Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? - General Discussion

[blueray]

I watched part of yesterday's episode and sorry I need to rant. I couldn't stand that celebrity (forgot her name).  Then she gets the question wrong, I get it was an accident as she blurted out the wrong answer but that's the game.  And Jimmy is wrong that happened somewhat often on the real show. Or similar people answered before they actual read the question. She should have been sent home right then. She would have still made something as she was above the first threshold, so it wasn't the 100 question.  And the show could have still donated more money (like the amount she had before the question) like they have in the past. If they aren't going to follow the rules of the game that what's the point of doing it. They can just donate money to a charity. The entertainment at least for me is the fact that their is a risk that they will get a question wrong and be eliminated. If there is nothing at stake then the game means nothing. I really wish they took this seriously and made new episodes of the show which I really miss. Jimmy could be a great host and if they followed the rules this would have been much better.

[Maverick]

 In the Celebrity Edition, the contestants are always guaranteed $32,000 just for showing up.   That's why they've always been allowed extra help up to level.   In the original when they still had the Faster Finger pool, the remaining contestants could always help the celebrity who was on deck.   In this version, that's why they get to bring 'the smartest person they' know.   Jimmy made it pretty clear that the only reason they let her continue was because she was getting $32k no matter what.   If she screws up again, they're not letting her slide, charity or not.   Most celebrities are smart enough to not screw up below the guaranteed limit but not this twit.   I don't even know who she's supposed to be.    

[saber5055]

This episode was the definition of ex·cru·ci·at·ing. Man, it drug out forever. I know they have to pad it up with blah blah blah to fill the 45 minutes times six, but holy cow. I could go out and milk the cows and they'd still be on the same question when I got back in. Lucky people who have a fast-forward button. Just answer the freaking question and move on.

Yes, these were all filmed in one day, March 12. That's typical of game shows, like Jeopardy films five eps per day.

[gsnrocks92]

Yeah I had never heard of Nikki Glaser but she was not entertaining.

They clearly let her slide to create a viral moment and get people talking about the show, but they could have accomplished that without breaking the 20 year precedence that once you say “final answer”, you aren’t allowed to change. They had celebrities on the syndicated version crash out early and still receive the minimum $10k for charity, so there was no reason why they couldn’t just let her lose and still give the birds $32,000. 
 

Just not a great look for the show and reinforces the negative stereotypes or celebrities on game shows. Nobody will probably care in a week though. 

On 4/14/2020 at 1:41 PM, chitowngirl said:

Jimmy said he doesn't know the answers until it pops up on his screen.

Eric could have saved time by phrasing the question, “which one of these won the best picture Oscar?...”

Since this is only 6 episodes, I’ll assume they filmed this all in one day.

Of course the celebrities can just write the check for their charities. What they are doing is bringing awareness to them.

It is more than 6 episodes. I think they ordered 8, but ended up getting footage for 10 to have more episodes to air when many TV shows shut down production. They were lucky Grey's Anatomy ended early and Millionaire could move to the Thursday 8pm slot which should be better for it.

[Madding crowd]

I have been watching the celebrity edition but I am reminded about why I quit watching it. It takes too damn long to get through a question. I told my son that Alex Trebek would have got through a whole category by now. I know it’s a different show and the celebs want their time but slow as dirt and too easy questions.

[Whimsy]

2 hours ago, gsnrocks92 said:

They clearly let her slide to create a viral moment and get people talking about the show, but they could have accomplished that without breaking the 20 year precedence that once you say “final answer”, you aren’t allowed to change. They had celebrities on the syndicated version crash out early and still receive the minimum $10k for charity, so there was no reason why they couldn’t just let her lose and still give the birds $32,000. 

While I somewhat agree with what you're saying, she was CLEARLY going to go with 1917 as her answer.  She just got flustered and said the wrong thing. 

