Edit: It’s the penultimate day of 3-2-1. Has Tom played a blinder, or has he just made a decision he may regret? Join us tomorrow for the final prize reveals!
Alex Davis has posted up the new US Millionaire rules on Buzzerblog, but he’s also put them in a comment here so I’ll repeat that as it’s probably worth its own post:
“OK, new Millionaire rules. It’s not as good as old Millionaire but it can’t be much worse than what we had to endure last season with the completely useless Expert, no one using Double Dip, bad contestants, unbelievably tough material, everyone walking away on question 7 or 8 and about one person every week or two making it to $25,000, etc.
The game is played in two rounds. The first round each question is randomly given one of ten dollar values (between $100 and $25,000) and the categories are shuffled. You won’t know what you’re playing for until you answer. That first question could be for $100 or maybe $25K. Could be the easiest, or could be the hardest. If you’re right the value of the question is added to your bank. You can walk away at any time during the first 10 questions with half your bank.
You’re given three Lifelines. Ask the Audience survives. The other two are called “Jump the Question”. If you use Jump you bypass the question but you don’t get the dollar value for it, like an Escape from 1 VS 100.
If you survive the first 10 questions you are guaranteed $25,000 and you play “Classic Millionaire” with four questions, valued at $100K, $250K, $500K, and $1M. You can walk away with your bank (or whatever dollar value you are on), but if you miss you leave with $25,000.
Again, it’s not as good as old Millionaire but it sounds interesting (I’ll be doing a set visit Thursday) and it really can’t be any worse than last season. The show got too predictable and stale, and it’s hard to change that on a daytime TV budget. They reached a point of no return, and it was either this or switch to Hot Seat. I’m glad we switched to this.
The only weird thing is getting rid of the Hot Seat. I’m not sure what that accomplishes, but there we go.”
Thanks Alex. Sounds as though it might be fun, although until I see it I’m not entirely sure how well it will all “fit”.
I’d assume Jump the Question can’t be used after the 10th?
An audience report says Jump can be used in the Final Four (I’m just calling it that since I’m a nerd and it’s better than “Classic Millionaire”), but Meredith apparently didn’t specifically say now. I’m guessing it just works as Switch. They aren’t letting you just pass a question and move on that easily in daytime.
Also the clock is gone.
Are they going for one contestant a show, do you think?
I think they’re going to try, but it’ll end up being impossible. Not everyone is going to make it to the final four and there are some people who are bound to just get through only 4 or 5 questions before messing up. I’ll find out Thursday.
They are also getting a new music package from scratch which blows a bit.
I was a tiny bit wrong. If you save any Jumps, they will instantly be used in the final four. So if you manage to save both Jumps, your bank will be $68,600; and you bypass the $100K and $250K question, going for $500,000 automatically. That’s going to be exciting.
Here’s what I like most. I feel the million is able to be won again. For the past few years it’s been next to impossible. I actually think someone can win now.
Quick! Ed Welch (themes for Blockbusters, Knightmare, Catchphrase, That’s My Dog, The National Lottery and, er, The Hoobs) or Zack Lawrence (themes for all the Chatsworth biggies)?
You can only have one (1) of them. Pick! Pick now! Betting Ends!
Ed Welch for amazing 80s synth work.
Ed Welch or Zack Lawrence?
Zack Lawrence. Look at the evidence. “Rock Revolution” > “Quiz Wizard”. “Forcefield” > “The $64,000 Question”. “Peak Performance” > Theme From “Catchphrase”. The Original TVS fanfare > The Microsoft Noise. Butter > Marge.
Come on though, Rock Revolution is basically a cover.
Also he did the amazing TVS theme from 1987 onwards, when Greg Dyke was in charge:
http://www2.tv-ark.org.uk/itvsouth/tvs_idents.html
I watched Cash In The Celebrity Attic today because Richard O’Brien was on it. That was so not worth it.
FYI, you may want to keep an eye out for USBB this coming Thursday- circumstances have come up that may make this particular live episode VERY interesting to see..
I stopped watching it about a fortnight ago, but I’m reading a lot of stuff that suggests it might be worthwhile catching up…
It is- this week’s episodes are going to be intriguing, because of decisions that were made, and Thursday a decision will HAVE to be made that might decide the game in the long run…
After thinking about it i do not like the way the jumps are used in new US Millionaire.
What if you get through the first 10 but want the $100k question as it is easier to answer than one for $500k