At the start of each game, host Kevin Pollack gives a pair of contestants a million dollars in cash. It’s theirs to keep as long as they can answer a series of trivia questions correctly. The trick is for them to put their cash on the right answer. Whatever money’s put on an incorrect answer in any given round, will drop away and is gone for good.
The series kicked off on December 20th with a 1.9 rating in the 18-49 demographic and 5.31 million viewers. The episode that followed did just a little better — not a bad performance for a holiday week.
The show was immediately hit with controversy as it turned out that one team of contestants, Gabe Okoye and Brittany Mayti, chose the correct answer but were told that it was incorrect and lost $800,000. As Pollack pointed out later, because they got the final answer wrong (in which they had to bet all of their money on one of two answers), it didn’t change the outcome of the game. FOX bent to public outrage though and offered to give the couple another chance on a future episode.
There’s a belief in Hollywood that any publicity is good publicity. Unfortunately, headlines from the controversy didn’t bring any additional viewers to the show. By the time the season ended Million Dollar Money Drop only averaged a 1.7 in the demo and 5.19 million viewers.
There was talk about possibly bringing back the show for a second season over the summer but FOX has instead cancelled the series. At last word, Okoye and Mayti were undecided about whether or not they would return to try again. Since the first season had already been shot by the time the controversy erupted, it seems the show’s cancellation knocks out any chances of a rematch — at least in the United States.
Though it won’t continue here in the States, there are more that 15 international versions of the show. Casting is currently underway for the latest version which will be produced for Singapore.
What do you think? Are you sorry there won’t be a second season? Will you miss the TV series?
You are currently viewing the mobile version of our site. View the full site to get free email alerts, vote on your favorite shows, comment, and more.