The syndicated Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? will have three changes this season, generally making the show a little easier with one hand while taking a smidgeon of cash away with the other.
The payout schedule is changing around the latter third of the game. Instead of 16, 32, 64, 125, 250 for questions 9-13, contestants will now be competing for 16, 25, 50, 100, 250. If you make it to 250 it won't matter, but stopping before that point will leave you with less cash than before. On the other hand, the pot odds for question 13 are now much better, with a payout of 2:1 instead of 1.34:1.
To compensate, there are two lifeline changes. Ask the Audience will now effectively be "Ask the Audience and AOL". AOL Instant Messenger users can sign up to be IM'd during taping when someone uses this lifeline, allowing them to provide their answer. The contestant will then see separate stats for the in-studio audience and the AOL users. A great interactive element for fans, and more data for the contestant to consider. Since the AOL crowd will be a self-selecting group of game show fans, I'd expect their success rate to be higher than the audience's-- it will be interesting to see how that pans out.
Contestants will also receive a new lifeline at question #11. Switch the Question will allow contestants to throw out the current question and receive a new one instead, with no obligation to answer (they can still choose to walk away). This could prove to be a great lifesaver, or it could put someone in an even worse pickle. Still, I would have liked having that option when I got to question 14...
The net effect of these changes should be that more contestants who reach the second plateau will go on to win at least $250,000, but we may well see more players bail at $16,000 now since the pot odds for question 10 are much worse (.6:1 instead of 1.06:1). Then again question 10 may have been too rich before, since in addition to the guaranteed cash you also win a free guess at the next level.
One thing's for sure, the new lifelines will certainly make the upcoming season more interesting to watch. And a big shout out to my man Fingertips, who just got the postcard saying he's in the contestant pool. Congrats, and I hope you get the fateful phone call.
Posted by Peter at August 23, 2004 06:22 PMAnother aspect of the new ATA/AIM lifeline that has been discussed in other venues is using the ATA/AIM to give your PAF a heads up on a difficult or complex question. The PAF then has more time to Google for the answer while the contestant hems and haws prior to invoking the PAF lifeline. Not quite as good as 50:50/Double Dip, but it can make one preserve the ATA/AIM for a later question, whereas one would previously tend to burn it early in the stack.
Posted by: Tim H. on August 25, 2004 10:18 AM