In some ways, Millionaire had far more in common with the everyman appeal of Survivor and Big Brother. Millionaire's influence can also be felt in the fabric of nearly every competitive reality show since, starting with the early 2000's boom kicked off by Survivor and Big Brother, and continuing through to the present day. It didn't invent the tradition of dropping a game show into the prime-time network lineup during the fallow summer season, but it certainly cemented it. There was of course the sheer audacity of promising a prize of that magnitude, but there was also an everyman quality to Millionaire's gameplay that enabled viewers to easily empathize with the players at every step of the process.Ĭertainly that appeal laid the groundwork for dozens of direct imitators in the realm of high-stakes prime-time game shows, ranging from the long-enduring ( The Weakest Link and Deal or No Deal) to the entirely forgettable ( Who's Still Standing? and 500 Questions). Millionaire moved to daytime syndication shortly afterward, where it remained - sustained by a small but deeply loyal fan base - until it came to a quiet end earlier this year. In the years before fast internet and Google made the point moot, the question of who you'd choose as your Phone-A-Friend was a hot topic at water coolers, and Regis Philbin's dire delivery of "Is that your final answer?" remained in the vernacular for years, even after Philbin left the show in 2002. debut twenty years ago this week, and if the ratings for the bulk of the show's prime-time runs were any indication, the answer to the tantalizing rhetorical question in the show's title was: absolutely everybody. Who Wants to Be a Millionaire made its U.S.
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