[opus]

Starting next week (April 30) the show moves to Thursdays 8pm ET

https://www.wdtvpress.com/abc/pressrelease/who-wants-to-be-a-millionaire-in-the-hot-seat-anthony-anderson-ike-barinholtz-and-hannibal-burress-4-30/

[saber5055]

On 4/16/2020 at 1:33 PM, Madding crowd said:

I told my son that Alex Trebek would have got through a whole category by now. I know it’s a different show and the celebs want their time but slow as dirt and too easy questions.

I don't blame the celebs. It's not them demanding their screen time. Jeopardy! is one-half hour (20 minutes) while this show is an hour so they have to fill it with padding and lots of blah blah blah nothing to make it to 45 minutes. Then add in 15 minutes of commercials and more blah blah blah. There also has to be enough padding to make X number of 45-minute episodes, and stay within the budgeted give-away money. The FF button is a blessing for shows like these. I'm a Kimmel fan but don't think he's all that suited to this. FF for the win!

It would be interesting to know how the celebs were chosen.

[chitowngirl]

On 4/21/2020 at 7:51 PM, opus said:

Starting next week (April 30) the show moves to Thursdays 8pm ET

https://www.wdtvpress.com/abc/pressrelease/who-wants-to-be-a-millionaire-in-the-hot-seat-anthony-anderson-ike-barinholtz-and-hannibal-burress-4-30/

And next Wednesday, they are repeating the first three episodes. 

[SoMuchTV]

Only part way through the 4/22 episode, but I’ve gotta say, Jane Fonda does NOT mess around. Hope I’m not  proved wrong shortly. 
 

ETA Darn it!  I would have picked a different wrong answer. Good call on walking away, though, I guess. 

Edited April 23, 2020 by SoMuchTV

[saber5055]

17 hours ago, chitowngirl said:

And next Wednesday, they are repeating the first three episodes. 

Ack! Painful!

Agree that Jane Fonda didn't mess around, which made me love her. Then Anthony Anderson got in the chair and the show bogged down again, with me thinking STFU and just answer the freaking question. Instead, it was all about him. *sigh*

I'm glad Jane bailed when she did though, since she was going to answer wrong even though her help guy was correct. I can see why Iceland could be considered, but it's on the same time as the UK and parts of western Africa. And it's way east of NYC.

I saw a news clip of Jane being arrested in D.C. during a protest, this before some other topic eclipsed all news events so that one is all we see and hear about now.

Edited April 23, 2020 by saber5055
Because Anthony Anderson is not Anthony Andrews

[frogzapper]

2 hours ago, saber5055 said:

Agree that Jane Fonda didn't mess around, which made me love her. Then Anthony Andrews got in the chair and the show bogged down again, with me thinking STFU and just answer the freaking question. Instead, it was all about him. *sigh*

YES!! I loved no-nonsense Jane! She kicked ass! Too bad she didn't take her help guy's answer for the time zone question - it would've been interesting to see if she could've made it to the million $ question.

I recognized her help guy (sorry, I forgot his name) from The Chase (loved that show)! I can't remember how he did on it, but his face and personality were memorable enough for me to recognize him from it. (On a tangential note, I also remember James Holzhauer from when he appeared on The Chase and being very impressed by him 🙂 )

[biakbiak]

1 hour ago, frogzapper said:

recognized her help guy

Louis Vitrel in addition to working for Jimmy he is a cohost on the podcast Keep It. 

[frogzapper]

1 hour ago, biakbiak said:

Louis Vitrel in addition to working for Jimmy he is a cohost on the podcast Keep It. 

OK - thanks! I might have to check that out. I remember liking him when he appeared on The Chase 😊

 

[opus]

Jeopardy fans, any memory of Jonathan Groff (Anthony Anderson’s smartest person)?  

Just now, opus said:

 

Edited April 25, 2020 by opus

[LakeGal]

I was just glad AA didn't bring Mama Doris.

[chitowngirl]

8 hours ago, LakeGal said:

I was just glad AA didn't bring Mama Doris.

They would never get any questions answered!

