British Version Cancelled?

[RegisFan]

The original British edition of the hit game show Who Wants to be a Millionaire? might be facing cancellation, according to host Chris Tarrant. The show, which launched in 1998, was stripped weekly and saw audiences as high as 13 million viewers. It is now in a regular Saturday time slot and gets around 3.1 million viewers per episode. Host Chris Tarrant has stated, “Of course, next year is our tenth anniversary and we may play about with it, we might move it off Saturday nights . . . or it might be a good place to stop.” One idea which has also been tossed around is moving the show to a 5PM weekday time slot. ITV is denying the cancellation claim, though. Chris Tarrant has signed on to host a bluffing quiz show opposite Deal or No Deal. To our UK friends: do you think if Millionaire adopted a US style of show, which is basically lowering some parts of the chain a bit and making the game really hard, they could have some new success versus Deal or No Deal?

[FrankT]

I'm not sure that'll work! But maybe they'll try it anyway. Of course, ITV might be right denying it!

[potxolo2]

Huge rumors about the UK version. Copy and paste:

"You may well have heard about this by now, but amongst the changes coming to Millionaire as of next weekend, they're dropping the number of questions from 15 to 12; it's been confirmed that there's at least a partial new music score, and the titles and graphics have been changed."

[RegisFan]

From Buzzerblog:

We’ll have a full report later this week from British correspondent David Howell, but the original version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, nearing its tenth year, will be getting some new rules. Shockingly, the format is being cut to twelve questions with the new money chain going 500, 1000 * 2000, 5000, 10000, 20000, 50000 * 75000, 150000, 250000, 500000, 1M. It just looks and feels incredibly awkward, especially with the 2/5/5 format. Also, the show is supposedly getting updated music and graphics. Why you would rather drastically change arguably the most popular game show on earth is beyond me. At least I know Michael Davies has enough sense to fight the change if it’s even thought of for the US syndicated edition.

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I really can't believe they're doing it. By "updated music," they had better mean remixing the original score, because a new theme and sound effects would really hurt the show. Also, the new money ladder is horrible- so lopsided. Don't fix it if it isn't broken, right?

[wwbm]

12 questions... something similar was in former Australian version... (in the first edition they had 11 question instead of 15)

[wwbm]

Did anybody watch the new version of WWTBAM UK yesterday?

[FrankT]

Arrrghh! Bleeeeh!

How could the name of Millionaire be tarnished so badly?!

[wwbm]

the opening credits: youtube.com/watch?v=IOZ0kmgU39U, not so bad but nothing special i think

[potxolo2]

www.flickr.com/photos/travisp/sets/72157601547725179/

Photos of the new graphics

[FrankT]

Oh well, I suppose it's all for the best really! Anyway the graphics look classy!

[wwbm]

i think the new graphic is awful:(

[FrankT]

And the money tree is preposterous!

[wwbm]

yeah i can't believe that they did it:(

[FrankT]

But Tarrant stated it was a quicker path to the million - I actually liked the slow and steady path!

[locomh]

I really don't like the new graphics. I didn't hear the sounds yet, so I don't know, how they are, but most of the graphics are really nonserious!