I was originally going to review today's episode of Who Wants to be Millionaire?, but unfortunately, there was some ABC News Special Report with Barack Obama that took up the entire thirty-minute slot. So instead, I will just review the changes that Who Wants to be a Millionaire? went through last November. Obviously I'm extremely late for that, but it's my only backup plan.
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In November 2008, Who Wants to be a Millionaire? went through a few changes to gameplay. At first, I had thought this had ruined the show. I said that Millionaire is not nearly as good anymore as it once was. But all I really had to do was get used to these changes, and after watching a few more episodes online, I realized that these changes were for the better.
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The most important change, in my opinion, was the clock: this meant that contestants had a limited amount of time to answer the question, or else they would be forced to walk away with the money they had already won. Whoever did the music and sound effects did a wonderful job incorporating the ticking sound of the clock into the music; now I can't even listen to the music in my head without adding the ticking noise into it. And the clock must have saved tons of money, as contestants now don't spend minutes upon minutes thinking of the answer to a question. Plus, it's especially good for the half-hour syndicated version because more questions can be asked per show, as you don't have to spend a quarter of the show watching contestants think.
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The other change that Millionaire had was with the lifelines. The 50:50 lifeline was replaced with Double Dip, and Switch the Question was replaced with Ask the Expert, which would be earned after the $1,000 question. Both of these were from 2004's Super Millionaire (Ask the Expert is basically a one-person version of Three Wise Men). I honestly like the new lifelines better than the old (although I don't appreciate taking away one of the original three lifelines. Put Double Dip after $32,000 and keep 50:50 maybe?) Double Dip is better than 50:50 because if you have two answers in mind, you can try both those answers, rather than having the computer take away two random answers that might be the ones that you've already eliminated. Ask the Expert is good because in Switch the Question, you could be left with any question at all. The only con in Ask the Expert is that you don't choose the expert, who may or may not be knowledgeable in the subject of your question.
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So all in all, I'm liking the changes to Millionaire. Now that it's summer I can watch it much more during the day (as long as the President doesn't interfere again!)
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Also, in August, they're doing a two-week special for Millionaire, which will air for one hour every night with Regis Philbin as host. According to BuzzerBlog, it's basically a one-hour version of syndicated Millionaire with Fastest Finger included. I was really hoping for the completely original Millionaire, with the original lifelines and money tiers and no clock, but aw well. I'll still enjoy it, anyway.
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