WHO Wants to Be a Millionaire has been criticized by fans who think the new season is overdone and that its format needs an overhaul.
Jimmy Kimmel hosts the game show with two celebrity duos competing weekly for up to $1 million in charity.
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Season 3 of the Millionaire revival premiered on July 10, 2024.
The show airs Wednesday nights at 8pm ET on ABC.
But fans have a problem with how packed each hour-long episode is.
In each installment, a pair of A-list friends take center stage for the first half hour, and another pair do so for the second half.
This format means that host Jimmy doesn’t even interview the celebrities and doesn’t allow much wiggle room as they are tied to the two-part format.
The format is also a far cry from the fluidity of the OG show, where normal civilians would take the stage and last as long as they could until they lost when another player took the stage.
‘REMOVE ANY DRAMA’
The Buzzer Blog channel started a post on X on Thursday pointing out the problem with three episodes of the new season.
“There’s a lot to like about the new season of Millionaire,” they wrote.
“Jimmy Kimmel is much better as the host of this round. Having the public back is good.
“But much of the show is sloppy and, frankly, bad.
“Writing is difficult. Questions have typos. Pacing is poor. Editing is very difficult. Sound design is lacking. Feels rushed/no room to breathe.
“Forcing two games an hour eliminates any drama. I’m glad it’s going well. I hope they can fix things. But it’s confusing how it turned into this.
Other fans agreed in the responses, with one writing: “It feels so compressed, like they don’t even let Jimmy talk to the contestants coming back from break for a bit.”
Another pleaded: “Next time, no celebrities. Let’s see regular people get paid. Doing a week-long miniseries would help too.”
A fourth also agreed: “Jimmy is the better presenter this time and the celebrities have had fun, but he has his problems, yes. Especially the pacing and editing, it’s rushed or stretched.
A fifth argued that the “big problem” is the shift from regular players to celebrities.
“I agree with your summary, but I really feel like a big problem is the lack of regular non-celebrity contestants.
“That’s been the problem for years. Bring back real-life drama and life-changing stories.”
SEASON 3 SO FAR
However, the new season of Millionaire is pulling great reviews so far and the first three episodes have certainly had their moments.
In episode 1, John Mulaney and Nick Kroll went viral on X after getting an “easy” succession question wrong.
In episode 2, Parent Trap’s Lisa Ann Walter surprised fans by winning $250,000 after getting a hopeless geography question right and walking away proudly.
In episode 3, Nicole Byer and Sasheer Zamata were a hoot, and there was a Full House reunion of actors John Stamos and Dave Coulier.
Millionaire contestants of 2024
Here’s who else is taking the millionaire stage in celebrity pairs this season on Wednesday nights
- Rosie O’Donnell and Lisa Ann Walter
- John Stamos and Dave Coulier from Full House
- Ray Romano and Brad Garrett
- Zach Braff and Donald Faison
- Lil Dicky and GaTa
- Kelly and Jack Osbourne
- Ike Barinholtz and Alan Barinholtz
- Sebastian Maniscalco and Omar J. Dorsey
- Nicole Byer and Sasheer Zamata
- Sophia Bush and Alex Edelman
- Gillian Jacobs and Danny Pudi
- Natasha Leggero and Jason Ritter
- Ron Funches and Reggie Watts
- Jeff Ross and “Primo” Sal Iacono.
‘WE ARE STILL HERE’
While this marks Kimmel’s third season hosting Millionaire, this is the first time he’s been hosted by a studio audience.
Kimmel’s first two seasons as host of the once-successful show were filmed during Covid.
Contestants could bring their phone to a friend into the studio, but they had to stay in the background along the set wall.
Kimmel acknowledged this when opening the Season 3 premiere: “This show aired in the summer of 1999, hosted by the late, great Regis Philbin.
“It was by far the most popular show in the world, and now I’m the host, and it’s not anymore,” as the audience laughed.
“But we’re still here. Because of the pandemic I never presented the program with an audience, we did two seasons without anyone here, so welcome!”
MORE ABOUT MILLIONAIRE
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire debuted on ABC in 1999 and was instantly a mega hit.
Hosted by Regis, the show’s popularity led to it being ordered as a regular series in 2000.
In 2002, nine savvy citizens won the big prize – but no one will forget their first millionaire, John Carpenter.
Meredith Vieira was the host from 2002 to 2014, and Terry Crews, Cendric The Entertainer, and Chris Harrison have also hosted over the years.
Three more contestants took home a million during the syndicated version of the show.
The Millionaire Celebrity Edition debuted in 2020 with Kimmel.
ABC put the all-celebrity edition with Kimmel at the helm on indefinite hiatus in 2022 — but now it’s finally back.
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