Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? - General Discussion

[biakbiak]

Glad my instincts were correct to delete the show as soon as Dr. Phil came out. 

[opus]

On 5/15/2020 at 12:51 PM, saber5055 said:

The best thing about this show is seeing Jeopardy champs.

Jeopardy champs playing Millionaire , still for charity, with more legitimate questions (i.e. ones I don’t get correct 90% of the time) would be a much better show.

[UsernameFatigue]

18 hours ago, biakbiak said:

Glad my instincts were correct to delete the show as soon as Dr. Phil came out. 

It was kind of worth watching just to see Jimmy's obvious dislike of Dr Phil. 

Edited May 17, 2020 by UsernameFatigue

[saber5055]

11 hours ago, UsernameFatigue said:

IT was kind of worth watching just to see Jimmy's obvious dislike of Dr Phil. 

And Dr. Phil's asshattery. It's not like the guy is smart.

[UsernameFatigue]

33 minutes ago, saber5055 said:

And Dr. Phil's asshattery. It's not like the guy is smart.

Ha, so true! Arrogance with nothing to back it up is always amusing! 

[SoMuchTV]

I don't think I've ever seen such complete agreement among so many posters (re: "Dr." Phil).  I almost feel like I should play devil's advocate and defend him...

Nope, can't come up with anything.

[saber5055]

1 minute ago, SoMuchTV said:

I don't think I've ever seen such complete agreement among so many posters (re: "Dr." Phil).  I almost feel like I should play devil's advocate and defend him...

Nope, can't come up with anything.

Nice try though. Effort appreciated, Robin McGraw. .

[Eolivet]

Dr. Phil: which of the following has caused nearly 100,000 U.S. deaths since March?

A. Swimming pools

B. Automobiles

C. Cigarettes

D. COVID-19, you public health menace

Edited May 19, 2020 by Eolivet

[Swenson]

Well at least because of Brad..... Catherine won 250 000 for her charity and that's what the Millionaire Live jackpot was.   

 

[853fisher]

I've made up my mind to watch more of ABC's summer game shows, in the hopes that my +1 to the ratings may inspire more.  "Millionaire" was never my favorite, but this run has been pleasant and brought back many memories of what I liked about it.  The production design is pretty spot on, modernizing or freshening what we knew just enough.

 

Jimmy can be very funny at times but he's not quite the host I want for this show.  He's maybe a bit too glib?  Or lacks gravitas?  Neither of those are exactly the words I want, but I guess it's intangible.  He strikes me as trying just a bit too hard.  Different styles of humor, I guess.  He came closest to what I wanted while talking out Catherine's last question.

 

I share the general very low opinion of Phil and cringed when I saw his name.  I admit I didn't mind speeding through the early questions, and while I wanted to see more of her, Pam was very gracious about being essentially ignored.  (Of course, if it were me, I'd check everything with my guest, knowing the way my mind works.)

 

But when we got to the end of the episode and they used those "_ Minutes Late," I had to cackle.  I've just started to recognize how editors work, after all the years of TV I've watched, and the same trick was used on Sherry Pie in this year's "Drag Race."  (For those not following, it she was disqualified after the season taped due to sexual misconduct.)

 

If the intent had been for Phil to be "in on the joke," it could've been presented differently.  But they wanted us to roll our eyes at him, and I appreciate that.  It was a somewhat tough question for me, only because I started second guessing myself, wondering about an island or something.  Of course this run isn't about the "gotchas" so I shouldn't have.

 

The preponderance of Jeopardy! champs the contestants hadn't known before, and no other trivia experts other than Ike's actual friend from the trivia league I see a few of us play in, makes me wonder whether ABC is planning something new in primetime for us.  It seemed very pointed otherwise.  We'll see!

[ams1001]

Okay, I did enjoy Dr. Phil's reaction to the "president carries the nuclear codes on a plastic card" question. 😄 (And I got it right!)

 

[Swenson]

My guess is that after these last couple episodes....Millionaire should continue to be at least an annual spring tv event, like the whole ABC fun and games lineup.  The syndicated version I confirm had been cancelled.

[853fisher]

Deadline reports that WWTBAM? has indeed been picked up for '20-'21.  Kimmel will return with more celebs playing for charity.  No word yet on when exactly we should expect this.

[chitowngirl]

Hopefully, ABC won’t ruin it by putting it on ALL THE TIME like they did originally.

[saber5055]

Tonight continued the misery that is Dr. Phil. But when he said, after the "Africa" song clue that he was in school during the '80s, I was all WTH? So I looked it up. He was born in September 1950 and graduated with a Ph.D. in 1979, which is definitely NOT being "in school" during the '80s. So he's not only a dumbass, he's a lying dumbass.

