an oxymoron…nah…stupid fucking morons are more idiotic than just fucking morons, or just the run of the mill morons…
i finally answered all three questions on the phone line correctly last night…last question was place these artists in order of their first album…sugarhill gang, wu tang clan, run dmc and mc hammer…pretty easy if you ask me
last question tonight: put these albums in order: and they were all billy joel albums
not a clue…
and no, they didn’t call me today between 11 and 2 central time
In relation to the English version, Its been on for less than a year, but it only runs for 2 weeks and then stops for a month or 2.
It resurfaces for all the major holidays.
And they win £1,000,000 sterling. what happens with the tax after that I dont know.
John Larrigan
“82.35% of all statistics are made up on the spot”–Vic Reeves
Dammit, I could have done Billy Joel albums (well, if I remembered – at least I’d have had a chance, unlike the Stephen King and rap groups you mentioned above).
Do they use the same 3 questions all day? In other words, if I signed on with my wife’s SS#, could I find out all three questions (presuming I could answer the first two) so I could research the third before calling in with my own #? (Not that I would do something like that, or advocate it – but there are others in the world who might and I’m just wondering.)
IIRC, there are different questions for each caller, or actually so many questions that no one i know has ever had the same question twice. in november, or maybe early december, i believe you could call twice a night, or at least I did. and i never had the same question twice.
but i still don’t watch the show anymore. i almost broke my tv because i threw something at it. that and my blood pressure would probably kill me after watching a week of it straight
I was annoying my wife during that question, saying things like, “well, he’s wearing a cap, hanging half-out of the tub, and holding a quill pen; Charlotte Corday isn’t even in the picture…” while the Guy With No Clue hemmed and hawed.
On the other hand, I watched about three questions worth of the “Super Bowl” edition and then went back into my hole: they were up to $300 and I had to make wild guesses.
I tend to divide the questions mentally into “real” (about culture, history, geography, etc – I think I know most of those) and “pop culture” (what team did the guy in “Jerry Maguire” play for: I dunno). Of course, the right way to do the show would be with only “real” questions!
…but when you get blue, and you’ve lost all your dreams, there’s nothing like a campfire and a can of beans!
I thought it was $500 for the people on the show, and $250 for the at home players. Could be wrong though, I’ve only seen it at friends houses and wasn’t paying too much attention.
Well, maybe the puny sums given out on Inquizition, Win Ben Steins Money, and Jeopardy just show that intelligence is its own reward. :rolleyes:
The impression I’ve gotten is that you get “the call”, and then you do another, timed question. Then, the day before the tape date (maybe even two days before), they call the 12 people with the fastest times and get them on planes to NYC for the taping. 10 get on the show and the other two are “alternates.”
The numbers in the official rules from the ABC website:
they expect 240,000 callers a night
ABC predicts 7% will get the three questions right
Then callers get to choose a tape date (they started this last bunch with 10 days, down to about 5 open now) 35 or 40 players are randomly selected for each tape date for “the call”
The big sieve (and most annoying part) is the random computerized drawing: if ABC’s numbers are accurate, they get about 16,800 correct callers a night, which means that, in the best of cases, 97% (if I did the math right – 10 nights of taping = 400 people get a follow-up call) of the callers to get all three questions right still won’t get “the call.”
What makes it even worse is that Brian Fodera (the “blackbird” guy who missed the $100 question) is the younger brother of a guy I know. That’s either “it’s a small world” or “god is teasing me.”
…but when you get blue, and you’ve lost all your dreams, there’s nothing like a campfire and a can of beans!
Correct. They select 35 people randomly from amongst those that got all three first-round questions correct to call. If any one of them fails the call (not qualifying, not able to confirm correct birthdate and SSN, not being home to take the call after two attempts) they add another, so they are left with a pool of 35 contestants. Those 35 participate in round 2, a timed telephone round with the 12 fastest times winning a trip to New York, the top ten being the contestants and the remaining 2 alternates.
Well, call me an SFM as far as football is concerned. It was embarrassing to find out how little football trivia I know when you consider that I’ve been watching football ever since the Packers beat the Cowboys in the playoffs in 1966! (The Ice Bowl) (And I STILL haven’t forgiven the Packers for that! Why? Because Don Meredith shoulda played in the SB at least ONCE in his career!)
I undestand that no one in Britain has won the million pounds. Does that mean the questions Over There are harder or are the contestants dumber? (No offense to the British in general. I’m sure your idiot-to-genius ratio is comparable to ours.) My thanks to John Larrigan for answering the question I asked on Page 2.
I saw one of the guys on the show today on a talk show. He said that his answer for the youngest president at an inauguration was right. Quite a lot of people think so too, except for those Millionaire tv folks who won’t change their minds.
Ah, Handy. What the real problem is, though, is that the contestant has confused Inaugural Parade with Inauguration. I checked my handy-dandy Constitution, Article II, and discovered that there is no parade required nor is it required for a particular individual to adminsiter the Oath of Office; merely for the President to utter the Oath upon entering said Office (“entering” here used in the sense of “embarking upon”).
Five’ll get you Eight some folks (said contestant) probably think the Trivial Pursuit answer cards don’t have errors either!
Actually the first few episodes they were waffling all over the place. One of the questions was “What is the subject of IRON HORSE magazine?” (answer: Trains) WHile the guy was hemming and hawing over his answer he mentioned something about how he was thinking there was a motorcycle magazine called IRON HORSE but he used the audiance and they all said “train” so he picked that. Later in the show Regis said “Our researchers got on the phone and it turns out there IS a motorcycle magazine called IRON HORSE so we’re giving him that lifeline back.” There was another question like the next day that was mixed up and they admitted they would’ve taken either answer later. If you ask me, that’s a pretty shoddy way to run a show. I mean what if the guy had picked “motorcycle” the first time? By the time they would’ve admitted it was an acceptable answer he would’ve been on a plane for home!
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On CNN Headline News, they said a contestant is coming back even though his answer was wrong. It turned out that THEIR answer was wrong, too. They even got Regis on the phone to ask him back. It sounds similar to the Iron Horse screw-up, but in this case, the guy was home by the time anyone noticed the mistake. I think he’s going to compete Sunday. I won’t watch it, though. I’d rather watch Mulder and Scully.
I heard something that might be a new UL in the making – or it might be true for all I know.
A friend of mine said that he heard (he thinks on the radio, but might have been from a coworker) that Oprah had the contestant who blew the $100 question on her show (actually, he said there were TWO who blew the first question – does anybody know if that guy was the only one or if there was another?) and she gave him/them a new car.
I still haven’t watched the damn show, and I never intend to. Mostly because I think Regis Philbin is a pompous unfunny bastard, but also because I hate to see people who got a break in life. Yes, I am jealous.
BTW, I don’t think that is the sort of thing Oprah would do. She does more uplifting things, like giving away Tina Turner tickets to working single mothers (I didn’t say who it was uplifting to). So it does sound like a UL, but that is only my opinion, and hasn’t much basis in fact.
“I celebrate myself, and sing myself, and what I assume you shall assume, for every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.” --Whitman