[Maverick]

 Jane Fonda must have driven the producers nuts.   She was even answering questions before the potential answers came up.   The KFC question was perhaps the most interesting one because I'm wondering what she watches on TV that she saw the George Hamilton KFC commercial and how she's apparently very familiar with David Spade but has no idea who Norm MacDonald is.   Jane's +1 was distracting because he's a dead ringer for a gay porn star. 

[Lovecat]

On 4/24/2020 at 8:10 PM, opus said:

Jeopardy fans, any memory of Jonathan Groff (Anthony Anderson’s smartest person)?  

 

Nope.  I was disappointed it wasn't Jonathan Groff of Spring Awakening, Glee, Hamilton, and Mindhunter (among others) fame!

Edited April 28, 2020 by Lovecat

[Eolivet]

I don't know who Nikki Glaser is, but I certainly know a lot more about her (lack of a) love life than I care to. Seriously, who goes on TV and shares that your phone-a-friend canceled your second date? And who thinks it makes good TV? I was so embarrassed for her.

[lb60]

On 4/25/2020 at 8:46 AM, LakeGal said:

I was just glad AA didn't bring Mama Doris.

If only I could like this post a thousand times.

What an annoying duo they make.

[Twilight Man]

For what it's worth,  Ike's dad said "dot-dot-dot,  dash-dash-dash, dot-dot-dot, dash-dash-dash.",  which is technically neither answer  (he was saying S-O-S-O), but I do believe that Ike's dad WAS "trying" to say that the answer was "B".   It's a good thing that Ike then took the 50-50, which eliminated option "A".

On 4/25/2020 at 8:46 AM, LakeGal said:

I was just glad AA didn't bring Mama Doris.

 

21 hours ago, lb60 said:

If only I could like this post a thousand times.

What an annoying duo they make.

 

[Twilight Man]

And they show a commercial featuring those two right after Anthony walks away.

[lb60]

Phone a friends really need to have Google up and ready to go.

SOS in Morse Code.

Boom!!

ETA:

Freakin' Buzzy!

Why? Why? Why?

Oh, well. Probably a good choice and at least it's not James. He still looks ridiculous.

Edited May 1, 2020 by lb60

[gsnrocks92]

2 hours ago, lb60 said:

Phone a friends really need to have Google up and ready to go.

SOS in Morse Code.

Boom!!

ETA:

Freakin' Buzzy!

Why? Why? Why?

Oh, well. Probably a good choice and at least it's not James. He still looks ridiculous.

I don’t know if this is true with this version but the recent UK revival had a production member present with phone a friends there to prevent googling. The US syndicated version got rid of it in 2010 for the same reason.

[saber5055]

On 4/24/2020 at 7:10 PM, opus said:

Jeopardy fans, any memory of Jonathan Groff (Anthony Anderson’s smartest person)?  

He was on in 1995. Back then I could only listen to Jeopardy on the radio while driving home from work after we went to flex time and I could leave earlier. So ... no.

[saber5055]

On 4/25/2020 at 10:26 PM, Maverick said:

Jane's +1 was distracting because he's a dead ringer for a gay porn star. 

Not even gonna ask how you know this.

[saber5055]

On 4/25/2020 at 10:26 PM, Maverick said:

 Jane Fonda must have driven the producers nuts.   She was even answering questions before the potential answers came up.   The KFC question was perhaps the most interesting one because I'm wondering what she watches on TV that she saw the George Hamilton KFC commercial and how she's apparently very familiar with David Spade but has no idea who Norm MacDonald is.

I liked Jane because she was no nonsense and got down to the business of answering questions. What a relief after the waffling and stammering Eric Stonestreet, who took ages answering even the $100 and wanted to ask for help on the $200 question. Ugh, so painful.

I, too, was surprised that Jane didn't know Norm MacDonald, but it's possible she does know him and doesn't like him, so that was her throwing shade and dissing him. I could totally believe that. If so, it worked.

