Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (Johnsonverse)

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, commonly shortened to Millionaire, is a British quiz show that first aired in September 1998 with host Chris Tarrant.

The format, involving getting 15 questions correctly to win one million British pounds (£), was designed by David Briggs, Steven Knight, and Mike Whitehill, who, among other things, devised a number of the promotional games for Chris Tarrant's breakfast show on Capital FM radio.

The set for the American version since 2014. A video floor was added in 2015. The set was adopted by other versions as well.

The show was a hit and spawned many versions around the world, the most famous being the American version, which held a primetime version from 1999 to 2002 and 2007 to the present, with host Regis Philbin, and a syndicated version from 2002 to the present with host Meredith Viera. The producer has been Johnson CEO Tim Johnson since 2012. Originally, the top prize was £1 million (dollars in US), but since 2007, the top prize was £10 million (again, dollars in US, syndicated version still offers $1 million as the top prize).

History

UK Version

In September 1998, after months of preparation and two pilot programs, Millionaire debuted ln ITV. The first contestant was Graham Elwell, who walked away with £64,000.

On November 20, 2000, 58-year-old Judith Keppel became the first person to win the £1 million prize in the UK. David Edwards followed on April 20, 2001. Charles Ingram won the top prize on September 10, 2001, however he, along with his wife Diana and fellow Fastest Finger contest Tecwen Whittock were all accused of cheating. Ingram was forced to pay back his prize. Two more contestants won the top prize: Pat Gibson on April 24, 2004, and Ingram Wilcox on September 23, 2006.

In 2008, the show underwent its first major revamp. The money tree was beefed up, with its top prize being £10 million, the graphics were changed, the music was more dramatic, and other rules were added, including the second "safe haven" being set by the contestant after the £5,000 question, two new lifelines (Double Dip and Three Wise Men) being introduced after the £100,000 question, another new lifeline available throughout, Ask the Host, among other changes. In 2010, the logo was changed, based on the logo the US version adopted in 2009, and in 2015, the set was changed. That year, Chris Tarrant left, and Jeremy Clarkson, who had been recently fired from Top Gear, took his place.

US Version

The project initially began as a revival attempt for the 1950s quiz show, The $64,000 Question as The $640,000 Question. However, producer Michael Davies saw the British Millionaire and chose to make a US version of it instead. (CBS, noticing Millionaire's popularity, bought the rights to the franchise in 2000 and made a pilot, The $1,064,000 Question, hosted by Greg Gumbel, but it never made it off the ground). The American version debuted on August 16, 1999 and was hosted by Regis Philbin. On November 19 of that year, the series had its first millionaire in the world, John Carpenter. The show was a hit, and by 2000, Regis was commonly associated with the line: "Is that your final answer?", a line adopted from the UK version. However, ABC began to overexpose the series by late 2001, and ratings dropped as a result. The primetime version ended on June 27, 2002, and a syndicated version, hosted by Meredith Viera, took its place on September 16. On February 18, 2003, Kevin Smith, who had been waiting 45 years for his lucky day, became the first winner of the new syndicated version.

On March 30, 2007, after Johnson Industries' buyout of 2waytraffic, Millionaire experienced a major overhaul: The graphics were updated, the music was made more dramatic, new rules (see above in UK version), and the syndicated version was brought back, again, with Regis hosting, this time, on WBC. Meredith Viera still hosted the syndicated version until 2013 when Chris Harrison took over. In 2009, for the 10th anniversary, the logo was changed to the current version, and in 2012, Tim Johnson became the producer. The set was changed in 2014.

Music

• Theme song (1998-2007)
• Theme song (2007-2018)
• Theme song (2018-)
• $100 question (1998-2007)
• $1000 question (2007-)