A (Possibly) Controversial Opinion

[panampat]

This is something I've been mulling over for a very long time and I think I've finally found the right space to share it with.

So, I was first introduced to Millionaire through the syndicated version with Meredith Vieira (the traditional and best format with the hot seat and no clock). Not too long after that captured my intrigue, I was introduced to the ABC version with Regis Philbin on GSN. At that time, I thought both versions were pretty darn good. 

Many years down the line, I learned Millionaire was originally British, so I went onto Youtube to check out the original British version with Chris Tarrant. That decision has changed the way I view American Millionaire (particularly the ABC original) forever. 

I recognize this may be a controversial opinion (I'm not sure), but to me, between the British original (which I will now call the ITV version) and the ABC version, the British version is, by light-years, better. There are many things that ITV's Millionaire did right, many little touches, that didn't translate to the States when it was brought over. There are many producerial/directorial/network-level decisions that I personally disagree with (many of which are minor, but that's because I am a very detail-oriented kind of guy), but my three biggest gripes are:

• The pacing of the ABC version is wrong. It's far too fast. It kind of feels as if ABC was really interested in getting through as many contestants as possible to produce as many winners as possible (which, considering ABC's overexposure of the show in its original run, is probably why the show is paced at breakneck speeds). Thankfully, unlike many other American game shows like Wheel of Fortune or Jeopardy!, we actually get to learn a decent bit about the contestants here, so that's a plus. But pacing issues lead to...
• ...the ABC version being not nearly as suspenseful as the ITV version. What bothers me the most is that while both versions do a good job of keeping suspense up while the contestants think over the questions (thanks mainly to the wonderful work of the Strachans), the ABC version fails to reap the massive build-up in suspense after the final answer is given (especially on higher, six figure level questions), something the ITV version nails almost every time. What I mean by that is: When someone on the ITV version gives the final answer to the £500,000 question, 90% of the time, Chris will build up the suspense by waiting about 6-10 seconds, creating a sense of doubt and anxiety in the contestant and viewer. When someone on the ABC version gives the final answer to the $500,000 question, 90% of the time, Regis will absolutely kill any of that suspense by revealing within three seconds (sometimes a split second after the third 'ding' in the final answer sound is heard, sometimes even sooner) whether they got it right or wrong, even if the contestant seemed somewhat unsure of their answer (which is the perfect opportunity to stall and make them sweat a little). The syndicated version doesn't really suffer this problem thanks to Meredith's fake-outs, which I always found very amusing and anxiety-inducing (in a good way, like the ITV version).
  

Now, I realize that my third gripe may be a cardinal sin on this page, especially when you consider what this site used to be called (until earlier today), but I just don't think Regis Philbin is as good as many other folks (both here and on YouTube) make him out to be. Sure, he has great repartee skills. Then again, so does Meredith and Chris. Where Regis comes short compared to those two is where Millionaire is so different from every other game show both in Britain and in America, suspense and excitement.

Millionaire is the first game show of its kind to have suspense built in. It is built in because of the life changing amounts of money being given away, sums unlike any other show before. Excitement is simply a natural by-product of that suspense. Those are this format's two biggest strengths, and the original ABC version disappointingly under-delivers, especially compared to the syndicated version and the ITV version. We've already touched on the reduced suspense (which I think is more of a producerial fault anyway), but where I think the original ABC version comes short on suspense, I think is due to Regis. 

What I mean when I say that is this. When someone wins a million on the syndicated version of Millionaire, Meredith is bursting at the seams with excitement (you can watch both Kevin Smith's win and Nancy Christy's win). When someone wins a million on ITV's Millionaire, Chris, without fail, runs over to hug them and congratulate them. Often times, when someone wins six figures, Chris would reach over to shake their hand as soon as they've been told they won that amount of money. (Both of these are reasons why, if you hadn't guessed, Chris Tarrant is my favorite Millionaire host) They are both clearly extremely excited for their contestants.

With Regis, everything feels very transactional. When someone gets a six figure question correct, Regis tells the camera (and not the contestant, oddly) they got it right, shot of the contestant happy, lights come down, next question. When someone wins the million, Regis tells them (again, without the pause for suspense, typically) they've won a million, confetti comes down, the contestant's friend/family comes down to hug them, Regis remains seated to sign/hold the check, Regis hands check to winner, shakes their hands and/or gives them and the contestant's friend/relative a quick hug, the contestant and their relative are shown off the stage. With Regis, you don't get the same sense of excitement as you do with Meredith and Chris. 

