Just prior to the pandemic shutdown, ABC was able to film the first season of the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire revival. The nine episodes finished airing in June. Using social distancing, the network was able to film a second season and those episodes are airing just four months later. Could the ratings suffer because of such little time between seasons or, is any fresh programming just what the doctor ordered? Will Who Wants to Be a Millionaire be cancelled or renewed for season three? Stay tuned. *Status Update Below.
A revival of the long-running primetime and syndicated quiz show, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire is hosted by late night’s Jimmy Kimmel. As in the original versions, contestants try to answer multiple-choice trivia questions for ascending amounts of money, with the hopes of winning the million-dollar prize. Players can take advantage of lifelines to help them answer questions and get further in the game. In this version, the lifelines are “Ask the Host” (replacing “Ask the Audience”), “50/50”, and “Phone a Friend”. Contestants can also invite an expert guest (anyone of their choosing) to help them answer questions. In the second season, the contestants are celebrities (playing for charities), frontline heroes, and others affected by COVID-19. Celebrity contestants include Tiffany Haddish, Joel McHale, and Julie Bowen.
The ratings are typically the best indication of a show’s chances of staying on the air. The higher the ratings, the better the chances for survival. This chart will be updated as new ratings data becomes available.
3/22 update: You can see the latest night’s ratings in context.
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For comparisons: Season one of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire on ABC averaged a 0.81 rating in the 18-49 demographic and 5.68 million viewers.
Note: These are the final national numbers (unless noted with an “*”). These are different from the fast affiliate numbers which are just estimates of the actual ratings. The final nationals are typically released within 24 hours of the programming or, in the case of weekends and holidays, a couple days later.
What do you think? Do you like the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire TV series on ABC? Should it be cancelled or renewed for a third season?
*1/22/22 update: Who Wants to Be a Millionaire has been cancelled.
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