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But what about Million Dollar Minute?

While promos for The Chase create some buzz -how do we break it gently to fans of Seven's other game show?

Andrew Skarbek Simon Reeve

With Seven promoting upcoming gameshow The Chase for September, it is yet to clarify the future for Million Dollar Minute.

TV Tonight understands production concluded some time ago as it ramped up filming on the new ITV game show, hosted by Andrew O’Keefe. $MDM appears set to end its run at two years.

Both have been filmed at Media City studios in Coventry Street South Melbourne (formerly Global Studios), also home to Dancing with the Stars.

The Chase is tipped for a 5pm timeslot, but Seven has given no indication if Million Dollar Minute will ever go back before the cameras. Despite some respectable ratings, the internally-devised show has been unable to knock off Hot Seat in the crucial lead-up to the 6pm news.

Last week it averaged 462,000 to Hot Seat‘s 606,000. Shoring up the 6pm news is fundamental to Seven’s primetime schedule.

Host Simon Reeve has done a gallant job of keeping the show alive after the abrupt exit of original host Grant Denyer.

Another version is also in production in Vietnam and the Aussie version was sold to TV3 in New Zealand.

But the apparent end is all very déjà vu. When Million Dollar Minute was being launched, trying to get clarity on plans for Deal or No Deal was nigh on impossible. After production on 11 seasons wrapped without much fanfare, it was simply moved to 5pm as repeats.

Chase host Andrew O’Keefe, who can be one of TV’s more polarising hosts, is amply skilled in the genre. Who else could muster such enthusiasm for opening brief cases for over 2000 episodes?

The Chase will feature 4 brains trusts, Goliath, the Supernerd, the Shark and the Governess, who will take on contestants in the battle for big bucks -and hopefully big ratings.

Seven was contacted for comment.

29 Responses

  1. Most disappointing. The Chase is the only program I know where you can win prizes along the way and right at the end it’s all taken away and you have no choice in the matter. Rarely does anyone keep their money. Bring back MDM, Simon Reeve was great. I now watch “Letters and Numbers” on SBS instead. Also why copy an overseas program? Be creative. Invent our own. I’m over Andrew O.K.

  2. This is probably too late by now but never mind. Once again Channel 7 treats its viewers with disdain. We’re now subjected to TWO of the most boring hours of TV with both UK and Australian “The Chase” on every day. Poor Simon Reeve is such a nice bloke. He was doing a great job after Denyer and once again the rug’s been pulled from under him. I’ve been watching the UK version for a fair while but the Aussie one is a bit of a yawn. I can’t see it lasting, although it’s economically it’s a boon for Channel 7.

  3. If they do bin MDM, you’d hope they air it to the end of the series, otherwise if you were a contestant and had won money without it airing, you don’t get paid (that’s the usual contractual way).

    I don’t watch MDM much but when I have, I find it’s good fun. Let’s just hope AOK dials it back a bit for The Chase – he’s not AOK when it’s too OTT !

  4. I’m very interested to see the local version of The Chase. I really like the host of the UK version – he’s personable and funny – and even though I like AOK, he has big shoes to fill to have the same unusual repartee with quizzers.

  5. I honestly feel Ch7 are so lost these days with trying to compete or beat other networks with ratings, they haven’t had anything new & successful for a while- I hardly watch Ch7.

  6. I will give the Australian version of the Chase a go as it will be awesome to see Brydon Coverdale and Matt Parkinson back on TV as part of the Chasers. Andrew O’Keefe is a great host of Deal or no Deal and Weekend Sunrise. I figured that Million Dollar Minute had finished when I saw Simon Reeve presenting the sports news on Sunrise. I’ll miss M$M as watching it followed by Family Feud has become part of my weeknight routine. It would have been amazing if a female could have gone walked away a millionaire as I’m sure all that have won a million are males.

  7. Why does it have to be one or the other? Rather than 40 weeks of one, why not 20 weeks of each? Or even 15 weeks each, a third light-hearted format for another 10 or 12 weeks (Deal, Wheel or Price is Right)

    1. Would make sense at least to see how The Chase goes until Christmas before making a decision on what happens next year, but the fact they’ve signed up four Chasers from the start suggests they’re in it for the long haul. Personally I think they’d have been better starting with 3 then adding a new one into the mix at a later date – gives them the promo angle of a new chaser down the track too.