Ike Barinholtz really impressed me, and so did his +1 since I follow Dave Weigel (and other WaPo journalists) on Twitter. It's nice to learn that famous people can be smart and have smart friends. Heh.

I also was impressed Hannibal Buress came out with Buzzy Cohen as his +1. How do these people know each other? But my biggest laugh came from the voice over, that was on during this show. When Buzzy came out, the VO said "Buzzy has round glasses."

Best line of the night!

[vibeology]

2 hours ago, saber5055 said:

I also was impressed Hannibal Buress came out with Buzzy Cohen as his +1. How do these people know each other? But my biggest laugh came from the voice over, that was on during this show. When Buzzy came out, the VO said "Buzzy has round glasses."

I'm getting the sense that the show is pairing up celebrities who don't already have someone in mind with well-known trivia people so I don't think they all know each other before doing this.

I don't think Jane knew Louis, for example, and I didn't get the sense that Hannibal knew Buzzy.

[SoMuchTV]

Both I (a boomer) and my daughter (a millennial) knew what SOS was. Not sure why, but I’m really kind of surprised that the “smart” people didn’t. (But I agree Ian’s dad probably did know. ) And I knew Mat Talk because of an SNL sketch. But I had no clue about the sushi. I probably would have used up my lifelines on that. 

[SHD]

On 4/27/2020 at 10:19 PM, Eolivet said:

I don't know who Nikki Glaser is, but I certainly know a lot more about her (lack of a) love life than I care to. Seriously, who goes on TV and shares that your phone-a-friend canceled your second date? And who thinks it makes good TV? I was so embarrassed for her.

I know who she is - she’s kind of a no filter comic, so the dating details didn’t surprise me. What bugged me was her talking about her charity. Didn’t she say she just randomly looked something up and that one looked legit so she picked it? Or was that a joke? She didn’t seem to really care. Who doesn’t have at least one charity that they know of that they’d want to play for?

[incandescent]

On 5/2/2020 at 2:36 AM, SHD said:

I know who she is - she’s kind of a no filter comic, so the dating details didn’t surprise me. What bugged me was her talking about her charity. Didn’t she say she just randomly looked something up and that one looked legit so she picked it? Or was that a joke? She didn’t seem to really care. Who doesn’t have at least one charity that they know of that they’d want to play for?

She said she looked up bird rescues and that one looked legit.

 

I knew Morse code because I remembered a scene from an episode of the Paddington animated series.

[Eolivet]

I'm still scratching my head over Lima, Peru as the answer to Jane Fonda's question about which country sharing a timezone with New York City. When I google, "what time is it in Lima, Peru," I get one hour behind Eastern time. Maybe that's because when this was filmed, Daylight Savings Time hadn't started?

I know everyone else has moved on, but that continues to bug me. I ruled it out immediately, because I thought Peru was Central time (like Mexico City). It's closer than Iceland, but again, maybe it was a Daylight Savings Time thing.

 

[saber5055]

31 minutes ago, Eolivet said:

I'm still scratching my head over Lima, Peru as the answer to Jane Fonda's question about which country sharing a timezone with New York City. When I google, "what time is it in Lima, Peru," I get one hour behind Eastern time.

Here's a map from the Wikipedia time zone page. I cropped it down to show NYC/Lima and the zone for Iceland. You can see the whole map showing the entire world at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_zone   Click on the map on the Wiki page to enlarge it. The map shows how whack the Iceland answer was since it's almost directly above the UK.

[Eolivet]

10 minutes ago, saber5055 said:

Here's a map from the Wikipedia time zone page. I cropped it down to show NYC/Lima and the zone for Iceland. You can see the whole map showing the entire world at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_zone   Click on the map on the Wiki page to enlarge it. The map shows how whack the Iceland answer was since it's almost directly above the UK.

