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Post by mv100 on Oct 8, 2016 12:31:30 GMT -5
Hi all, a month ago, the revived Czech version of Millionaire was pulled from the air because of low ratings, even though there still are ten episodes the TV station had produced (but not aired). There are many reasons why the ratings were dissatisfactory: the viewers were already wary of the revival before it even started (in the original run, there had been three hosts, and only the first one is regarded as good; the new show had yet another host, so people weren't expecting much), the direction was terrible (wrong music cues, music was too quiet, the lightning - and the show per se - wasn't dramatic at all etc.), the questions were hard, so nobody reached for interesting prizes and so on and so on. However, I wanted to ask you about an issue which I think is affecting every international Millionaire version: the Internet. In 1998, you didn't know what the correct answer was until the host announced it; even if you argued with your family members that you know it's B, you never knew whether you misremembered or not. This kind of suspense seems to be gone now, with the rise of Google and especially smartphones. My personal opinion is, after having too difficult questions later on in its run, this was one of the reasons of the UK version's downfall. Do you think this could be prevented by future versions of the show anyhow? For me, it seems to be impossible because of Millionaire's very nature - it's a quiz. Maybe you can offer a different perspective than me though  I'll be glad if you participate in the discussion! |
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Post by FinalAnswer19 on Oct 8, 2016 21:27:45 GMT -5
While the internet hurts Phone a Friend, I don't think the internet hurts viewership. It's more fun to argue about the right answer than looking it up online when you'll find out in just a moment anyway.
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Post by mv100 on Oct 9, 2016 6:14:30 GMT -5
FinalAnswer19 It's definitely more fun, that doesn't stop people from doing it though. The idea that this is happening isn't from my head, I've found out that people Google the correct answers from on-line discussions and conversations I've had with them through my Millionaire fansite. Apparently, it's really common.
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Tim0n
Fan Games Pass Holder 
$8,888,888 winner on Daily Millionaire | 5th Anniversary €500,000 winner
Posts: 751
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Post by Tim0n on Oct 9, 2016 6:34:17 GMT -5
The Czech revival is most certainly an interesting case study. I'm struggling to understand why they decided to produce the show in Germany. The only thing that springs to mind is the cost of building the set; however, over a longer period of time it would've been more cost-effective to have their own set. Does this mean that the production company knew the show was going to fail? Maybe.
The music cues were "wrong", but that's how the German-speaking versions play their music. Bearing in mind that "Wer Wird Millionaer" has been going strong for over 17 years now, you can't put all the blame just on the music.
Questions being too hard is a huge factor. Again, this could be due to a limited prize budget. This has been an issue in many international versions. Back in late 90s and early 2000s, the show could easily sustain its prize budget just from the phone calls. Now, the big game show boom is over and there's just less contestants wanting to apply.
I also put the blame on editing. The pace was painfully slow. A 75-minute episode saw only 18-20 questions, meaning that a complete run to the top prize would take about 55-60 minutes. That's just boring to watch. TV has changed. The drama now does not come from the long deliberations. The drama should come from how contestants behave. That's why "The Million Pound Drop" has been a huge success in UK.
Overall, what killed Czech WWTBAM was the lack of funding, which, again, seems to be a trend all over the world. But that's probably a topic for another case study.
Internet? If you don't have to wait 10 minutes for the answer to be revealed, you won't bother googling it. If the question is easy enough for you to take a stab at it, you won't bother googling it. PAF suffers from the internet, but that's just a mark of time.
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Post by mv100 on Oct 9, 2016 10:52:46 GMT -5
Tim0n I agree with you 100% that the pacing was the main issue. I, too, don't think that the different music cue usage was a reason why people didn't tune in - that's something just people that know the show in detail notice (but I didn't say it was a huge reason in the first place). I think that the executives just thought that if they put out something called "Who Wants to be a Millionaire", people will just mindlessly watch, but the low budget (again, you're definitely right) showed too much. It was clear that the contestants thinking for too long or PaF taking too long to respond wasn't an issue of editing - because there was no editing at all, they just recorded for 75 minutes and then they aired it with no cuts (apart from when the contestant won FFF). I could go on about the reasons why Czech WWTBAM was a flop, but to stay on topic: I never thought about the correlation between pacing and Internet. Thanks!