And as much as I don't want to say that this is a host shortcoming, I can't think of how this is a producerial shortcoming. I mean, no producer, surely, would tell their hosts, "Limit your excitement when the contestant wins big." And plus, a moment to get up and hug the contestant when they win the million or to lean over and shake their hands when they've won six figures isn't too time-consuming or breaks the pace of the show. To me, Regis simply couldn't drum up Meredith or Chris-levels of excitement for his contestants. 

And I hate saying all of that and being harsh on him because I think he is a very nice guy. I've never met him myself, but he seems very nice. And I thought he was pretty good when he did Million Dollar Password (I watched every show when it came out new on CBS) and on his daytime chat show (although I don't consume much daytime TV). It's just, Millionaire takes more than your typical game show host to host simply due to the way its structured and the amounts of money you're dealing with, and to me, Regis just didn't hit the mark. 

That being said, I do recognize and very much appreciate his contributions to the ABC version of Millionaire and ABC Millionaire's contribution to game shows not only in America, but the world over. While I may not be the biggest fan of his tenure as host, many folks who are fans of this show/format are, and I have nothing but respect for him despite my disagreements.

And before you ask, what do I think of Kimmel? I don't know. To be honest, I won't be able to fully weigh in on where he ranks on my totem pole of Millionaire hosts until we see a civilian version of Millionaire with him, although I have high hopes for him as of now.

I'm not seeing to change your minds on Regis, but I am intrigued to hear your thoughts on anything I just said in this post.

P.S. If you're wondering what I consider to be the perfect episode of Millionaire with the perfect amount of quality banter, suspense, and excitement, watch the first day of Ingram Wilcox's run to the million. Here's a link to the original ITV airing of the show from 2006.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiM7gCf62sc

[doctorwho]

Well, first of all, I'd like to congratulate you on having such a well-thought out post that I felt compelled to break out this account I haven't used in years to reply.

Honestly, I think you hit the nail right on the head, and I've been thinking much the same for years: the American version doesn't quite hold up as well as the British version, and one of the reasons for that, I'm afraid, is Regis, no matter how positive a light I hold him in otherwise (seriously, he seems to me like a genuinely wonderful person!).

A caveat: in the original August and November 1999 runs, I actually think Regis did a wonderful job with hosting and (importantly) building up suspense. The moment that will always stick out in my mind is Doug Van Gundy's $250K win -- sure, he didn't draw it out in agonizing silence as Chris Tarrant did, but his interplay with Doug ("You could lose 93 thousand dollars.") lays on the tension perfectly, and that question is one of the top moments of the Regis run.

I'd also add John Carpenter's million dollar win. Could it have done with a bit more tension? Sure. But his leadup to what pretty much everybody knew was coming is television gold, and he gave the moment all the buildup it deserved, making sure nobody was ever going to forget the "final answer heard all around the world."

I think where the problems started to come in was when ABC made it a full-time series. It became much less of an event, and Regis's hosting reflected that (particularly by way of the quick reveals, as you mention) -- when you're hosting the same show three times a week for weeks on end, you're going to start to tire out at some point, and odds are you're also going to get into a groove in the way that you do things. In Regis's case, said groove arguably sucked a lot of the potential tension out of the game. Just compare his reveal of Carpenter's win to Ed Toutant's win of close to $2 million two years later -- where Regis drew out the former for all it was worth, all Toutant got was "GOT IT!" barely a second after he'd locked in his final answer. 

Now, this is not to say that he was a bad host -- not by any means! He was still quite the good host toward the end of the run, and no doubt the show would not have made the same impact without him. I just think his performance started to flag once it stopped being a television event and just became another show in the schedules. 

I'd also note that I thought he did a terrific job during Super Millionaire in 2004 and the 2009 primetime specials -- his reveal of Ken Basin's $500K correct answer is about as (pardon the term) Tarrant-ian as his hosting got, and I mean that in a good way. When it's a limited run, there's much less chance for burnout. 

In the end, I'd peg the flaws in the American production on ABC upper management's insistence to milk their cash cow dry for all it was worth (as you mention in your post). The pace suffered, Regis suffered, and the tension suffered, and the show was that much worse off for it. 

Thank you for your insightful post! I think there's a good conversation to be had here.

[panampat]

A caveat: in the original August and November 1999 runs, I actually think Regis did a wonderful job with hosting and (importantly) building up suspense.

