Regis' Final Answer: $10 Million
Guess it wasn't their final answer.
Two years after Regis Philbin's greed-meets-trivia fueled Who Wants to Be a Millionaire departed from ABC's prime-time airwaves, the network has decided to temporarily revive the show in a super-sized reincarnation--with a $10 million dollar purse at stake.
The show was once the network's hottest ticket, powering ABC to number one in the ratings, before audiences grew sick of Millionaire's primetime saturation and dropped it like a hot potato.
The final edition of primetime Millionaire aired in April 2002. ABC declined to renew the show last season, though a daytime edition hosted by Meredith Vieira launched in September 2002.
But now the original is back in a revamped format and with it comes the return of the toothy-grinned, tangerine-skinned host with the most.
The rejuvenated edition, called Super Millionaire, airs five times in six days next month, beginning February 22, as part of a sweeps-month stunt.
Potential contestants still compete in a "fastest finger" trivia round to determine who takes the stage--but after that, the stakes go up.
The show's easiest question carries a $1,000 bounty and the 15th and final question's value also increases tenfold.
In another change, contestants have three additional lifelines to use for help on top of the old standbys of polling the audience, phoning a friend and culling wrong answers from the multiple-choice selection.
ABC entertainment chairman Lloyd Braun said the network feels America is ready for a return to Millionaire.
"For months, we have been carefully monitoring the environment to determine if the time is right for a new, totally amped-up version of Millionaire, broadcast in its original event-like form. We think this is the time," Braun said in a statement.
Only 10 contestants ever made it all the way through the trivia to win the million-dollar prize on the original show. Winner Kevin Olmstead, who took home a bonus $2.18 million jackpot, holds the Guinness Record for biggest TV game show winner of all time.
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