Chi Vuol Essere Milionario (WWTBAM Italy)

CVEM - Episode 3 (double xD) (22.09.2020):

CVEM - Episode 5 (08.10.2020):

I'm not 100% familiar with this version of Millionaire, but is every episode 2.5 hours long? Are there commercial breaks in between (which would make the show about 3 hours in total, then)? How often does it come on in a week/month?

Holy cow. I didn't know you guys (I'm assuming that you are Italian here) treated Millionaire as such a major esteemed television event (even more than the Americans and Brits). I can't even imagine if we (in America) did that (I mean, I wouldn't mind, but it would certainly get tiring if it was a stream of celebrity contestants like we are having now). Very cool!

My two cents about CVEM:

The show did not change too much over the years and that's good since many find its simplicity one of the strong points. Many know the show and remember it by its moments and catchphrases that are the same since May 2000 when the first episode was aired. The format was like the international one with the black question graphics (only with a different font – Roboto bold?) and the same moneytree. The currency was the Italian Lira since the Euro had not been introduced yet, that's why the show was called Chi Vuol Essere Miliardario (Who wants to be a billionaire). The episodes were weekly, on Sunday night primetime if I remember, and saw huge success: as you know the drama, suspence, and emotional moments were the key factors in a format that nobody had seen before. The pacing was "fast" and the host, Gerry Scotti (a veteran of game shows) didn't talk much compared to today's standard and did not interfere with the contestant's decisions.

In 2002 the show changed its name to Chi Vuol Essere Milionario (WWTBAM) due to the Euro currency switch – the moneytree was also modified accordingly and during the next years the show aired mainly in early evenings from 18:45 to 20:00 (this is normal for most game shows), every day and even during summers and weekends in later seasons making this one of the most long-lasting shows of all time on italian tv with over 1600 episodes from 2000 to 2011.

There were small changes, like the modification of the graphics color and moneytree in 2007 (blue one), the use of the Switch the question lifeline in 2009-2010, the Christmas holiday Hot Seat format in 2009 (prolonged in the end until March 2010) but the game was mainly the same. Gerry Scotti brought into the show his good personality and character – very good as a host, not too silent yet helpful, using his clean humor without unnecessary banter or disrespect and always had a happy and caring attitude (that's why we call him Uncle Gerry!). Upon revealing the answer he always did these emotional speeches – especially in the top tier questions - which raised the suspence a lot and made you remember that moment as if it was something great and invaluable.

I see that the main difference between these shows and the international ones is that the pace became slower, the contestants always explained what was their thought process and what made them choose that answer (kinda like the Slumdog Millionaire movie) and if they didn't know, they always took their time reasoning and thinking before choosing to use a lifeline or walk away. You can see this very well in today's episodes where the rythm is even slower (the show is 3 hours long!), maybe too much, with the contestants thinking 10 mins+ over each question and analyzing every option. Gerry plays and thinks with them sometimes, giving hints and reminding them to use a lifeline or explaining the danger if they were to get the answer wrong.

The reasoning and brain requirement was and is still veeeery emphasized seeing that the show is one of the last serious/educational ones that we have - even Gerry likes to say this from time to time - being in contrast with the big primetime contenders like temptation island, big brother or talent shows that target a very different audience.

I found the questions in the older editions  to be better than the ones we have now, requiring mainly general and academic knowledge while the modern ones are good but more streamlined, sometimes related to pop culture, social networks, tv shows, websites or the result of a ranking research made by some magazine (kinda like the Chris Harrison era questions maybe?)

Sorry for the long post, I got a bit carried away.
But even with some flaws and the rave music, this is still the best game show we have today, by far.

CVEM - Episode 9 - recorded in Poland (05.11.2020)