What goes up, must come down.

November 28, 2001 10:36 PM

What goes up, must come down. After it's meteoric rise in the ratings, WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE's future is looking bleak. This comes after news that a British Millionaire contestant accused of cheating. <coff, coff!> Do you think maybe it was just all too crass in the post 9/11 world?
posted by crunchland (10 comments total)

I think a lot of the supposed "Reality TV" shows are showing poor ratings right now. For good reason - if we want reality TV, all we have to do now is to turn to CNN. That's enough reailty for me.
posted by SpecialK at 11:27 PM on November 28, 2001

both the weakest link and who wants to be a millionaire have been running shows with celebs, former star trek actors being an interesting low (the weakest link, i believe, did that). it's been showing for a while that they need ratings, and fast. more interestingly, fear factor just had a celebrity edition: a sign of more to come? (i hope; i hate seeing commercials for that show. ick.)
posted by moz at 11:36 PM on November 28, 2001

Once again, this is not 9-11 related. This is the usual cycle. Something's hot for a while, then it gets lame - so goes America. The next fad is just around the corner.
posted by owillis at 1:36 AM on November 29, 2001

too crass in the post 11/9 world..... what on earth are you on about man.
posted by johnnyboy at 1:40 AM on November 29, 2001

I think we should have thread about all the things people claim have changed in the post 9/11 world, but which, in fact, haven't. I suspect it could get quite long.
posted by iain at 4:25 AM on November 29, 2001

WWTBAM is just very boring after a while. Once you've seen someone win a million what's the point? Same with the Weakest Link. Seen one, seen them all.
posted by Summer at 5:37 AM on November 29, 2001

THe appeal of WWTBAM was the fact that ordinary people who knew their obscure facts could get rich. Now that the shows seem to have anyone but normal people (celebs and pseudo-celebs are not normal people) I can't stand watching them.

Unless it is Mark McGrath on R&R Jeopardy.
posted by DragonBoy at 6:34 AM on November 29, 2001

Another tv series I am proud to have never watched for more than a transcient, surfing 5 seconds. It's a tradition which goes back to Dallas. Proud to be clueless : )
posted by ParisParamus at 6:44 AM on November 29, 2001

Unless it is Mark McGrath on R&R Jeopardy.

He's so good on that show, I want to have sex with him. And I'm straight.
posted by jpoulos at 7:02 AM on November 29, 2001

No you're not.
posted by rodii at 10:27 AM on December 1, 2001