Side note: His Wikipedia page is full of details about the multiple lawsuits against him, and his being kicked out of practice, license to practice being revoked, and cheating his partners. His life has been nothing but scandal. The man is a scourge.

I'd never heard of Kaitlin Olson, but I was impressed with her play. I needed that fresh air after the dickwad that was on before her.

Edited May 22, 2020 by saber5055

[Madding crowd]

I had the same thought about Dr Phil being in school in the 80’s. He always thinks he is the smartest person in the room, but struggled with every question. I just can’t stand him.

[chitowngirl]

I like Jane Fonda and Kaitlin Olson’s style of play. Blow through the ones you know and move on. Dr. Phil agonizing over every word in every question REALLY makes me question his intelligence more than I already did.

[saber5055]

36 minutes ago, chitowngirl said:

Dr. Phil agonizing over every word in every question REALLY makes me question his intelligence more than I already did.

I kind of saw it as "It's all about me, look at me, look how clever I am, aren't I something, I am smarter than some girl who won money on some stupid game show, big deal, I'm DOCTOR PHIL. Admire me while I dissect these questions that had to be written by more girls because the words don't make sense to me, I'm DOCTOR PHIL! "

He obviously has a different opinion of himself than I do.

[ams1001]

47 minutes ago, saber5055 said:

I kind of saw it as "It's all about me, look at me, look how clever I am, aren't I something, I am smarter than some girl who won money on some stupid game show, big deal, I'm DOCTOR PHIL. Admire me while I dissect these questions that had to be written by more girls because the words don't make sense to me, I'm DOCTOR PHIL! "

He obviously has a different opinion of himself than I do.

Meanwhile, on the Africa mountain question, I'm sitting on my couch yelling, "It's the only one that's in Africa!" Then I laughed when Pam pointed out exactly that.

[saber5055]

2 minutes ago, ams1001 said:

Meanwhile, on the Africa mountain question, I'm sitting on my couch yelling, "It's the only one that's in Africa!" Then I laughed when Pam pointed out exactly that.

Yeah, that made Phil look even more stupid, plus he ignored Pam making that statement. I don't think he believed her, even though she quoted the lyrics. I think it made him mad.

[incandescent]

I already adored Kaitlin Olson (who deserves an Emmy too, Academy!!) but I appreciate her even more for being such a complete opposite of Dr. Phil in every conceivable way.

[Maverick]

 WTF with the Toto song question being worth $125k.   As has been pointed out, even if you don't know the song it's the only one in Africa.   It should have been a $1,000 question on that alone.   Even with that, the song has been all over the place in the past year or so because of the Weezer cover.   But then they have the JFK question at the $64k level in the next round.   I know people have different knowledge backgrounds and some people find things easy that most find ridiculously obscure, but this one was glaringly off base.

 I'm not surprised this was renewed.  It'll will undoubtedly be on the fall schedule at the latest.  Without the audience, this is tailor made for social distancing and they will be desperate to have something new on the air.

[Eolivet]

I did appreciate how the show launched into full-on trolling of Dr. Phil this past episode. Even Jimmy Kimmel seemed to laughing at, not with, him.

Kaitlin Olson did a good job. I really liked her expert friend/writer, who seemed like a genuine friend versus a "I recruited a Jeopardy champion" expert, talking out how certain JFK answers "seem too written" in ruling them out (as in too much irony). Although "Dallas doesn't love you" is up there on the irony scale.

[Swenson]

While I still would prefer regular people playing this rather than your usual  b & c list celebs....I still am glad they brought it back and am excited for it's renewal.  But like previously mentioned..... please keep it as a special event program and don't overkill it.

I play Millionaire Live every week and  I've enjoyed it despite not winning,  just like the 55,000 others who didn't win.   If you did....I don't want to hear it.   I've been close.    I'd also like to see know it all Kay Adams take the hotseat opposite Jimmy.....and only give her 12 seconds to answer.

[gsnrocks92]

They were STILL bashing Dr. Phil week by repeating the joke in the recap of him still being in his car. Seems the producers did not care for him any more than Jimmy did. 
 

Lauren Lapkus did a great job getting to $500,000 and they even had a call back to the original winner where they called back her dad to say she had gotten the question right. That $1 million question was an obscure piece of trivia that nobody will attempt to risk $468,000 on unless they 100% know. And the Ask the Host lifeline has turned out pretty well for as much as Jimmy is self-deprecating about it, he’s been right on all but once it was used.