I went back to watch some episodes from those initial nights and yes, I agree. He was much better then than he was after those initial nights and I think he did fairly well in keeping the suspense up. Mind you, I think often times he still revealed the answer too quickly, although it's definitely an improvement from the instantaneous reveals that is, I think, a hallmark of the Regis era. 

...when you're hosting the same show three times a week for weeks on end, you're going to start to tire out at some point...

Personally, I reckon that's probably why his performance began to falter. I mean, to me, I think a host should always be excited whenever their contestant wins big, even if it happens multiple times a week. But, I realize that that may be an unrealistic demand to ask of most people. 

...all Toutant got was "GOT IT!" barely a second after he'd locked in his final answer.

And that one was sad. He wasn't entirely sure of his answer like Carpenter was, nor was he as energetic in answering like Cullen was. Toutant's (along with Joe Trela's and Kim Hunt's final answers) was perfect for a Tarrant-ian (to use your words) stall. Every passing second would've been gold. Interestingly, I went back to watch Kim Hunt's million dollar question and after Kim answers, Regis does do this Chris-like look of uncertainly (it looked... out of character for him, to be honest) before "Get that closet ready!" I think that's the closest we've seen to pulling a Chris-like wait (even though it lasted, in Regis-style, all of three or so seconds). 

... is reveal of Ken Basin's $500K correct answer is about as (pardon the term) Tarrant-ian as his hosting got, and I mean that in a good way.

YES! I went back to watch it just now, and he absolutely nailed it. Perfect pause (right in that golden region of 6-10 seconds), perfect build-up of suspense. It was delicious British perfection, that. He should've done that every single time (or almost every single time) in the original run. Sadly, his reveal of Ken missing the million marked a return to typical Regis. For comparison, watch the Llewelyn-Bowens tackle their original million pound question (https://youtu.be/qg8cuQakALE?t=2066). Even though the question turned out to be bad, Chris's (and everyone else's) initial reaction to it was real. The pause, the pain in Chris's face, everyone else's reaction to "You've just lost..." is in my book, Millionaire perfection. 

I'd peg the flaws in the American production on ABC upper management's insistence to milk their cash cow dry for all it was worth...

So do I to a large extent. ABC botched up their handling of the original Millionaire. I think that's something everyone on this sub can agree with. 

Thank you for your insightful post! I think there's a good conversation to be had here.

Thank you for your insightful and detailed reply. And I really hope so too. I think it'd be fun.

 

[JCEurovision]

Well then, I really appreciate your insight on Regis Philbin's hosting of Millionaire, but in my opinion, I would say Meredith Vieira's hosting was better for all means necessary because who could've forget Nancy Christy, the only woman who won a million dollars and the implementation of the clock format which really upped the stakes as it did in the early years of Millionaire. I might agree on you about 30% doctorwho, but I think panampat's opinion seems way overboard on some but not all aspects, especially his notion about the pacing.

[millionairenut]

Welcome to the forum. I really appreciate the effort you're putting into your posts, and your passion for the show. I can tell you're going to be a very valuable member to the community. Just like you, I love Chris Tarrant, and think he did an outstanding job as the original host.

Here is where I disagree with you about Regis.

I'm not wearing rose colored glasses when I say Regis is my favorite, or that I think he's the best. This might be me, but Millionaire doesn't always have to be climactic. The host's response does not always have to be dragged out. In my personal view, a great moment is a great moment, regardless of whether the host keeps suspense or not.

Allow me to point to some examples.

This right here, Bernie Cullen, my favorite Million Dollar winner. Regis said just about right away after Bernie gave his final answer that he won. In no way, in my opinion, does Regis' quick response diminish it from a great moment. It isn't anti climactic. This worked just fine for me. I found nothing wrong with this at all, and one of my favorite moments from the original Primetime run.

 

Another one is Justin Ray Castillo's run. This was an intense run. Regis blurted out rather quickly that he won $250,000 and especially $500,000. The way Regis said, "He got it right!" That was all that was needed. The audience was loud, and Justin was ecstatic, a great moment right here, in my opinion. Regis was short, sweet and to the point, but honestly, if I was sitting in the chair, I'd want the host to tell me if I won or not. I wouldn't want that person to drag it out. Millionaire is an intense enough of a game as it is.

