) I guess the next on will be Poland then...
Foreign Millionaire logos and the Great Logo Switch of 2000
Aug 27, 2013 9:24:12 GMT -5
GSK, Kimarough, and 1 more like this
Post by Victor on Aug 27, 2013 9:24:12 GMT -5
Since early 2000 I have been collecting images from all the international versions of Millionaire worldwide. Starting on the Wikipedia-page about Millionaire, I typed the various version's names into Google to see what I got. So now I have a huge archive of Millionaire pics. It's fascinating to see how the show is mostly the same yet subtly different in each locale.
We all now the famous Millionaire logo. Well, when in 1999 Milionaire started spreading to other countries, most versions used their own logo. Some of them, as you will, were really creative. In 2000 that all changed. Every country (probably contractually, there isn't really another explanation) started using the UK logo in the Great Logo Switch of 2000.
So the Belgians (or the Flemish-speaking part at least) had this logo...
...Before they had to change it to this.
The Swiss has this sort of creative looking logo....
...Before they changed it to this.
The Austrians weren't as creative. A circle with letters did the trick for them.
And they changed it too.
Here's how that looks on the set (which they share with the Germans by the way):
Speaking of the Germans, they had a really cool looking logo:
Here's the cool logo as shown on the set.
It was so cool, that the Netherlands adopted it too (or, rather, the other way around because the Netherlands was first but that just complicates the story).
Like their logo, their set resembled the German one (but is definitely a different set):
They weren't the only countries to use this look. Production company Endemol was looking for synergy so it used the same look when it produced the Portugese version of Millionaire too.
In case you love the logo, too bad. In 2000 all Endemol versions went to the standard Millionaire logo. Here's Germany:
(Looks like the Swiss version, right? It would make sense because the two versions share a name. But think again. The green thingies in the middle are different.)
Here's the Dutch version of the new logo.
And of course the Portugese. Never forget them.
The Great Logo Switch of 2000 was not always a bad thing. Here's Poland's really ugly original logo.
Wait?! You don't believe me it was actually used on air? Well, here's proof. This is how it looked in the opening titles.
It did not look much better when they incorporated it into the set.
So, thankfully, they too finally adopted the good old standard logo.
Denmark wasn't immune for the changes either. It went from this...
...to this.
Spain went from this...
...to this (we know the drill by now)...
...and finally this...when they changed to the euro and could no longer afford to give away 50 million.
Sweden's original logo was this...
...then this...
...and finally to this when they renamed the show (to incorporate a sponsor's name, which is a way many European versions finance the big prizes).
Fellow Scandinavian country Finland went from this...
...to this.
Finally, there's Australia. That's a different story altogether. Down Under they decided not only should they differentiate their version with a strange looking logo...
..they decided they should also change the rules. So they used a special 11-question format. Anyway, all of that went out the door when they changed their logo to the standaard logo.
After 2WayTraffic took over the rights of the show, more variations in rules were allowed. Australia then adopted a 16-question format, making that version the one with both the shortest and longest money tree.
We all now the famous Millionaire logo. Well, when in 1999 Milionaire started spreading to other countries, most versions used their own logo. Some of them, as you will, were really creative. In 2000 that all changed. Every country (probably contractually, there isn't really another explanation) started using the UK logo in the Great Logo Switch of 2000.
So the Belgians (or the Flemish-speaking part at least) had this logo...
...Before they had to change it to this.
The Swiss has this sort of creative looking logo....
...Before they changed it to this.
The Austrians weren't as creative. A circle with letters did the trick for them.
And they changed it too.
Here's how that looks on the set (which they share with the Germans by the way):
Speaking of the Germans, they had a really cool looking logo:
Here's the cool logo as shown on the set.
It was so cool, that the Netherlands adopted it too (or, rather, the other way around because the Netherlands was first but that just complicates the story).
Like their logo, their set resembled the German one (but is definitely a different set):
They weren't the only countries to use this look. Production company Endemol was looking for synergy so it used the same look when it produced the Portugese version of Millionaire too.
In case you love the logo, too bad. In 2000 all Endemol versions went to the standard Millionaire logo. Here's Germany:
(Looks like the Swiss version, right? It would make sense because the two versions share a name. But think again. The green thingies in the middle are different.)
Here's the Dutch version of the new logo.
And of course the Portugese. Never forget them.
The Great Logo Switch of 2000 was not always a bad thing. Here's Poland's really ugly original logo.
Wait?! You don't believe me it was actually used on air? Well, here's proof. This is how it looked in the opening titles.
It did not look much better when they incorporated it into the set.
So, thankfully, they too finally adopted the good old standard logo.
Denmark wasn't immune for the changes either. It went from this...
...to this.
Spain went from this...
...to this (we know the drill by now)...
...and finally this...when they changed to the euro and could no longer afford to give away 50 million.
Sweden's original logo was this...
...then this...
...and finally to this when they renamed the show (to incorporate a sponsor's name, which is a way many European versions finance the big prizes).
Fellow Scandinavian country Finland went from this...
...to this.
Finally, there's Australia. That's a different story altogether. Down Under they decided not only should they differentiate their version with a strange looking logo...
..they decided they should also change the rules. So they used a special 11-question format. Anyway, all of that went out the door when they changed their logo to the standaard logo.
After 2WayTraffic took over the rights of the show, more variations in rules were allowed. Australia then adopted a 16-question format, making that version the one with both the shortest and longest money tree.
