Who Wants to Be a Millionaire

I just watched Ken Jennings try his luck at winning a million dollars ( it's available on YouTube), and sadly, even he couldn't win the top prize. Now I was sure he would because of that 74-day winning streak on Jeopardy. But when he got stuck and had to use all three lifelines on one question, I wasn't so sure anymore. And why exactly does this show need to be continued anyway? A millionaire (on this show) is a rarity, which brings to mind only one question: Why bother? I always enjoyed WWTBAM with Regis, but after his departure, the show lost its magic. To say that Meredith Viera was no Regis is a big understatement. If her heart was in it at all, then it was only in the game, and nothing more. She may have been a decent host, but she wasn't a memorable one. And even more changes were made, besides different hosts. The contestant or the host don't sit anymore. Plus, there's no longer a fastest finger segment, which, in my humble opinion, was a great way to decide who gets to play next. Why they removed it is a big question. Does standing up change anything? Hard to tell. Now, Regis did host Super Millionaire a couple years after he left and returned for the 10th anniversary edition. But that's about all the additional Regis you're gonna get. This is like a scripted show. You lose an original, yet the show continues. It's probably not a good enough reason to cancel it, but it would certainly help if it weren't on anymore. I wonder what Regis thinks of the changes made to the show he once made not only popular, but memorable. I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't like them either. After Regis left, the show should have gone with him.

Seems to me that more and more contestants are leaving with $5,000. There needs to be another guaranteed level between $5,000 and $50,000.

In order to keep the budget to a minimum, they decided to nix the Fastest Finger round and keep the top prize going. Meredith is the greatest host than Regis is, and had newer top right graphics for those entering the $16,000 level and used a "classical" ending if someone won a million bucks. This show is always a keeper at 4:30 on channel 24 before the 5 o'clock news come on.

I didn't care for Regis Philbun as host. He seemed to make the contestants feel so uncomfortable. However, Meredith Viera is a wonderfully funny woman, and she is very comfortable with the contestants, and her smile is as warm as the noon time sun. So I hope that the show lasts for a long time, and Meredith stays on my television at 8:30/9:30 C until she decides that it is time to move on.

A great show, it's great that they decided to keep the top prize $1,000,000 considering it's syndicated and usually the budget is tighter. It's still exciting, although I do miss Regis as host, Meredith is good (and better at pronounciations) but a little too dull at times for such a high adrenalin show like Millionaire.