Could Super Millionaire work in the UK?

[pylguy]

I have been watching a few episodes of "super millionaire" on youtube and it got me wondering if that is what the UK is in need of in 2013 to improve it's ratings.

I was too young to see the first episode of millionaire on ITV but can remember sitting with my family in 2001 all watching millionaire, I can vividly remember the tension in the room when Judith Keppel passed the £32,000 milestone. The sound of the almost frightening music, the darkness of the set and watching a normal person risking thousands and thousands of pounds on each question. The higher she got up the money tree the more excitement filled the room. I can remember my dad was shouting at the tv at Judith Keppel £1,000,000 question. Everyone was at the edge of there seat when she said the words "final answer". Then there was silence, then the whole studio erupted in celebration at a normal Briton had become a millionaire in half an hour. I really didn't understand what was going at the time but knew she had done something extraordinary. 

It is sad the UK hasn't had a winner under the new "fast track" format. Maybe the incentive for taking the risks has to be higher. It got me wondering, could the UK version rejuvenate its ratings like the US did when it had "super millionaire". Maybe ITV could commission one episode per week for twelve weeks. 

Its highly unlikely that the top prize would be £10,000,000, I think it would be more like £5,000,000 but even that might prove too much for ITV. I would just like to feel the same edge of your seat excitement that I felt in 2001. Failing this, it could be that last year of the British classic, Who Wants to be a Millionaire"

So what do you think, could Uk millionaire reverse its fortunes by having "super millionaire"? and would do you think the top prize would be?

[FrankT]

It might've worked earlier, but the questions are so hard nobody'd win any more than £50,000!

[pylguy]

I know, last night's Millionaire was ridiculous. Simone Lazaruz £20,000 question when 52% of the audience said C:568ml and only 4% said A:250ml with 50:50.I honestly can believe that she walked away. Talk about UK Millionaire being unexciting.

[idolsfan]

Well, "it's only easy if you know the answer" as Chris used to say. I personally knew the answer once she used the 50:50 because in France we call a Pint a glass of 500ml. The thing that saddens me though is that Millionaire UK is now more a show with topical questions such has "who did Justin Bieber talked about" or "who won yesterday". I think that it's doing wrong to the show since it is a general knowledge quiz.

Moreover, the music is bad since they do live episodes of millionaire. One of the aim of the music composed by the Strachans was that there was nearly no blank moment whereas now there are a lot of moment without cues. But the thing about the music that shocked me the most is that they don't play the "Q2 - Win" track when the contestant reaches the £1,000.

Another surprising thing which shocked me is that at the end, Chris reads the new question and then we hear the siren. They have just wasted a question for nothing as it will not be played and also, I think it's the first time ever that they show a question without showing the answers which is really weird.

I think the show is really losing its flavour and I don't think to be the only one to think about this since Millionaire only attracted 2 million viewers for a 9% share which may be the lowest ratings ever for a prime time episode of Millionaire on ITV.

I hope that they will improve the show because it has become boring and it's sad to witness the downfall of the original Millionaire version !

Idolsfan

[Tim0n]

Ok, about Tuesday's show.
A couple of examples of questions:
British pint. Well, it's a little bit of common knowledge, but after 56% and 50:50 she should've gone for it.
Hollywood ending. That's so obvious. It was hardly ever gonna be a "Brentwood finale"!
"O Fortuna" and the X Factor tune. It may not have been an obvious question for somebody who doesn't watch X Factor, but the answers were good enough to let the contestant break the question down and analyse it... given more time.
No. of letters and numbers on the reg plates. Woman! You've seen so many reg plates in your life it's not even true! How can you not know that!! Also, audience, plz. 1% for 11. This show is really going downhill.
I liked the question about O' Sullivan's victory on Monday. It means that not only you should have wide "classical" knowledge, as I call it, but also be aware of current events. The snooker match would've been mentioned multiple times on TV and in the newspapers due to its nature.
Water. I knew the answer before they came up on the screen. Ice, water, and water vapour. Not that difficult.

About technical stuff:
Music. Music. Music. I could do a better job playing all these cues. In fact, I *have* done a better job playing all these cues before. Without access to all the professional equipment that's available to them.
Also, lights. As a big fan of TMPD, I want to see the lights flashing and going crazy. The new light schemes are barely noticable during the game.

To conclude:
Drop the live shows. Go back to normal ones. Either drop the clock, extend the time (perhaps 20/45 sec instead of 15/30) or make the questions easier. Let someone win big. And for the love of all things evil, no more celebs. We've had enough. Yuck.
There has not been a person/a celebrity/an alien who would've won more than Ł150,000 on Millionaire since 2007. That seems to coincide rather strangely with introducing the "fast track".


About SM in UK:
That ain't gonna work, bro. Chances are the Ł10,000,000 question (or equivalent prize money) would be something like "What did Freddie Mercury have before recording the video clip for <<A Kind of Magic>>?". Or something equally impossible to answer.

[pylguy]

Adasiekkk, I couldn't agree with you more about Tuesdays episode. It is almost like the producers of WWTBAM want the show to go off the air.

Adasiekkk and idolsfan are so right about the music, it has always been crucial to the success of Millionaire and the fact that they no longer player the £1000 win cue worries me slightly. Why would they not want to celebrate the fact the a contestant has reached the first milestone and is guaranteed to go home with some money, it boggles the mind. Also the fact that no music plays in between the question really makes the show dull and uninteresting. It's like watching Question Time during when Chris is talking to the contestants.

The contestants, don't get me started. I know there is a lot of pressure on them under the lights (or lack of ) but if Simone Lazaruz ever bought milk it says 568 ml in big bold writing, even if she was torn between B and C, ask the audience and 50-50 should have made the answer completely obvious to her. I actually worry about the population of Britain sometimes not knowing that water can exist in all 3 states.

In the end Adasiekkk summed it up brilliantly. The uk should stop live show, increace the time limit on all questions and limit on celebrity specials. Millionaire should return to what made it great in the early 2000s.

Rant of the day over.

[RegisFan]

I think the state of the music cues in the UK has been deteriorating wildly for the last several years. There doesn't seem to be much reasoning behind which cues are played anymore, to the point where the remaining iconic cues that survived the "rave remixing" of the original score are disappearing entirely. As a result, the show is losing the cinematic quality it once had when the music actually played out like a film score that progressed, built tension, and climaxed throughout a contestant's run. Seeing as how the presentation has always been a big part of what makes Millionaire so special, I think the loss of this element is what is making the UK episodes so difficult to watch as of late.