Jimmy Kimmel and Michael Davies on the Pre-Coronavirus Scramble to Reboot ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire’

” or any of the other network competition shows, there was “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.” The game show was an immediate smash when it premiered in 1999, and was a precursor to the modern unscripted boom.schedule, attracting up to 30 million viewers and helping skyrocket the Alphabet network to No. 1. But the execs there got greedy, airing “Millionaire” as many as five nights a week. Audiences quickly burned out and by 2002, the primetime edition was canceled.

In a bit of happenstance, Sony — which owns Davies’ production company, Embassy Row — also controls “Millionaire” in the rest of the world, while Disney/ABC still has the U.S. rights, thanks to Davies all those years ago. After a U.K. revival of “Millionaire” did well, Davies pitched ABC on a new, modern take on the show — as well as an app that viewers can use to play along and win at home.

But the biggest change is Kimmel, who had originally appeared on a celebrity edition in 2001 and has become friends with Philbin over the years. “You could easily underestimate how great he was,” Kimmel says of his predecessor. “But what he did was not easy. And he was really the perfect host at that time to bring in a huge audience.”

“Millionaire” returns after ABC earned a ratings bump in January for its “Jeopardy: Greatest of All Time” primetime special. The network opted for an April bow in order to premiere “Millionaire” out of the “Modern Family” series finale. But the timing also now comes as audiences, stuck at home in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, are watching more broadcast TV.

Not interested. Will watch something else or maybe even read a book.

I’ll only watch if they’re all wearing masks

Pass

Wow.....!!

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