Thank you so much! I'm still a bit baffled, though, because of this, which clearly states New York is one hour ahead of Lima: Unless timezone and "actual time it is now" are two different things (which they could be).

https://www.travelmath.com/time-change/from/Lima,+Peru/to/New+York,+NY

It's funny, because I had to look up times in Peru this past fall, so I ruled out Peru completely for this question, because it seemed to be an hour behind Eastern (like Mexico City) every time I googled, "what time is it in Peru."

[lb60]

I understand not wanting to look like an idiot on national tv, but Catherine O'Hara was driving me nuts last night.

I much prefer the Jane Fonda approach.

[luv2lurk]

Quote

On 5/5/2020 at 12:57 PM, Eolivet said:

Thank you so much! I'm still a bit baffled, though, because of this, which clearly states New York is one hour ahead of Lima: Unless timezone and "actual time it is now" are two different things (which they could be).

 

Lima observes Peru Time all year ie no Daylight Savings Time hence currently 1 hour behind NYC.

https://www.timeanddate.com/time/change/peru/lima

[Robert Lynch]

2 hours ago, lb60 said:

I understand not wanting to look like an idiot on national tv, but Catherine O'Hara was driving me nuts last night.

I much prefer the Jane Fonda approach.

That is what happens when stars show whatever knowledge they have or don't have. It's deer in the headlights moments like this that make me role my eyes. Otherwise, she looks pretty good for a 66 year-old.

Edited May 8, 2020 by Robert Lynch

[bybrandy]

She seemed to get the question right most of the time when Brad prompted her but she has no confidence.   Drove me crazy too.

I knew that SOS was 3-3-3 because flashing SOS was a big plot point in at least one movie I watched as a child but I feel like used to come up in movies a lot.   (I'm late GenX almost a millennial but not quite)     My mom knew the same because she knows things... but neither of us knew if it started with three dots or three dashes.  Fortunately only one choice was 3-3-3.   

I liked Hannibal Buress a lot.   I would have walked.  But Fiasco seemed like the most Italian sounding word to me and would have been my guess after I walked.  (although I had lifelines left so...)

[KLovestoShop]

First let me say I'm not a Dr Phil fan as I find him bombastic and fake.  But what hacks me off is he's playing for his wife's charity.  So often these celebrity charities are tax shelters where very little real money goes out to those who should be getting help.  But he's really being an asshole with all the questions. He questions the validity of every question. 

[lb60]

1 hour ago, KLovestoShop said:

First let me say I'm not a Dr Phil fan as I find him bombastic and fake. But what hacks me off is he's playing for his wife's charity.  So often these celebrity charities are tax shelters where very little real money goes out to those who should be getting help.  But he's really being an asshole with all the questions. He questions the validity of every question. 

My thoughts exactly.

I can't stand him. Or his wife.

[Spunkygal]

1 hour ago, KLovestoShop said:

First let me say I'm not a Dr Phil fan as I find him bombastic and fake.  But what hacks me off is he's playing for his wife's charity.  So often these celebrity charities are tax shelters where very little real money goes out to those who should be getting help.  But he's really being an asshole with all the questions. He questions the validity of every question. 

Haven’t we already suffered enough through this pandemic? This is the best the show can do? Freaking Dr. Phil? Ugh. I wonder how much of a cut of the winnings these Jeopardy champs are getting as experts, especially since champ and celeb apparently don’t know each other beforehand. And frankly, I find Jimmy painful and trying too hard to make this entertaining.

[ams1001]

On 4/16/2020 at 12:54 PM, saber5055 said:

This episode was the definition of ex·cru·ci·at·ing. ... Just answer the freaking question and move on.

Dr. Phil was the worst. Getting all hung up on irrelevant words (like the definition of a fist, when "udder" was the only word in the question you needed to figure out which of the answers was correct. The "5 minutes later" and "10 minutes later" that popped up on the screen during one of the questions nearly made my eyes roll out of my head. He barely even used Pam.

I did laugh at Jimmy's comment that Dr. Phil "claims" to be a doctor. (He has a PhD so in that sense he is, but he is not actually licensed to practice as a psychologist. During one of his extended dithering sessions, Jimmy asked "don't you have patients you need to see?" and I thought, "No, no he does not.")

