JUST how Regis Philbin is going to give away a new $10 million super-prize on “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” appears to be still undetermined – with just three weeks to go until the show hits the air.
Series creator Michael Davies was in meetings yesterday, hashing out the details of the revamped show, which is returning in primetime for the first time since June 2002 – and will be called “Super Millionaire” this time around.
“More details will be forthcoming. There are a lot of technical, legal and practical things which have to be worked out,” Davies told tvgameshows.net.
What is known about the show is that it will be taped in its old studio, which now houses the syndicated “Millionaire,” hosted by Meredith Vieira.
“What I’ve always maintained about the live thing is this show wouldn’t be good live,” Davies told tvgameshows.net. “It needs those edits.”
This time around, the grand prize will be $10 million – a new record for a TV game show and 10 times more than the original “Millionaire” grand prize.
The revamped version is “going to be absolutely recognizable to ‘Millionaire’ people and ‘Millionaire’ fans as the ‘Millionaire’ they know and love,” Davies said.
There will be some changes, however. In addition to new graphics and music, the dollar value for the easiest question now starts at $1,000 (as opposed to $100 in the original version).
The three lifelines will still be there, but there will now be additional “lifelines” at different dollar plateaus.
ABC is hoping lightning will strike twice with “Millionaire,” which really took off when it debuted in the summer of 1999.
At one point, the show was being watched by upwards of 30 million viewers a night – but viewership steadily declined when ABC ran the show into the ground through overscheduling.
“Super Millionaire” is scheduled to return Sunday, Feb. 22 for a five-night run.