Buzzerblog on Twitter suggested the next season should be a civilian season focused on essential workers and I’d have to agree. Seems like they want to do celebrities again but you’d have to think hospital workers playing to actually win $1,000,000 would be a bigger draw.

[gsnrocks92]

2 hours ago, Swenson said:

I play Millionaire Live every week and  I've enjoyed it despite not winning,  just like the 55,000 others who didn't win.   If you did....I don't want to hear it.   I've been close.    I'd also like to see know it all Kay Adams take the hotseat opposite Jimmy.....and only give her 12 seconds to answer.

Has anyone who won on that thing gotten their money? I remember the first week one guy won $125k on his own. But i haven’t heard about any of the winners being public about it. It’s fun to play even though you basically have to be extremely lucky above all else (that includes not having the app crashing which has happened a couple of times due to crappy internet/service).

[LakeGal]

I believe Lauren's dad looked up the answer.  There was a lot of silence on that phone call till he changed his answer at the last minute.  In that time Mr LakeGuy called up the answer.  It was a quick one to check.

[ams1001]

I figured it had to be James, but I only came up with five of them. (Everyone but Garfield.)

I love Anderson and Andy. Can't wait to see how they do.

[saber5055]

2 hours ago, ams1001 said:

I figured it had to be James, but I only came up with five of them. (Everyone but Garfield.)

I was irritated with myself because this was a question on some other game show and I totally had forgotten the answer. Gah.

[vibeology]

11 hours ago, ams1001 said:

I figured it had to be James, but I only came up with five of them. (Everyone but Garfield.)

I forgot the same one. Garfield is always forgettable to me. But I knew it wasn't any of the others.

I don't know where I read it or heard it, but I knew that million dollar question right away and would have gone for it. Ytterby, Sweden: Yttrium, Ytterbium, Terbium and Erbium. 

[ams1001]

52 minutes ago, vibeology said:

I don't know where I read it or heard it, but I knew that million dollar question right away and would have gone for it. Ytterby, Sweden: Yttrium, Ytterbium, Terbium and Erbium. 

I should have known that one. I was able to name the elements once I looked up the name of the town.

[Eolivet]

That was a near-perfect use of lifelines by Lauren Lapkus. Her husband knew the science question, Jimmy Kimmel knew the music question and her dad knew the history question (and she got a question herself without using any lifelines). I ended up really enjoying her (and her husband counting up the presidents on his fingers in the background was cute).

This has completely reinforced the idea we don't need studio audiences for reality show tapings. I haven't missed it at all, the crew clapping is all the audience I need.

[853fisher]

On 5/28/2020 at 9:15 PM, gsnrocks92 said:

Buzzerblog on Twitter suggested the next season should be a civilian season focused on essential workers and I’d have to agree. Seems like they want to do celebrities again but you’d have to think hospital workers playing to actually win $1,000,000 would be a bigger draw.

I'm not sure whether I think celebrities or civilians would be a bigger draw, but if they do go with celebrities again, perhaps they could all support a charity in support of frontline workers or social justice.  For everyone this season who seemed to support a legitimate organization they cared about, there seemed to be another who was playing for a vanity cause or whatever was going on with Nikki Glaser and how flip she was about her choice.

Personally, I often find it very saccharine and overdone when game shows choose to feature "hometown heroes" etc.  See "Spin the Wheel" this season, for instance.  I'm a cynic, I know, but the inspiration porn bores me and the people chosen as deserving seem sometimes not to represent a cross-section of our society.  By which I mean specifically, too many square-jawed Eagle Scouts from "the heartland" and all that.  It just doesn't appeal to me.  I like a general assortment of civilians, but if they were going to pick them with a message, I think I'm happy as things are.  (And yes, I know some find Hollywood personalities equally homogenous and alienating.)

I don't know who I expected Anderson Cooper to bring, but it wasn't Andy Cohen.  Interesting.

Edited June 2, 2020 by 853fisher

[chitowngirl]

3 hours ago, 853fisher said:

I don't know who I expected Anderson Cooper to bring, but it wasn't Andy Cohen.  Interesting.

After Anderson is done with his game, they are going to switch places.

[Maverick]

 It seems Anderson brought Andy for anything pop culture related.   

[gsnrocks92]

19 hours ago, 853fisher said:

I'm not sure whether I think celebrities or civilians would be a bigger draw, but if they do go with celebrities again, perhaps they could all support a charity in support of frontline workers or social justice.  For everyone this season who seemed to support a legitimate organization they cared about, there seemed to be another who was playing for a vanity cause or whatever was going on with Nikki Glaser and how flip she was about her choice.