Here's another thing you pointed out, about Regis' interactions when somebody wins. Sure, Chris Tarrant hugged the people who won the million, and Meredith was ecstatic, too, but when I watch the original Regis run, I see it that he wants the contestants to do well. He asks them about narrowing things down, not necessarily with the 50:50, but in their heads, or he encourages them to think about the answer, what it might be. An apathetic host, in my opinion, would not do this.

In what you pointed out earlier, Regis looks at Dan Blonsky when he wins the million. When he says, "Fabulous!" If he says, "You just won a million dollars," then my guess is he looked at Blonsky when he said this. Looking at his expressions, he looked happy for the man.

Look how Regis points his fingers in the air after Bob wins. I think this was a nice touching moment to it. Bob isn't my favorite, nor my least favorite, of the winners.

Notice how he is talking to Kim through this on the $500,000 question. Also, if he says, "You just won a half million dollars," then I'm guessing he looked at him. The same thing goes for Moe Cain when he correctly answered his $500,000 question in 2001. This tells me that he was looking at him, in my opinion.

Here's another one, in my opinion, of Regis being happy for the contestant.

Regis was clapping for David Goodman. I don't have the power of telepathy, but I have reason to believe Regis was sincere in his gesture, communication and emotions with the contestants.

Now, let's talk about climaxes.

Also, you can say Regis looked at David when he told him that he can buy a new car. He waited a few seconds here. Honestly, I'm not the biggest David Goodman fan. His knowledge was impressive, but his personality makes him my least favorite of the winners. I'm not saying he's not nice or not a good person, or that there was anything wrong with his conduct, but I didn't find him to be the most overly exciting contestant.

"Wow, he's going for it...he won a half million dollars!" Excitement, and he takes a couple of seconds, too. This was a very nice moment, and Tom Hoobler has to be in the top 10 of my favorite Primetime contestants ever. Regis had great dialogue with Tom, especially on the $500,000 question.

Also, I may be in the minority here, but I liked Regis' "Got it!" with Ed Toutant. He was short, but effective. Ed is in my top five of favorite contestants of Primetime Millionaire, along with Bernie Cullen, Phil Gibbons, Steve Perry and my favorite contestant of all time, Doug Van Gundy.

When he tells David Stewart he could lose, but he wins, that's him dragging it for a few seconds.

Now, Millionaire obviously overdid things the first time with too much exposure and too many celebrities. However, Millionaire is also one of the most iconic shows of all time, not just internationally, but also here in the U.S. I have to think the host had something to do with this. Keep in mind that Chris Tarrant had the chance, but declined to host the U.S. version of the show. Diehard fans in America like us know who Chris Tarrant is. I'm willing to guess, though, that millions of Americans do not.

Another thing to keep in mind is the music industry, and I can think of examples of musical acts from Europe that were big in Europe, but not as well received in America. How would Chris have been received by America back in 1999, if his hosting style stayed the same. Ask yourself this, if Regis, as a whole, wasn't a good host, would 10+ million Americans have watched this show back in 1999? Would this show have gotten 30 million viewers at one point? How American audiences would have received Chris will forever be speculation, but the success of Millionaire, even if it didn't last long, must have had Regis, already an icon, being something to do with it. If Eddie McGuire hosted the August 1999 run, and his hosting style was the same, would people have really received him well here?

Now, let's talk about Chris. Some of my favorite moments/contestants of UK Millionaire, came with him dragging things out. One of my all time favorite moments was when he asked Roger Walker in 2002 to give him the check back, and then he casually tore the check up while telling him he won on the 14th question. That was pretty awesome.

He also dragged things out on some Million Pound questions, too. Chris really dragged it out when David Edwards answered, and he did so for Ingram Wilcox, and his excitement for Ingram's win was terrific. Ingram would have to be my favorite of the five Million Pound winners. There was so much joy from Chris that night that he helped make that moment special.

I do, however, have a plethora of Chris moments in big question situations that I wouldn't call the most dramatic of all time. These ones come to mind.

You tell me. When John won on the 14th question, did Chris really drag this out?

Maybe it's because Mike knew the answer here, but I wouldn't say Chris was very climactic here. I'd say he was rather quick.

25:36, goes orange. 25:43, turns green. Alright, so Regis probably wouldn't have dragged this out for seven seconds, but I didn't find this to be overly dramatic, not compared to the others.

Again, maybe it's because Peter knew the answer, but 4:21, it goes orange, 4:25-4:26, it turns green. This was pretty quick by Chris, not very suspenseful at all.

