Who Wants To Be A Millionaire 10th Anniversary Primetime Celebration (found episodes of ABC game show; 2009)

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WWTBAM10thAnniv.jpg

Logo used for the special.

Status: Found

Date found: 16 Feb 2022

Found by: Racelympics/Fish of the Bulb


In August 2009, the American game show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire celebrated 10 years of being on the air.[1] To coincide with the anniversary, the show returned to ABC for 11 episodes with the show's original host the late Regis Philbin returning to host. Making this the first time the show had aired in primetime since 2004's Super Millionaire and the ABC version's cancellation in June 2002. This would also be the last time the show would air on the network before the show's permanent return to the network in April 2020 and it would also be Philbin's last time hosting the show before his passing in July 2020.[2] Despite the show performing well in the ratings during its 11-episode run, the show was very hard to find.

History

Interest in the show grew after the stock market crash of 2008 and the movie Slumdog Millionaire,[3] while the then-currently running Syndicated version of the show wasn't performing well with audiences. The special was announced in April 2009[3] and premiered on August 9th[4] to massive ratings.[5] While the special was praised for the return of Regis and older format, it was criticized for keeping bits of the clock format (the most criticized format of the whole series)[6] from the currently running syndicated version. However, the 11-episode run will be forever remembered for what happened in the final episode of the run. Ken Basin, an entertainment lawyer and Harvard Law graduate got to the million-dollar question and was asked "For ordering his favorite beverages on demand, LBJ had four buttons installed in the Oval Office labelled "coffee," "tea," "Coke" and what?", the answers were Fresca, V8, Yoo-Hoo and A&W. He answered Yoo-Hoo and the correct answer was Fresca. He ended up winning $25,000.[7]

Availability

While the special was airing, YouTube user RomeijnLand2 uploaded episodes 1, 2, 4, 5, 7 and 8 in parts (though not complete). However, in April 2020, user Tripz Gaming, uploaded episodes 1, 2, 4, 5 (which used to be available in poor quality), 7, 8 and 11 in their entirety. However, he did not upload episodes 3, 6, 9 and 10. It's possible RomeijnLand2 uploaded the missing episodes in parts but got taken down, but it's unknown. This is the only version of the show that has not been reran on Game Show Network and with the show's return in 2020, it's unlikely that reruns of the special will ever happen. Along with those episodes being lost, one contestant's run went unaired (similar to what happened to Brad Bianucci). According to the fastest finger finalist in episode 3, Mike Pulcini, there was a female contestant named Dina Grassi who made it to the hot seat. He also said that he doesn't remember how much she won, either $8,000 or $16,000.[8] Her run was likely edited out due to time constraints.

All contestants' questions, except for Dina Grassi's ones, were transcribed.[9]

In January 2022, Lost Media Wiki user Racelympics recovered episodes 3 and 9 and would be uploaded to the Internet Archive by user Fish of the Bulb. A month later, Racelympics recovered episodes 9 and 10 and the former ended up being archived on February 15th and the latter would make it a day later both by Fish of the Bulb. As of February 16th, 2022, all eleven episodes of the special can be viewed online, although Dina Grassi's run remains unseen by the public.

Episodes

# Airdate Status Notes
1 Aug 9th, 2009 Found
2 Aug 10th, 2009 Found
3 Aug 11th, 2009 Found Dina Grassi's play went unaired.
4 Aug 12th, 2009 Found
5 Aug 13th, 2009 Found
6 Aug 16th, 2009 Found
7 Aug 17th, 2009 Found
8 Aug 18th, 2009 Found
9 Aug 19th, 2009 Found
10 Aug 20th, 2009 Found
11 Aug 23rd, 2009 Found

See Also

References