Personally, I often find it very saccharine and overdone when game shows choose to feature "hometown heroes" etc.  See "Spin the Wheel" this season, for instance.  I'm a cynic, I know, but the inspiration porn bores me and the people chosen as deserving seem sometimes not to represent a cross-section of our society.  By which I mean specifically, too many square-jawed Eagle Scouts from "the heartland" and all that.  It just doesn't appeal to me.  I like a general assortment of civilians, but if they were going to pick them with a message, I think I'm happy as things are.  (And yes, I know some find Hollywood personalities equally homogenous and alienating.)

I don't know who I expected Anderson Cooper to bring, but it wasn't Andy Cohen.  Interesting.

Millionaire has done a good job historically of not going too heavy on the sob stories. They might talk about it in between questions but they don’t pad out the show endlessly with that stuff the way shows like Deal or no Deal, The Wall, Spin the Wheel, etc. do. Nancy Christy’s run is a good example of this, she was a teacher who clearly could use money but they didn’t go on and on about how much she needed it. The focus was on how well she played the game, not one what she did outside the show to “deserve” to win $1,000,000.

But I do like the idea of celebrities playing on behalf of a charity supporting the frontline workers or social justice which would go over better than Nikki Glaser playing for birds.

[albinerhawk]

I was surprised that Anderson wasn't more sure of his Florida answer to the two time zone question. I knew it since it came up in the 2000 election controversy over Florida. Networks had called Florida for Gore at 8 pm Eastern even though the polls hadn't closed in the more conservative panhandle since they were in the Central time zone. You'd think someone who worked in the news industry that got blamed for that guffaw would be aware of that bit of trivia.

[chitowngirl]

If only the promos hadn’t shown Anderson Cooper going for the Million dollar question, the first 20 minutes would have been more suspenseful.

[LakeGal]

I agreed that Anderson seemed to get harder questions than most of the others.

[biakbiak]

Even though I know Anderson hasn’t had Covid when Andy hugged him but I did briefly wonder when this was filmed because Andy tested positive fairly early, March 20th! 

[saber5055]

11 hours ago, biakbiak said:

I did briefly wonder when this was filmed

March 12.

[lynxfx]

Can't believe neither Cohen or Cooper knew the Scoville question. Cohen especially since he has actually been on "Hot Ones" where they mention the scoville scale multiple times. 

Good playing by Cooper but I wish people would realize that you need to truncate the question when doing phone a friend. 9 times out 10 they run out of time with no answer. Same goes for answering. I about died a couple weeks ago when the friend started to explain how they knew something before saying the answer. 

2 $500k winners in a row when there were only 3 total before in all of celeb millionaire history. Easier overall questions and probably the friend helping for the first 10 questions making those mostly pointless. 

[Genius]

Weren't we promised someone was going to win the million this season?  When Anderson didn't do it, and there was only 30 minutes left for all of Andy Cohen's attempt, I was like, HOW is he going to get to a million?  I feel lied to.  Unless I completely misread promos?

[biakbiak]

31 minutes ago, lynxfx said:

Cooper knew the Scoville question. C

I wasn’t surprised. Anderson is so crazy about food and doesn’t think about it or know anything about it. That said their little back and forth about why Anderson spoke up was cute.

[VCRTracking]

 

 

[ams1001]

I don't dislike Tiffany Haddish, generally, but holy crap she got annoying after a while. (But she looks good without the wig.)

I assumed it was just celebrities again but apparently this season also has frontline workers and others affected by COVID-19. I like that.

Enjoyed the tribute to Regis at the end.

[opus]

Is there a reason they can’t let you read the phone question and answers and then start the 30 second clock? Fear of phone -a -friend Googling ?

Edited October 19, 2020 by opus

[SoMuchTV]

Omg Tiffany Haddish had moments of brilliance, and moments of WTF ARE YOU THINKING?!??

I was touched by her description of what happened to her and other foster kids.  I hope they got all the $$$$. 

[Swenson]

The celebrities are boring and they make the questions too easy for them because it's for "charity".   Yawn.

I believe we are all essential in some way.  But they make it sound like we all owe something to these "frontline" people just for doing their job.   So I guess now those of us not considered essential can't try out for this anymore.  But what we can do is CLICK!

 

[Phishbulb]

12 hours ago, SoMuchTV said:

Omg Tiffany Haddish had moments of brilliance, and moments of WTF ARE YOU THINKING?!??

The weird thing is she seemed to be going in the right direction when she was saying "I remember them eating something brown!", then decided to trust her friend anyway, which was a bad idea.