I love Regis and I love Chris very much. Both of them have two different styles, and for you, this may be different, but for me, both styles worked. Regis had his moments of being suspenseful, of engaging contestants when they win and in my opinion, he truly cared about them. He had his own way of being excited, and that's perfectly fine with me.

Then there's Chris, who, as you mentioned, really built things up in being suspenseful, and helped make things exciting and great moments, but the two aren't mutually exclusive. You don't have to drag it out after a contestant answers for it to be a great moment. You can drag something on and on, too, but I think what Regis did worked for him, and what Chris did worked for him. I still see or hear people saying, "Final answer, Regis," or the people who don't like that Jimmy is hosting it wish that Regis still did instead.

You might not like Regis, and you don't have to, but I cannot think of somebody who was a more perfect host at the time, and I think if he ever did return for an episode or two, he'd be well received.

[kplewisvox]

Apr 17, 2020 21:04:05 GMT -5 millionairenut said:

Look how Regis points his fingers in the air after Bob wins. I think this was a nice touching moment to it. Bob isn't my favorite, nor my least favorite, of the winners.

At least one thing contributing to that quick reveal, whoever pushes the button to reveal the right answer jumped the gun. I'm sure Regis would have stretched it out a little bit more if the answer wasn't already blinking green.

[millionairenut]

This is true. I’ve always noticed that about Bob House winning the million. It seems to me some of the top prize winners, he quickly told them, others he waited a second or two.

[panampat]

Firstly, thank you millionairenut for your fantastic and detailed response as well as your welcome. I am delighted to finally be a part of a community where I can geek out about this show/format without restraint and be around folks who'd understand me. 

In response to the points you brought up, first of all, I agree. Host intervention (or lack thereof) isn't necessary for there to be great moments on any version of Millionaire. I think both versions of the show had numerous great moments where nothing was lost due to the host doing or not doing something. I think all of the moments you brought up were, in and of themselves, great. 

With respect to the point about contestants not wanting the wait for the reveal to be drawn out, I agree. I'm sure many contestants have, mentally, gone on profanity-filled rants as Chris waits the magic 6-10 seconds before revealing an answer on a high level question (and indeed on some lower level ones too). But, as agony-inducing those waits may be, I think they make that much better viewing for the folks watching at home (whom I think are an important piece of this puzzle as well). I know the contestants would love it if the computer instantaneously revealed the answers to them, but for me, as a viewer (and I think a number of folks would agree), watching them squirm for a bit is great. And plus, it's all in good fun. 

With respect to the lack of excitement for his contestants, I may have not made this clear in my original post (and I'm sorry I didn't, because I think it's a terrible thing for someone to misunderstand), I don't think Regis has ever been not excited for his contestants when they win big. That is to say, I think he was excited and happy for them to win big. My problem with him is this. Television is a very visual medium. As you said, we can't read Regis's mind. While he does demonstrate that he's happy, he doesn't make it extremely obvious like Meredith and Chris do (or at least in moments where it really counts like when they win the million). Now, I'm not saying he should fake it (heavens no, that would make it worse than him doing whatever he actually did) and I get that unlike those two, that may not be how he manifests excitement. But to me, that lack of manifestation means that he falls short of that mark Meredith and Chris set out and (this could just be me) slightly diminishes the excitement of the moment. I mean, there's something magical about watching a host who's as excited as the contestant, the studio audience, and you (the home viewer) are. That magic isn't really there with Regis. 

With respect to him drawing this out (the secret sauce that makes Millionaire great), I agree, he does (sometimes). My problem is that he doesn't do it for long enough, especially in the golden zone of suspense that is question 11 and above (or maybe even 12 and above). If you'll notice in the examples you put out, Regis does pause, but it's always consistently shorter than Chris's pauses. I actually did some looking into this and took down some observations. Regis, in general, never waits for more than 5 seconds practically ever. Chris, in general, very often (dare I say almost always) waits at least 5 seconds once we're in that golden zone. I've noticed the only time he doesn't do this is when (as you pointed out) the contestant is certain of their answers or when he's really excited (Gordon Barrass's £250,000 question comes to mind)



The golden region of waits, that is, how long a host ought to stall before letting the contestant know if they're correct, is 6-10 seconds. Closer to 6 for questions 11 and 12, closer to 10 for the big one (question 15). This may sound pedantic of me, but those couple of seconds make a world of difference. With every passing second (especially on those higher level questions), the level of suspense rises exponentially. Now, I'm not saying that this rule is set in stone and hosts should, formulaically, always wait this long. Regis was right to instantly reveal Bernie's win. Bernie went into that final answer with so much excitement, any wait would disrupt the flow of excitement we are all feeling. Same goes for Nancy Christy's win. A Tarrant-ian wait there would have been anticlimactic. 



