New Set for Season 11

[buzzerblog]

I lurk here enough I figured I should actually discuss things. After all, it is the show that made me love the genre.

Yes, the set is smaller. Total size size, like length and width, it's not enormously smaller. Height...oh yes. If the set is higher than 12 or 13 feet right now I'd be stunned. Granted I'm 6'3'' but the start of the curve of the light columns comes to my waist now. I could sit on them easily. I did, actually. I'd have to hop up a little on the old ones. The monitor is definitely lower as well. They left me alone (literally alone) on the set for 10 minutes during audience reloading and I took as many pictures as I could. I stood on Meredith's new entrance area. My head hit the center of the monitor, and previously it was far above me. The set had to be redesigned because of how short it is now. That's the one thing that shocked me most about it, to be honest. And that's most noticeable.

The money board has also grown enormously. That's where the contestants enter from at the start of each show. Instead of just Meredith walking out and then introducing the show and contestant, Meredith walks out from the question board and the contestant walks out from the money board at the same time.

Really the only other change you may not have fully noticed is that the large square monitors above the audience have been replaced by smaller flat screen TVs, and the audience has a ceiling now. The new set is extremely modern and nice looking. I love it. But it's definitely smaller. The audience can't hold much more than 125 people now, if it does at all. The old joke used to be that the set looked like a space ship. This season, it looks even more like one.

I obviously can't overtly spoil some of the goings-on but if you'd like any more specific information please let me know. You all would appreciate the specifics more than most so I'll share however I can.

[millionairefan28]

Ahh buzzerblog joined our forum... life made. ;D

[boogyman10o1]

When I was at millionaire (Alan Carver part 2, changes, and the guy who got a hard question on 250K question) I could hear the music playing in the studio. So, I think the music cues are recorded during the show.

[FinalAnswer19]

Aug 29, 2012 12:08:28 GMT -5 boogyman10o1 said:

When I was at millionaire (Alan Carver part 2, changes, and the guy who got a hard question on 250K question) I could hear the music playing in the studio. So, I think the music cues are recorded during the show.

With the new format, I believe they've changed the way they do the music.

[buzzerblog]

98% of the music is in-studio. As it was in the old days the only thing really not pumped in are the commercial beds and the closing music. The only difference between these days and the old ones is that the melody of the question music is added in post. In-studio you get the bass and drum beats. The piano and other orchestral features are added later. This makes it easier to edit, so you don't notice any horrific music edits like you could previously pre-clock.

[RyanZ]

Which explains why sometimes I would hear the drum beats as being a little off (I can't recall the last time I noticed that happening; it was probably just more of a problem when the music editing process was new). And yeah, I rarely notice anymore where the edits are during the show, when it was a lot more obvious when the music was played in the studio.

[RegisFan]

Mr. Davis, welcome to Millionaire Fans! It's an honor to have a distinguished game show journalist such as yourself among our ranks. We hang on your every word around here, so it's great to have you aboard.

I'm really surprised that the set is shorter. I knew the overall space would be somewhat smaller than before, but a vertical shrink is unexpected. I wonder how apparent that will be on television, especially with the taller contestants.

Alex, I was wondering if you could weigh in on Family Feud's impact on Millionaire this season. Feud is getting better time slots all across the country, and with the ratings increase it's fairly obvious that Feud is a bit more attractive to advertisers than Millionaire at the moment. You've probably seen my whining on the boards that Millionaire isn't even being shown in my city this season. Do you think fans of Millionaire should be concerned about the future of the show?

[millionairefan28]

Whoa boogy, you seem to be at the studio quite a bit! ;D

[buzzerblog]

To be honest, I'm not sure about the show's future. Yeah the set looks nice but, even to me, my thought was, "Steve Harvey stole someone's budget...". This was the third year my network has changed its time slot.

I don't think it's necessarily in danger, but it's just in a weird spot. It's not really moved. It's pretty steady. Family Feud, against literally everyone's expectations, sky rocketed. No one could have planned that. And suddenly Millionaire is at the bottom. I think, unlike Feud, the show definitely has a shelf life. Unlike Jeopardy it's got no competitive aspect to keep it going, and unlike Feud it can't really shift tones and switch to whatever it wants to be. The show is pretty cut and dry. I've got no idea about it's future, but if it drops ratings I'd be watching for its future. Feud is doing a lot better with less than half the budget.

[Randydorney]

buzzerblog: Even though the obvious of keeping the ratings up for Millionaire each season by adding new game play, graphics, money values etc... Why did they move from the old studio to the NEW location.

I was there on opening day of the taping of Shuffle Millionaire at the old studio and I thought that was small. Why the changes when they could keep the old studio location and added the NEW studio?

I'm very interested of the money value changes but is there any new graphics/animations this season 11 or will it be the same as in season 10?

[buzzerblog]

To be honest I'm not sure. I thought I heard one of the new talk shows (I believe Katie Couric's?) was taping in Millionaire's old studio but I can't quite remember. Again, the studio itself is a lot bigger, but the stage is smaller and way, way shorter.

Actually nothing that you'll notice on screen changed. Music same, production is the same, it's all the same. The graphics on the question board are extremely slightly different, but you'll never see them. Again, the only difference beyond the set is the new contestant introduction.

Watch out for a 4th lifeline during Halloween week, though...

[FinalAnswer19]

Aug 29, 2012 22:18:09 GMT -5 buzzerblog said:

To be honest I'm not sure. I thought I heard one of the new talk shows (I believe Katie Couric's?) was taping in Millionaire's old studio but I can't quite remember. Again, the studio itself is a lot bigger, but the stage is smaller and way, way shorter.

I thought Katie Couric's show was going to be on NBC. Would NBC really use an ABC studio to tape their shows?

[buzzerblog]

It's an ABC show.

Here's an exclusive for you. I'll only post it here before it goes live on Buzzer. Here's a shot of the set. We'll have a time lapsed video of its construction soon.

[GSK]

That is beautiful.

[RegisFan]

That looks really great! That design is just fantastic.

Thanks for the exclusive photo, Alex!