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Rumour: A new look Millionaire?

There are whispers that Nine is considering an updated version of its quiz show, with Eddie McGuire to resume his hosting role.

etIs this a case of lock it in, Eddie?

TV Tonight hears Who Wants to be a Millionaire could go back before the Channel Nine cameras.

There are whispers that Nine is considering an updated version of the quiz show, with Eddie McGuire to resume his hosting role.

Millionaire has enjoyed a “flavour of the month” resurgence thanks to its inclusion in the hit film Slumdog Millionaire, in which a kid from the streets enters the game show in India. Next week the film could take out the Best Film at the Oscars.

With no other quiz shows in production, Nine is believed to be preparing a pilot version of the updated format.

In the US there have been additional lifelines added to the original three, including “Switch the Question”, “Ask the Expert” and “Double Dip.”

If the show gets the greenlight, there are no guarantees where it would be slated. In addition to its primetime run, Nine has previously dabbled with a shorter, stripped version of the show too. It last aired in late 2007.

Last week McGuire hosted 4.5 hours of live television, generally to a favourable response. If Millionaire does resume he could be very busy this year. Nine’s Sydney version of its 5:30pm magazine show has been abandoned says the Daily Telegraph.

A Melbourne pilot with McGuire and Livina Nixon is reportedly still moving forward.

39 Responses

  1. No Eddie Quagmire!

    I suppose Channel 9 have to justify his insane salary somehow by making him work occasionally.

    We can now only hope he is a victim of the financial crisis and gets his just desserts…

  2. Remember what happened when Ch9 tried to sex up a Game Show.. ‘Million Dollar’ Wheel of Fortune didnt last long. Lets hope it they remember that before they bring it back..

  3. retter2critical has hit it on the head.
    Iove a decent quiz show, but it must be more questions and less of the padding (we’ll be back after this break etc.- talk to family friend in audience or gossip about sport,films etc.)
    Has Nine,Seven & Ten wondered why quiz shows work on SBS or ABC ? – answer they have loads of questions and less of the fluff !!

  4. Nine should do what it does best lately, call it Adults Only Millionaire & insert plenty of naked breasts 😉 It worked for Underbelly 2, nearly every female character got her knockers out except Donald Mackays wife who by Nines standards is over the hill for that anyway. I haven’t yet noted ratings for 2&1/2 Men & 20 to 1 which have had the AO label advertised for the recent episodes, but wouldn’t surprise me if it helped ratings, like they say, sex sells….

  5. Solution:

    Make more questions in one program because we all know it was padding! Padding sold to us as tension. Quiz shows need to be a quiz. We need questions and not dragged out twitch-fests. Eddie just pisses me off when they have the answer or want to leave and he rejects their decision untill the Channel Nine people in the dark give the all clear to proceed. Dont drag it out, dont gimick it up too much further and you got it, a second life. If you gimick it up and make me wait 3 minutes for the next question I’ll pull the trigger myself.

  6. I don’t think the format is dead at all – the almost universally positive feedback on this page proves it.

    It was pulling 1.3 against 2.0 for Housewives in 2006 and generally never went below that except for the 2007 version which was 90 minutes, had little promotion, had a bad lead in, had a worse format and was on Nine when nobody was watching Nine.

    I don’t think it’d pull less than 1.0 these days – at 8.30 against Housewives could easily work and probably win.

  7. Lots of love for the possible return of Millionaire. I agree I think this could be a success if Nine were to bring it back, in the format that made it a hit. I don’t mind the extra lifelines, but I deffo agree that fastest finger first was a great feature of the game and should be re-instated. But I liked Temptation better and would prefer the Ed & Livinia quiz if Millionaire were to be at 7:00pm.

  8. I agree Eddie is a fantastic host and does a brilliant job on millionaire. I’d like to see Temptation brought back at some point too but wouldn’t count on it.

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