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Post by metemeister on Dec 29, 2016 8:13:37 GMT -5
I'm actually curious as to why the first episode of WWTBAM was so short.
It premiered on that day in the year 2000, but the debut lasted only around 30 minutes - does anyone have an estimate as to why the debut episode was this short?
Advertisements? Broadcasting problems?
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Post by Gagamillionaire on Dec 29, 2016 10:26:08 GMT -5
According to this article, low expectations may have had something to do with it. Remember that Millionaire was the show that started the whole game show boom in the 2000s. Before that, networks thought that quizzes only drew in an unattractive demo (i.e. older people). For ABC, it was a long shot, despite Millionaire's popularity in the UK. Have you ever seen that "Game Show Hall of Fame" documentary about Millionaire GSN did a few years back? In it, Michael Davies, who produced the US version for many years, talks about his struggle to get ABC to buy it, I think. Watch it, if you haven't. It's good. |
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Post by metemeister on Dec 29, 2016 10:49:12 GMT -5
Thanks for the meaningful answer! I guess it does make sense.
I'll watch that documentary whenever I have the time. Thanks for the suggestion!
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Post by FinalAnswer19 on Dec 29, 2016 21:41:57 GMT -5
I think the first few handful of episodes were all only a half hour. BTW, the US version started in 1999, not 2000.  |
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Post by metemeister on Dec 30, 2016 2:02:19 GMT -5
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Peachfanclub
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Post by Peachfanclub on Feb 22, 2017 17:55:06 GMT -5
I noticed that ITV similarly experimented with the half-hour format of the original UK version in 1998. Maybe they had an idea that the format of one contestant playing at a time would influence the game to go relatively quickly to the point where they'd be able to seat enough contestants in half an hour to justify giving the show a half-hour time slot. Chris Tarrant himself said in the very first episode that £1 million could be won within that same episode, and I have to believe he was right, given the relative infrequency of commercial breaks compared to the U.S. version. He also noted that Judith Keppel and David Edwards each won their million in the space of "20 minutes of fantastic television". But the show was brand new in 1998, so they likely would've been given little time to experiment with.
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) I guess the next on will be Poland then...
