On August 16, 1999, Who
Wants To Be A Millionaire debuts on ABC. The Show is an immediate hit,
with ratings soaring to 30 million viewers a night. Many memorable
moments happened those first few nights, including Michael Shutterly's
$500,000 win, Doug Van Gundy's dramatic $250,000 win, Tom Coletta's "I'm
a fat man Regis, my heart can't take it" response, Hillary Daw's joyful
$16,000 win, Doug Foster, John McClain, David Honea, and Norman Payne
agonizing over their $32,000 questions, and finally, David Honea's
return due to a bad question having him win $125,000.
WWTBAM TO POSSIBLY BE
CANCELLED NEXT FALL
Posted: 12-18-01 | News | General
Reported
Wednesday, during a conference call to discuss ABC's significantly
struggling lineup, Entertainment Co-Chairman Lloyd Braun said, "We cannot
say with certainty that Millionaire will be on our fall schedule." On
Thursday, host Regis Philbin & executive producer Michael Davies struck
back. On Thursday's Live with Regis & Kelly, Philbin predicted that
Millionaire will go away in primetime, and "then they'll bring it back
with a comedian, a red-hot comedian, which is really what they want. They
want it to become a comedy show.'' Philbin's theory about the network
version is believable -- many believe ABC would re-tool a Philbin-less
Millionaire to make it distinguishable from the syndicated version (which
will air primarily on CBS stations). Davies agrees Philbin can't do both
-- and would like him to commit to the daily version, saying "it will be
around longer." Davies wants a major cutback on celebrity episodes, saying
that was a major factor in the ratings decline. He also would like the
show to return to a "special series" format starting in the fall. Philbin
agreed on Friday's Live, saying, "We've moved too far from the things
which made Millionaire a hit. We've done way too many celebrity shows, but
that's what the network wanted."
Philbin also was pointedly angry about having learned about the show's
potential fate in the newspaper, saying, "This has happened time and time
again...You put your faith and trust in people and then they lie to you."
Also: ABC cans almost all its online message boards
In our continuing quest to find out what makes television work or not, we
bring you the Worst Executives of the Year (or More) Award: Stu Bloomberg
and Lloyd Braun, co-chairmen of the ABC Television Entertainment Group.
They win for what amounts to an incredible legacy: lack of vision,
unmerited smugness and the stubbornness necessary to drive ABC into the
ground.
Reported
Wednesday, during a conference call to discuss ABC's significantly
struggling lineup, Entertainment Co-Chairman Lloyd Braun said, "We cannot
say with certainty that Millionaire will be on our fall schedule." On
Thursday, host Regis Philbin & executive producer Michael Davies struck
back. On Thursday's Live with Regis & Kelly, Philbin predicted that
Millionaire will go away in primetime, and "then they'll bring it back
with a comedian, a red-hot comedian, which is really what they want. They
want it to become a comedy show.'' Philbin's theory about the network
version is believable -- many believe ABC would re-tool a Philbin-less
Millionaire to make it distinguishable from the syndicated version (which
will air primarily on CBS stations). Davies agrees Philbin can't do both
-- and would like him to commit to the daily version, saying "it will be
around longer." Davies wants a major cutback on celebrity episodes, saying
that was a major factor in the ratings decline. He also would like the
show to return to a "special series" format starting in the fall. Philbin
agreed on Friday's Live, saying, "We've moved too far from the things
which made Millionaire a hit. We've done way too many celebrity shows, but
that's what the network wanted."
Philbin also was pointedly angry about having learned about the show's
potential fate in the newspaper, saying, "This has happened time and time
again...You put your faith and trust in people and then they lie to you."
