Talk:Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
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Needs discussion of Regis Philben's shirts, the fast fingers, the call-in process, etc.
- Having seen the documentary movie about Who wants to be a millionaire? I do know that only a few countries have been allowed to make any changes to the original setting, as the whole scheme has been carefully produced over several years by psychologists among others. I noticed that China (I'm not sure it was China, but it was East-Asian) had been allowed to have family watching in a separate room where they discussed the questions. In Japan the verdict came from a Japanese celebrity who clearly took his role as the executor very seriously. Then again, a show is a show. Maybe the one thing that really differs from one country to another is the amount of money a participant is able to get a hold on. Here in Norway the grand prize is 2 million Norwegian Crowners (NOK) which equals to $275,694 (USD) and 75 cents.
- Sigg3.net
- Do feel free to add that information to the subject page itself - at least, the bits that you are sure of! - Oliver Pereira
- Thank you, I will when I've confirmed it.
- Sigg3.net
- Do feel free to add that information to the subject page itself - at least, the bits that you are sure of! - Oliver Pereira
What is a broad regional accent? Vera Cruz
- A strong accent. From my dictionary (Collins Cobuild): "A broad accent is a strong and noticeable regional or foreign accent. EG She spoke in a broad Wiltshire accent."
- What some people criticize is that Assinger, who of course could, if he wanted to, does not speak standard (Austrian) German. Many other viewers find his accent rather charming. KF 18:14 Dec 30, 2002 (UTC)
itd be more informative if it stated what his accent was. Vera Cruz
- I don't know, most likely Carinthian, but that's really irrelevant. Although this is never said openly, I think the idea behind that criticism is that someone who speaks -- or rather sounds -- like any village idiot should not host a show which has an academic touch and should not be facing intellectuals trying to show off their knowledge. Interestingly, one of the first Austrian candidates to actually win the one million € was an unemployed manual worker who spoke in a strong Upper Austrian accent and who stated that he was watching TV all day (and night). On the other hand, there is a movement in Austria which wants to preserve and popularize regional varieties of German as this is seen as part of the Austrian cultural heritage. --KF 23:15 Dec 30, 2002 (UTC)
Oi, Tokerboy! The official website of the programme calls it Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?. Doesn't that mean that that is its official name? -- Oliver P. 18:43 Feb 5, 2003 (UTC)
As a piece of trivia we'll have to add the outcome of the Charles Ingram fraud trial when it becomes known (probably in the next week or two). -- Arwel 01:06 Mar 15, 2003 (UTC)
- Now that it's in, it doesn't mention whether they actually received the million pounds -- I assume not but it'd be nice to mention it explicitly. 66.153.56.194 01:13, 23 Sep 2003 (UTC)
Have included reference to the Cole Porter song which it was named after, with fair use snippet as permitted by copyright rules. Please do not post the full song lyrics without checking copyright -- thanks. There is a link to full lyrics on external site.
--Trainspotter 11:40 22 Jul 2003 (UTC)
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Capitalisation of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?
Moved from Wikipedia:Village pump on Saturday, August 2nd, 02003.
Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? should be the principle article, and all other with similer names should redirect to it. It is not a big deal but it is not quite okay to let Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? to be the principle one. --wshun
- Star Trek is spelt with all caps on the show's intro - shall we move that articles as well or use standard rules of English grammar (which would favor Who Wants to be a Millionare, BTW)? --mav
- Standard English practice is to capitalize all words of a title except for articles and short prepositions, such as 'a', 'the', 'to', 'of', and so on (except where these are the first word of the title, in which case they are capitalized). So I believe Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? would be the correct way of capitalizing it. Of course the show itself may or may not follow standard English practice in its promotional materials; I haven't looked. as for be, I believe that all verbs in titles should be capitalized. --Delirium 23:02 24 Jul 2003 (UTC)
- The explanation is good enough to me. Thanks. wshun 23:08 24 Jul 2003 (UTC)
- The show name should be used as they render it. There are enough cases in popular culture where the rules of capitalization and grammar are purposefully ignored. For example, thirtysomething and er are two other TV shows that come to mind. Daniel Quinlan 02:17 25 Jul 2003 (UTC)
Comment moved from article Can we please have a full article on the song? User:Lee M
Notice that the Charles Ingram affair took place on September 10 2001? So the next day everyone had other things on their minds. Just a terrible coincidence, of course, but I wonder if there's any tasteful way of pointing that out in the article, if it isn't blindingly obvious already...Lee M 02:03, 11 Nov 2003 (UTC)
- The edit history for 07:48, 2 May 2003 . . Tarquin (remove "(by a sad coincidence)" -- please don't drag 9-11 into this) shows that there was a reference to it before then, but really it is irrelevant -- in any case it wouldn't have become public for some time afterwards as Celador and the police would need to be sure of what had happened. -- Arwel 02:12, 11 Nov 2003 (UTC)
- You are right, the whole affair didn't leak to the Sun for several weeks after the filming so there was no concurrent reporting of the two events. Pete 10:22, 18 Nov 2003 (UTC)
(reference also Trainspotter's comment above) Whilst I think it is good to reference the (fabulous) Cole Porter song in the article, is the first line the right place? Its current prominent positioning makes it liable to interpretation as wikipedia making a criticism of the materialism of the show. I will move it down unless there are objections. Pete 10:22, 18 Nov 2003 (UTC)
- I moved it down a paragraph. Pete/Pcb21 (talk) 09:52, 28 Jan 2004 (UTC)
- Are you certain that the TV show was named after that line in the song? As in, someone specifically said they chose the show's name after hearing that song (and if so, could you add more details about this to the article)? Or is it just a coincidence? Brian Kendig 21:15, 25 May 2004 (UTC)
The page says, go for a "50:50" (when the computer will randomly remove two incorrect answers and leave the right answer and one wrong answer). Is the 50:50 really random in deciding what wrong answer to leave behind? It seems to me that it usually leaves a wrong answer which the contestant has been mulling over out loud; I've never seen it leave behind an "obviously wrong" answer. I suspect that the people in the control booth get to decide which wrong answer to leave, or that this was decided when the question was written... is it truly random? Brian Kendig 20:00, 25 May 2004 (UTC)
- In the German and Austrian shows, they insist that it is a random choice. I have never had any reason to doubt that. If, however, it were some kind of ploy used to create more suspense or whatever, it would still be okay, wouldn't it? After all, this is a game show, not real life. No one is entitled to the money.
- If you feel uncomfortable with the wording, we might consider inserting an "allegedly" or a short sentence stating that "Some people doubt that ...". <KF> 20:28, 25 May 2004 (UTC)
- It's not the wording or whether it's okay, so much as the question of whether the choice is really supposed to be random, and if it's not then the article shouldn't say that it is. When a contestant chooses 50:50 in the American version, Regis says, "Computer, please take away two answers, leaving one wrong answer and the correct one." So I'm not certain it's really random, so I'm going to remove that one word from the article. Brian Kendig 21:13, 25 May 2004 (UTC)
- I do not have inside knowledge. However when I've watched the show (British version) I've always noticed how they never use the word random to describe 50:50. That omission always struck me as conspicious, as apparently it does you, and I've just assumed it is not random because leaving two difficult makes for a better show. Sadly I have no proof.
- The programme is made by celador. You can get a copy of the rules of the show by visiting http://www.celador.co.uk/productions_programmes.php?id=37&view=extra and downloading the Microsoft Word document linked there. These rules also make no specific mention of how 50/50 works. Celador do not have a single email address on their website. To find out for sure we would have to phone up.
- Pete/Pcb21 (talk) 21:38, 25 May 2004 (UTC)
- On the American network version, Regis doesn't say that the answers taken are random. However, on the American syndicated version and Super Millionaire, Meredith and Regis, respectively, do say that the answers are removed randomly. Press Start 03:32, 20 Jun 2005 (UTC)
Junior version in India
In India, the show had a version for kids titled "Kaun Banega Karodpati Junior". The contenstants were all kids (under 18, I think), and while the format was the same, the participants won only "points" which were converted to Rupees, to be invested in an insurance account and to be paid out to the winner only when they became adults, at the age of 18. This show was a weekly affair, airing only on Sundays on Star Plus.