That being said, there's also overdoing the wait. A British example of where I think Chris slightly over does it is his 15 second wait in revealing John Gallantry's £125,000 final answer.


Aussie host Eddie McGuire does this habitually. Go back and watch the upper level of Australia's two non-Hot Seat millionaires. He does it to the point where I find myself thinking "Alright Eddie, let's do it. Let's go."




You bring up a very good point when you ask if the show would've been a great success if Chris was here instead of Regis. I mean, as you said, we'll never know, but it's an interesting question to ponder. As for the other question, yeah, no doubt Regis was a capable and competent host. As I said, his gift of repartee is incredible (and that's, to me, two thirds of what makes a good Millionaire host, with the other third being suspense and excitement). I completely understand why so many people think so highly of him. He's very likable. As I said in my original post, I have absolutely nothing against him whatsoever. To me, he's a pretty good host, but Meredith and Chris were just a touch better for the reasons I brought up. Maybe it's just because to me, the original UK version is the best version and I judge every other version of Millionaire (at least in the English speaking world) based on the standard set by Chris and ITV's Millionaire. 

I once read somewhere that the big wigs at ABC originally didn't want Regis. They wanted Peter Jennings (or someone from a similar journalistic background) and honestly, I'm delighted Regis won the day because with those non-chat show, journalist type folks, they're a mixed bag. Sometimes they do well, sometimes don't. I think outside of importing Chris (and God knows how that would've worked), Regis was the best person in American television at that time (in the first half of 1999) to host the show (never mind the best person ABC could muster). He, like Meredith after him, Chris in the UK, and Eddie in Aussieland, had a proven track record of good banter and solid hosting skills, and I wouldn't say that he was, by any means, a horrible pick. 

[millionairefan]

This recently came across my feed, it's a syndicated episode from 2009 hosted by Regis! 





I think it shows how fast Regis could be, even up to those high level questions.

[RegisFan]

I’m getting nostalgic! 2009 was quite possibly the best year to be a Millionaire fan in the US. Both Regis and Meredith graced our screens that year, along with the excellent clock format.

[kplewisvox]

Seeing this clip reminded me of the great things of 2008-2009 Millionaire, but also reminded me how frustrating that Double Dip lifeline was. Some say it's better than Fifty-Fifty because the latter often doesn't give you new information, but the problem with Double Dip is it forced you to play the question, so most players left it on the table and walked away.

[millionairenut]

There’s just something right about Regis hosting this show. He just belongs in that chair. Sure, he was quick, but I enjoyed the episode.

Of course, watching that video reminds me of the hard questions on syndicated Millionaire. I like that the clock had some nice renditions of the classic soundtrack. Some of those were enjoyable, especially the $500,000 one with the clock. Something about the notes are just a sweet spot on that one. I can’t say I’m the biggest fan of the clock, but it’s infinitely better than the shuffle format.

I’m just so happy we’re being treated to a resurrection of the show here in the U.S., and I hope the members of this community feel the same way across the pond.

[clutchbrady]

Apr 21, 2020 21:33:29 GMT -5 millionairenut said:

There’s just something right about Regis hosting this show. He just belongs in that chair. Sure, he was quick, but I enjoyed the episode.

Of course, watching that video reminds me of the hard questions on syndicated Millionaire. I like that the clock had some nice renditions of the classic soundtrack. Some of those were enjoyable, especially the $500,000 one with the clock. Something about the notes are just a sweet spot on that one. I can’t say I’m the biggest fan of the clock, but it’s infinitely better than the shuffle format.

I’m just so happy we’re being treated to a resurrection of the show here in the U.S., and I hope the members of this community feel the same way across the pond.

Thanks millionairenut and panampat and everyone in this thread for putting together a great compilation of clips... I know I'm late to the party on this, but my favorite Millionaire moment, even though it's not the long pause of anticipation, is Nancy Christy. Without a doubt, the pure joy on both of their faces when the question came up all the way through that moment is so cool.

Regis has his great points, Meredith had her great moments, Chris Tarrant has been fun to watch, and I'm hoping that a host down the line plus the right crew for the syndicated version will bring more drama and excitement back to the format. Jimmy has done good, but he doesn't quite feel like the guy for the long run.