On 5/1/2020 at 3:54 PM, vibeology said:

I'm getting the sense that the show is pairing up celebrities who don't already have someone in mind with well-known trivia people so I don't think they all know each other before doing this.

At least one of them said they'd just met. 

On 5/8/2020 at 7:02 PM, bybrandy said:

I liked Hannibal Buress a lot.   I would have walked.  But Fiasco seemed like the most Italian sounding word to me 

lol...that was my logic, too.

[saber5055]

Thanks to everyone for the Dr. Phil posts that mirror my own thinking that he's a 100-percent asshat. I hadn't thought before about "celebrity charities" being tax shelters but shame on me given a dude in D.C. uses them for that.

I couldn't believe someone hadn't looked at a map of the United States and Canada ever. Even Pam surprised me with that, although she was using logic to figure out it was Ontario. I guess Dr. Phil either doesn't travel out of California or, when he does, he has "people" who take him places and just tell him when he's in wherever he was going.

He made Jane Fonda look even better, she'd been to all of the foreign places that came up in her clues, and no problem with foreign languages since she spoke those too. I don't think she has a Ph.D, but obviously having one doesn't mean you know anything.

I knew a guy who had a Ph.D. in physical education and taught gym at some school. But we all had to call him Doctor So And So.

The best thing about this show is seeing Jeopardy champs. Which makes Dr. Phil even dumber, giving up Pam for some phone-a-friend rando. I guess we know how that turned out.

ETA. I got the impression that Dr. Phil didn't wanted to acknowledge Pam, either because she is obviously smarter than he is, or that she's a woman who is obviously smarter than he is.

Edited May 15, 2020 by saber5055

[LakeGal]

Dr Phil makes me stabby.  I was screaming at the TV.  I really dislike the man.  It was obvious that Jimmy did not really like him either.  I was so hoping he would lose and not be back on the next episode.  I guess I will be using the MUTE button till he leaves.

[gsnrocks92]

Agree on all the comments on Dr. Phil. Those “10 minutes later” transitions added in by the editors were funny though seemed out of place on this show.

It seems they have 3 episodes left? The final episode is June 4. Ratings improved with the earlier time slot so ABC should bring it back, hopefully with civilian contestants. They could easily tape another bunch of episodes with this format in August and bring it back in the fall (audiences will likely still be not feasible by then).

[saber5055]

2 hours ago, gsnrocks92 said:

Those “10 minutes later” transitions added in by the editors were funny though seemed out of place on this show.

It's like the show thought he was a dickweed too, but they were stuck with his dumb ass for some reason. Must have signed a contract.

[anniebird]

I don't watch daytime TV but I always suspected Dr. Phil was an asshole. This confirmed it.

[UsernameFatigue]

21 hours ago, LakeGal said:

Dr Phil makes me stabby.  I was screaming at the TV.  I really dislike the man.  It was obvious that Jimmy did not really like him either.  I was so hoping he would lose and not be back on the next episode.  I guess I will be using the MUTE button till he leaves.

I found Jimmy's obvious dislike of Dr Phil quite interesting. Usually hosts are better at hiding their dislike of a guest. It made me wonder if Dr Phil was rude/arrogant to the crew before he came on (he looks like he would be that type) and that is why Jimmy treated him as he did right from the start. I have never watched Dr Phil's show, and never really watched him even during the Oprah days - not sure if he has always been that big of an azzhole, but he really is unlikable. 

Edited May 16, 2020 by UsernameFatigue

[Maverick]

 A lot of celebrities seem to play for charities they or their close family run, it seems.   Just on this show, Dr, Phil and the The Modern Family guy (I think it was his sister's charity).   I'm sure a lot of these are legitimate charities that they want to get exposure and support for, but it just doesn't look good.   There's such a thing as avoiding just the appearance of impropriety and wish shows where someone plays for charity would do that and require they pick one they're not closely associated with.