Millionaire could possibly get a little cooler. Or Jon Stewart could possibly be this close to destroying his career.
Here’s an email I got from the TVBarn mailing list.
Well, I guess what’s actually going on is that WWTBAM or Regis is asking for too much money and ABC is trying to disuade them by flirting with other suitors. But what would you think if you did see WWTBAM with Stewart instead of Philbin Would that make you more likely to watch, or would you mourn the untimely demise of Stewart’s career.
Depends. If he want’s to host both Millionaire and The Daily Show, fine. I enjoy his humor but don’t always catch him because of his show’s late hour and would welcome the chance to occasionally see him during prime time.
Well apparently, leaving the Daily Show is a bad idea. Look at where Kilborn ended up. I mean who really watches the late late late (however many times he’s late) show? Only insomniacs. Most people go to sleep after Letterman’s or Leno’s monologue. If not then, then after the first guest and news headlines/top 10.
Though I like Jon Stewart. He would probably be much more lively and interesting than Regis.
If ABC is looking to replace Regis Philbin, it’s for two reasons: first, the ratings for WWTBAM this season have been dropping drastically. And worse than that, the viewers they still have tend to be 50 or older!
There’s nothing TV executives hate more than old viewers! Remember, in 1971, “The Lawrence Welk Show” was #1 in the Nielsen ratings by a mile, but CBS cancelled it, because all of its viewers were senior citizens!
That’s why ABC is considering dropping WWTBAM. And if they do keep it, they may want to hire a host with more appeal to younger viewers. Whether Jon Stewart has such appeal is questionable… but he’s sure to have more appeal to teens and twenty-somethings than Regis does.
Personally, I think the FIRST thing ABC should do is bring back real contestants, and knock off the celebrity shows… but that’s just my opinion.
Dude, I’m definitely going to start watching Millionaire again if Jon hosts! I love him to bits. I think that’d be good for their ratings, at least with me.
Our version of the show has tried to diversify over the past twelve months or so by varying the contestant make-up.
In addition to the standard programmes, we have seen short series where the contestants have been restricted to a) women only, b) over 65’s, c) parent & child and d) couples.
In the last two examples the main contestant is joined by either child or spouse/partner as the case may be. They are both, in effect, in the hot seat.
I am wondering whether or not other countries have tried these variations.
The popularity of WWTBAM in this country peaked about two years ago with average audiences of circa 20 million per show. The current average is about 10 million per show.
There is a cause celebre over here at the moment which affects the show. An army major ‘won’ £1 million in September but the production company have refused to pay up. The guy is suspected of cheating by using a series of signals with either another contestant or a member of the audience.
The police have become involved and the major was arrested, along with another contestant from the same show, earlier this week.
The relevant programme has never been shown on TV.
He certainly was funny when he was a contestant.
I think it would be a good move for him if he could somehow ensure that ABC wouldn’t broadcast the damn show 287 times per week. I think he’s hilarious on The Daily Show (also thought he was great on his MTV show too). I’d definately tune in to Millionaire more if he were on.
It would help if they came up with some more interesting, cheeky questions as well.
But definitely bring back the contestants! I was sooooo close to getting on. I can’t understand how some of those doofuses got past the screening, then crash and burn on a $2,000 question. Give me a chance, and I’ll make it to a quarter-mil, at least.
Ahem. Sorry about that. But Jon would be an interesting choice for host. I’d suggest Dennis Miller, but he’d probably polarize the audience like he’s doing on Monday Night Football.
Whether Jon Stewart would do well or not depends on whether or not the producers would use him properly. If they do that typical TV thing where they say, “Do all that funny stuff that the kids love, but remember, we want to appeal to a big audience so make sure you don’t offend anyone”, then it’ll tank. If they let him be himself, he’d be hilarious.
And speaking of Dennis Miller… what happened to his show? I haven’t seen a new episode since Sept. 11. They’ve all be reruns. Was is cancelled, or what?
From what I’ve read, the producers are gearing up a syndicated Monday-Friday version of the game. It’s in Regis’s contract that he has the “right of first refusal” to host the new version. Since many stations that will be airing it are competitors of ABC, they don’t want to have the same host as the network show. So, if Philbin takes the syndicated gig (lots more money), he’ll have to leave the network version.
Plus, in order to stave off the falling ratings, ABC wants to make WWTBAM more of a comedy show, like “The Weakest Link”, so a funny host is a must. They’re also looking at David Spade (God help us!)