Who Wants to Be a Millionaire is a game show television series on ABC. The American television series is based on the original British program of the same name, created by David Briggs, Steven Knight and Mike Whitehill. The series has been developed for American television by Michael Davies. The series first premiered in August 1999, as part of a two-week daily special event hosted by Regis Philbin. After a similar special week event in November 1999, the series was commissioned for a regular season, which launched in January 2000, and ran till June 2002. Regis Philbin hosted the entire run of the original network series, as well as three additional special event series that aired on ABC in 2004 and 2009.
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, informally also known as Millionaire, was produced for syndication and began airing in September 2002. The syndication version of Millionaire aired from 2002 to 2019; with the hosts being Meredith Vieira, Cedric the Entertainer, Terry Crews, and Chris Harrison during the time.
The show was cancelled in May 2019, and then revived in January 2020. ABC announced that Who Wants to Be a Millionaire will be returning for a 21st season, with Jimmy Kimmel as the host. The twenty-first season (first season after revival), premiered on April 9, 2020, and consisted of nine episodes. The series was then renewed for a second season (after revival) in May 2020.
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire Season 2 Recent Updates
The second season of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire began production in late August 2020. The show was shot with no audience and rigorous safety measures in place. The second season of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire will feature frontline workers and other people severely affected by the coronavirus pandemic, as well as a usual roster of celebrity guests. These guests include Tiffany Haddish, Julie Bowen, Ray Romano and Rebel Wilson, who will all be competing for charity, and with one of them also winning the coveted $1 million prize.
Season 2 of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire is set to premiere on October 18, 2020.