Graphics:
On screen graphics have changed. The question lozenge is now floating and no longer attached by bars extending to the side of the screen. This also applied with the money tree and lifeline graphics.

Just to give y'all a general idea, i slightly modified a question lozenge:


Gimmicks:
A new feature called "Club Millionaire" is going to start sometime in the season. It's basically answering a daily question, and who ever answers the most questions correctly will be entered in a random drawing. The winner of the drawing will be guaranteed to make an appearance on the show as a contestant. The "Double Deal" thing was never mentioned at all during the taping.

Side notes:
The reason why the on screen graphics have been slightly changed is that the show is going to be in HD (speculation). As I was watching multiple off screen monitors on set, they were all HD monitors...minus the two huge screens that have been there since the original Primetime version.

[kplewisvox]

Aug 15, 2011 12:49:20 GMT -5 @divvy said:

Side notes:
The reason why the on screen graphics have been slightly changed is that the show is going to be in HD (speculation). As I was watching multiple off screen monitors on set, they were all HD monitors...minus the two huge screens that have been there since the original Primetime version.

Interesting. AFAIK, the British version has been in HD for many years. They handle the different dimensions just by making the bars a little longer. I always thought that'd look really sharp if we did it.

[GSK]

Any reduction on the number of questions, like the FB game?

[Mech]

Aug 15, 2011 12:49:20 GMT -5 @divvy said:

The "Double Deal" thing was never mentioned at all during the taping.

Supposedly it isn't a regular thing and they just kind of toss it in there randomly when they feel like it. I'm not a fan of it, to be honest. The point of the show is to climb all the way to the top and win, which already makes round 1 moot and a complete waste of time if your bank doesn't mean anything once you've gotten past the $100,000 mark. Just looks like another way to try and swoon players to walk early.

Best case scenario: A perfect first round with a bank totaling $93,600. Ask the audience helps you win $100,000 - the whole "double" now means nothing along with the rest of the "excitement" (for lack of a better term) of round one.

Worst case scenario: A semi-perfect first round with jumping the $100 & $500 questions for a bank totaling $93,000. Ask the audience doesn't help much for the $100,000 question. Who in their right mind is going to venture a $68,000 gamble for a $7,000 payoff? Vegas casinos wouldn't even offer such a bet because no one would bother.


I love the show and will keep watching/supporting as long as it's on, but they are adding too many gimmicks and radical game play changes these days. Aussie's "Hot Seat" even has simpler, less complicated rules. =/ I'm somewhat curious if they are going to include the "non-cash prizes" this season. They didn't last year, but it's still in the rules.

[millionairefan28]

I like the bars connecting the question lozenge and answers. Taking it away makes it look weird.

[millionaire1999]

You gotta be kidding me!
I just revised my graphics to look as accurate as possible! And now more changes to lozenge?!
Sigh more photoshop... again...
Mech..... HELP!!!!

[RyanZ]

I don't know about the rest of us, but I'm keeping the bars on my graphics. "Club Millionaire" is just a gimmick that doesn't alter the game either way. As long as we don't have a "Wheel Watcher"-esque commercial (the first 30 seconds of the video)...



If that were to happen, I think we'd all be done.

EDIT: From Alex Davis's twitter: "I think I accidentally ruined some PR plans with the Double Money days, so I won't go into specifics but barely anything has changed." Could this be why it wasn't mentioned at all during the taping?

[RegisFan]

This is all very interesting news. I honestly don't mind the new graphics, especially if the show ends up being in HD (which, let's face it, is long overdue). "Club Millionaire" could be a fun way to interact with the show. Let's hope it's well implemented. I think I'm beginning to look forward to September 5.

[themountainclimber]

Indeed interesting. I kinda like the new question lozenge. "Club Millionaire"... I'll see how that plays out.

[millionairefan28]

Club Millionaire... are you thinking of it like that similar to Enhanced TV?

nvm... although something similar to enhanced tv would be cool, but tough with the syndication. I assume that's why they only did it with the primetime shows.

[FrankT]

It'll never be in HD! I'm telling you, any time it seems like things are looking up, they are instead going DOWNhill. The previous money ladder proved that!

[millionairefan28]

Well I watch Millionaire on 6ABC and that channel's in HD... I don't believe Millionaire going to HD would make a significant visual difference.

[GSK]

Aug 23, 2011 15:03:00 GMT -5 FrankT said:

It'll never be in HD! I'm telling you, any time it seems like things are looking up, they are instead going DOWNhill. The previous money ladder proved that!

Just because you don't agree with changes the show makes doesn't mean it's going downhill.

People like you can hate the new US Millionaire until the end of time, but you can't deny the ratings have improved, people have won more money, and it has breathed new life into the game.

Aug 23, 2011 16:45:07 GMT -5 millionairefan28 said:

Well I watch Millionaire on 6ABC and that channel's in HD... I don't believe Millionaire going to HD would make a significant visual difference.

Channels that operate in HD will HD programs in 16:9 aspect ratio, while SD programs will be in 4:3 ratio. If you have a 4:3 TV, you won't notice any difference. If you have a 16:9 TV, Millionaire, if in HD, will suddenly gain more space on the left and right sections of your 16:9 screen and it will look much clearer and sharper.

[FrankT]

Hm. I'm living in the past again. I meant, things went downhill in the clock format - remember?

[Gagamillionaire]

No offense, but if you don't want to like something, you'll always find flaws. I just think that the producers try to keep the show interesting by adding new features. And when they add a 'Double the money' question every once in a while, I don't mind. I'm happy for those who get more money and it doesn't mean that everybody will double the $25,000 anyway. So it won't be like that $10,000 $12,500... thing in season 8. And the bank in round 2 is only something like the $50,000 stage was earlier. It makes sure that people don't just guess and might get the right answer on the $100,000 question. Maybe it's a bit unfair for the contestants, who, in the past, could just guess and get the right answer, but it's a quiz, not some random casino game, and you earn your money by knowing things. Personally, I think that US Millionaire did what other versions should've done much earlier. The UK version, for example, clung to the original rules too long, in my opinion. The new music and taking away 3 of the lower tier questions didn't make the game much more interesting or different. Maybe the clock and the set changes came a bit too late. But I'm wandering off the topic. I find the changes good and I'm looking forward to seeing them played.