'Millionaire' to Take Summer Break in US
04-13-02, 12:55 AM
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'Millionaire' to Take Summer Break in US
'Millionaire' to Take Summer Break in US
Fri Apr 12,10:52 PM ET
By Doug Young
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Seeing someone become a millionaire by answering multiple choice questions on TV won't be easy as it used to be. "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (news - web sites)" is taking a break for part of the summer on ABC.
The game show, which took the TV world by storm two years ago only to fade almost as fast as it rose, will go on summer hiatus at the end of the current season, then return to its original format as a "special-event" program in August, prior to the launch of ABC's new fall lineup, network spokesman Kevin Brockman said on Friday.
"It will come back in August in the form it had when it first premiered (in 1999) -- short bursts of nightly installments where you can watch real people change their lives," Brockman said.
But the network has not yet decided exactly how many nights the game show will air in August, or whether the show will return to its regular weekly time slot with the new fall season.
"That hasn't been decided because we haven't set our fall schedule," Brockman said.
Many viewers who flocked to the show just two years ago may not even realize "Millionaire" is still a regular on the ABC schedule, appearing Thursday nights in the ultra-tough time slot opposite the NBC hits "Will & Grace (news - Y! TV)" and "Just Shoot Me" and the CBS hit "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (news - Y! TV)."
Last week, the show attracted a meager 8.2 million viewers, making it the week's 55th most watched program -- a far cry from the consistent spot at the top of the ratings it once commanded.
Amid the rapid decline, a top ABC programming official created a buzz last fall when he said the show might not return to the struggling network's lineup at all.
Brockman said ABC executives believe that what made "Millionaire," an import from Britain, a hit when it first appeared was its real-people quality and the show's ability to change people's lives in short periods by giving them a chance to win up to $1 million by answering questions correctly.
"If you rest the show over the summer, take it out of the public eye, don't allow them access to the show and bring it back for a limited period of time, six episodes, eight episodes, whatever, I think we can relaunch it," he said.
While the Regis Philbin-hosted show may never retain its former stature as ratings killer, ABC, a unit of The Walt Disney Co. is in dire need of hits to breathe new life into its schedule.
All of the major networks have suffered to some extent in one of the worst ad market downturns in recent memory, but ABC has been hardest hit because of its rapid fall with the decline of "Millionaire."
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...llionaire_dc_5
Fri Apr 12,10:52 PM ET
By Doug Young
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Seeing someone become a millionaire by answering multiple choice questions on TV won't be easy as it used to be. "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (news - web sites)" is taking a break for part of the summer on ABC.
The game show, which took the TV world by storm two years ago only to fade almost as fast as it rose, will go on summer hiatus at the end of the current season, then return to its original format as a "special-event" program in August, prior to the launch of ABC's new fall lineup, network spokesman Kevin Brockman said on Friday.
"It will come back in August in the form it had when it first premiered (in 1999) -- short bursts of nightly installments where you can watch real people change their lives," Brockman said.
But the network has not yet decided exactly how many nights the game show will air in August, or whether the show will return to its regular weekly time slot with the new fall season.
"That hasn't been decided because we haven't set our fall schedule," Brockman said.
Many viewers who flocked to the show just two years ago may not even realize "Millionaire" is still a regular on the ABC schedule, appearing Thursday nights in the ultra-tough time slot opposite the NBC hits "Will & Grace (news - Y! TV)" and "Just Shoot Me" and the CBS hit "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (news - Y! TV)."
Last week, the show attracted a meager 8.2 million viewers, making it the week's 55th most watched program -- a far cry from the consistent spot at the top of the ratings it once commanded.
Amid the rapid decline, a top ABC programming official created a buzz last fall when he said the show might not return to the struggling network's lineup at all.
Brockman said ABC executives believe that what made "Millionaire," an import from Britain, a hit when it first appeared was its real-people quality and the show's ability to change people's lives in short periods by giving them a chance to win up to $1 million by answering questions correctly.
"If you rest the show over the summer, take it out of the public eye, don't allow them access to the show and bring it back for a limited period of time, six episodes, eight episodes, whatever, I think we can relaunch it," he said.
While the Regis Philbin-hosted show may never retain its former stature as ratings killer, ABC, a unit of The Walt Disney Co. is in dire need of hits to breathe new life into its schedule.
All of the major networks have suffered to some extent in one of the worst ad market downturns in recent memory, but ABC has been hardest hit because of its rapid fall with the decline of "Millionaire."
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...llionaire_dc_5