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Post by FinalAnswer19 on Oct 9, 2016 15:18:21 GMT -5
No, of course nothing will stop people from doing it but anybody who would google an answer during a game show is either 1) way too competitive with whoever they're watching the show with or 2) too stupid to enjoy a game show in the first place.
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Post by MainitNaSilya on Oct 10, 2016 1:05:08 GMT -5
Although in the studio of "Millionaire", contestants cannot "Google" the answer, for the audiences at home might as well do it. They cannot afford for suspense for 8 minutes when the audience at home know there are search engines, computers and smartphones now that are one click away from giving the correct answer. That was what I was thinking about when "Millionaire" version in the Philippines ended also back almost a year ago. Most of the problem I think but the people who will watch the episode. It just provides the anticlimactic experience of watching the show. If back in late 1990's and 2000's, when Chris Tarrant might do straddling (The time when the correct answer will be revealed after the commercial break), it proves to be a nail biting experience, for the viewers at home and at the same time, the people at home might you know, argue with themselves of who's right while waiting for the outcome). It's gone now, and when a hosts straddles on a question on "Millionaire" in today's era, it will be an opportunity for the audience to search it, which kills the viewing experience. It's a classic game that is just a bit dragging for today's generation who's attention span is very short.
That's why as what I have noticed, I think, the trend now in today's era in terms of game shows are those that are quick, fast paced, in the likes of "The Chase", "Jeopardy!", those shows that show up a lot of questions in an episode because, there is no way that the audience can kill the viewing experience even when there is google, the shows that when you, the viewer leaves your seat, you might miss a lot substantial amount of the flow of gameplay.
I just wonder, why Weakest Link doesn't make a comeback?, although it can, because it's a fast-paced quiz show, but what factor makes it very hard for TWL for a comeback in the modern era?
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Post by nejento on Feb 16, 2017 12:25:58 GMT -5
I know I'm replying in to quit and old topic, but there's just more things that are not understandable. Nova, the producer of the WWTBAM in the Czech Republic, produces a lot of shows that require big sets which look amazing. So the problem of budget is probably not that big thing. The money could go there easily and Nova could build a set that would be as good as the latest UK studio (which I'm a big fan of) Big problem of the show was, that contestants didn't know about the option to attend Millionaire, because there was only one small form on Nova's website, that wasn't announced properly. There was no commercial, there was no news about that in their News or show reels, etc. + I really have no idea why they needed some kind of video of yourself in the form. Another big problem of the show was the shooting location. For Czechs, Köln is definitely not a correct city to go to. It requires a lot of time to get the host, audience, players there and since not all of them are actually going to win anything and just look at the show, there's not many other reasons to travel there. The Host, Marek Vašut, was not a bad choice BUT the first talking with the contestant and host's need to help the contestant to answer the question correctly was not good. Helping the contestant to answer the question correctly by asking „Are you sure“ so many times until he finally changes his answer to a correct one, when they obviously don't deserve his clues, is just stupid. Some of you thought that the questions have been difficult, I kinda agree, but they were not that extremely difficult. I think that just the selection of the contestants was not good, and lookes like they didn't even pass the first basic quiz test, which they used to go through. I would like to have WWTBAM here in the Czech Republic, but it would have to have a normal studio set which goes with UK standards, even with their new music beds (Because why not, since it is goes with the rest quite well), but with the purple graphics set (not the blue one, the blue one sucks). When I saw Haluatko Miljonäariksi I was amazed. The set is smaller but looks amazing, because everything fits just fine, the host selection was perfect (he looks mysterious but still funny enough) and that's basically enough to make the show great. Also, the Weakest Link show is great as well and I miss that. What's more sad is that people here don't remember the game and what it was about. Again, the host they went for here was not bad, but the host shouldn't have been that mean or even sometimes rude. The UK host was mean, but it was acceptable. Wow, this reaction is a lot longer than I expected to be, but hopefully makes sense |
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) I guess the next on will be Poland then...