      In the UK ITV are willing at least to take the show off air for a few weeks twice a year or so, once for airing a chat show and over the summer for testing out a couple of new game shows. Most fail to return for full series but they do continue with the practice, unlike the BBC who just replace Pointless with repeats of Pointless – or to be more precise replace repeats of Pointless with new episodes for a few weeks every six months.

  8. Not interested in The Chase at all. Hate the pompous brains trust & the show is rigged towards the brains always winning. That makes it cheap for Seven to make.

    1. Perhaps the brains trust wins (but not “always”) because they know answers to simple questions e.g. “What happened in Dallas on November 22, 1963?” “Dunno, I wasn’t watching it then”.
      Questions are actually drawn (face down) by each side before the show starts.
      When claims are made that “the show is rigged” I’m always anxious to know “how?”.

        1. These people are well read and also research, research, research. Anne won’t just be hopping on a flight to pick up the cheque – it’s clearly in all the Chasers nature to swot up for any challenge in front of them, though I suspect Aussie pop culture will be their downfall.

        2. “Whose Parliament House is called The Beehive?” Wrong. Not Australia’s. “What was the capital city of Australia until 1927?” Wrong. “On what river is Perth, Australia?” Wrong. “What Australian state was named after a British queen?” Wrong (it’s Victoria, not “Queensland”). But they do know a lot about Home & Away and Neighbours.

  9. Why would Seven cancel MDM before they see how The Chase goes? If it tanks they will need more MDM episodes.

    MDM did much better than Deal or No Deal and did beat Hot Seat, while people were curious to see if someone could win $1m, (which Hot Seat said was possible but was structured to ensure it almost never would happen). MDM turned out to not be a show that people would watch every evening year after year.

    1. In fact, the Hot Seat version of Millionaire has never had a $1,000,000 winner.

      Last $1,000,000 question was over two years ago.
      I reckon that Channel 9 are so confident that a $1,000,000 question will not be asked (at least in the near future) that the guys designing the new set did not actually create the $1,000,000 set change.

    1. Th UK version is and it’s too long a format to fit in to 30 minutes.

      That is a problem, while it has plenty of questions and banter, the qualification rounds for losing contestants drag on and have no effect on the outcome.

  10. MDM died because of lazy production values. Such as when a contestant reaches the final “Minute” quiz he or she could be there for weeks and the dreadful long pauses for revealing answers was nauseating adhered to night after night. Simon Reeve did a great job of trying to make it enjoyable, but even he became boring after a while with those corny lines. Even the obvious “canned” laughter and applause was appalling. Bad format to start with, I think.

  11. I stopped properly watching MDM a few episodes after Andrew Skarbek’s $1,016,000 win.

    If The Chase fails with Andrew O’Keefe in its very brief 2015 season, Seven needs to put Simon Reeve on or pay the big bucks to get Bradley Walsh for the 2016 season.

  12. All of these shows (Hot Seat, MDM, and now The Chase) are filmed in Melbourne, and they lazily select the overwhelming majority of contestants from there. Apart from being unfair to viewers in other states, there is an obviously limited pool of talented contenders on hand, and this clearly shows in recent episodes of both shows: almost like dumb and dumber. And as I have said before, Eddie’s Melbourne-centric blather is annoying and boring.

  13. MDM seemed to lack atmosphere, it needed the pizzazz of a Sale of the Century, with the non cash prizes or cohost maybe, it just came across as rather clinical, dull and boring, the set is too static, the fake applause, and as good as Simon is, not even he could inject enough razzle dazzle to breath some life into the format

  14. As much as I love the concept behind the Chase, I will give this a miss reason being is I cannot stand Andrew O’Keefe, if they had chosen a better host then maybe just maybe I’ll watch it

  15. Simon did a great job as host of MDM and should’ve been the original choice to start with. I must say I am looking forward to The Chase though. The promos have been good.

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