I am a little hazy on the details.
- Seems like we could expand on the "specials" section a bit - currently we have "Variants on the format have been tried, such as celebrities playing for charity and couples games (where both partners must agree on the answer)." That is also in the "British original format" section whereas specials have been played all over the place, as you prove. Pcb21| Pete 01:32, 13 Jul 2004 (UTC)
- I found some online reference to the Junior show. For one, it was called "Kaun Banega Crorepati Junior". This page has some details on how the prize was distributed to kids: http://www.rediff.com/entertai/2001/apr/28kbc.htm and this page has information on telecast schedule: http://www.rediff.com/entertai/2001/apr/21kbc.htm
- On a related note, I don't think any of these (juniors, couples etc.) can be considered as "variants" of the original format. They are, at best, variants of only the original selection process. On Indian television, there were a number of gameshows that were truly variants of the theme - the theme being a single contestant quizzed on a number of progressively tough questions, with more and more prize money at stake.Binand
The question mark
Like Who Framed Roger Rabbit, this show appears to be properly titled without the question mark--at least in the USA. My understanding is that there's some superstition that it's bad luck to include a question mark in a title that is a question. On the web sites for both the network and syndicated versions of WWTBAM (in the USA), the question mark is not included when the full name of the show is referenced (see the External Links). I referenced the show on the Ken Jennings page (he's the recent big winner on Jeopardy!), and somebody "corrected" my lack of a question mark. Does anybody have any information that would confirm the official position of the shows' producers on the correct form? Is there any variation for other national versions? Jwolfe 09:04, 17 Jul 2004 (UTC)
- Celador, the creators of WWTBAM, use a question mark, so that must be a pretty definitive answer! See www.celador.co.uk. -- Arwel 11:05, 17 Jul 2004 (UTC)
- OK, I've added a comment to the USA section to reflect the lack of question mark in the US version only. Jwolfe 13:25, 18 Jul 2004 (UTC)
Shouldn't it be noted that the reason why Millionaire's popularity fell in the United States was because they'd have so many celebrity tournaments? I'm not adding it until I get input. Mike H 02:00, Jul 26, 2004 (UTC)
- I don't know about the US, but in the UK the show's popularity did wane at about the same time that new formats (celebrities, couples, kids etc) starting coming in. However I don't think it waned *because* these new formats were around. Contrarily, figures waned because the novelty of the concept wore off, and the producers brought in the special formats to breathe some new life into the show. This is more my opinion than anything substantive, so your mileage may vary. Pcb21| Pete 11:44, 9 Aug 2004 (UTC)
I think it would make a good addition to list the countries in which the highest prize has been given out, and if so, how many times. I remember reading in a newspaper about a year ago that it was just US, UK, Germany, Israel and Russia where the top prize was won. --Aramgutang 11:14, 9 Aug 2004 (UTC)
- Would be a good addition, if we can find the information. In the US there has been lots of winners (it stood at 5 some time ago). There have been at least three in the UK, but I think that includes the Major. Pcb21| Pete 11:44, 9 Aug 2004 (UTC)
- There was also a winner in South Africa, there have now been four in the UK, five if you count the Major, which you shouldn't. Robert Mc Cann.
Rule Changes
Can someone please add details regarding to which countries the rule changes section applies. --NeilTarrant 17:34, 6 Oct 2004 (UTC)
Brasil should be deleted
I think that article about Brasil's show must be erased. This show is just similar. I think in all countries there are similar shows, for e.g. in Lithuania we have "Six zeros - million", in Latvia there is - "Bank of knowledge". So article about Brasil's show must be deleted, because Wikipedia asks to make article about "WWWTBAM?" smaller. What do you think?