Talk:Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (American game show)/Archive 2

Tournament of Ten: Clock Discrepancies

The comment regarding Jehan Shamsid-Deen being the first contestant to run out of time on the million dollar question has been removed for being inaccurate. The comment can be re-instated if someone chooses to do so, but is must be labeled as the first time the clock ran out on a million dollar question and wasn't edited.

Several of the other tournament players have stated that their questions were edited for time constraints. Keilani Goggins, for example, has stated that she actually ran out of time on her million dollar question and announced she was walking away right as the clock hit zero. Her question, like many others, was edited for time and much of her appearance was cut out of the final broadcast making it seem she had much more time left.

To tell a question was edited, one simply must review the broadcasts of the questions. As the time on the clock counts down, a separate graphic on either side of the clock (resembling light bulbs illuminating towards the center of the screen) is calculated by a computer to change (or "illuminate") at even intervals. When examining each question, there were several discrepancies where groups of these "light bulbs" would illuminate at a time during a camera switch, suggesting a great deal of time was cut from the broadcast. For some contestants, once the question has ended, the light bulbs will all illuminate over a period of a few seconds to show where the contestant really was when they decided to walk away.

One last way to determine if a quesion was edited is to listen to the music and various sound effects used during the question. The background music for the questions had a very particular pattern in it's cycle. This cycle was constantly interrupted, indicating an edit took place. Finally, throughout the question, approximately every 6 seconds, an illumination-type effect sweeps across the question and answer choices. This effect also has a dedicated sound clip associated with it. Several questions show that the effect and sound-clip are completely out-of-sync. Below is a list of contestants and the discrepancies with their questions.

Alex Ortiz: "light-bulb" illuminations approx. 11 seconds apart. Question ended with 1:19 left on the clock. Shortly after walking, five additional illuminations appeared simultaneously, suggesting roughly 55 seconds were edited out of the broadcast, and Alex only had around 24 seconds left on the clock in reality.

Tony Westmoreland: "light-bulb" illuminations approx. 12 seconds apart. Question ended with 1:02 left on the clock. When 1:40 appears left on the clock, a music discrepancy is detected. Shortly after the question ended, four additional illumations appeared simultaneously, suggesting roughly 48 seconds were removed from the broadcast, and Tony had around 14 seconds left on the clock in reality.

Robin Schwartz: When 2:08 appear left on the clock, three additional illuminations appear simultaneously during an instant camera switch, suggesting time was removed from the broadcast.

Most of the other contestants have the exact discrepancies with their questions. Videos are available online of each contestant's questions if anyone needs to view them for verification. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.80.177.131 (talk) 09:55, 2 February 2010 (UTC)

Separate Articles?

Should this article be split into two individual articles for the ABC and syndicated versions? It appears to be far too confusing as it is, switching between rules like it does. Daniel Benfield (talk) 23:02, 10 February 2010 (UTC)

I completely agree with you. Too much information is located on this page and always confuses me! Please please please do something to seperate the articles! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 136.159.209.4 (talk) 21:21, 5 April 2010 (UTC)

Absolutely not. There is no reason to split this article. The current format contains rules that are clearly stated in a concise manner. Sottolacqua (talk) 22:09, 5 April 2010 (UTC)

Leave it all in one. Both the ABC and syndicated versions are exactly the same signature format. The only differences are the change in lifelines and no Fastest-Finger in the syndicated version. WikiLubber (talk) 22:11, 5 April 2010 (UTC)

This article has gone completely downhill...

Without all the information (sourced or unsourced), this article has gone completely downhill...--It's my Junior year in High School! (talk) 03:27, 10 March 2010 (UTC)Chris

Not even close. The article actually resembles something you'd find on Wikipedia now. There's no need to add dozens of lists of $500,000 and million dollar winners. A fansite can achieve that. Wikipedia deals in professional fact-based articles, not fansite content of pointless and irrelevant or non-notable information. -- GSK (talk ● evidence) 05:35, 10 March 2010 (UTC)

This is only my opinion. Furthermore, there is no fansite of the U.S. millionaire out there...--It's my Junior year in High School! (talk) 21:31, 10 March 2010 (UTC)Chris

Just because there's no fansite [any of us can think of without googling], it doesn't mean Wikipedia should be a fansite. Please note WP:NOTFANSITE. -- GSK (talk ● evidence) 20:07, 21 March 2010 (UTC)

Permanant Removal of Phone-A-Friend

The article needs a source for the statement 'While Phone-A-Friend is still available on most international versions, it was removed permanently in January of 2010'. I can find no source that says the date when Phone-A-Friend was removed. Can anyone verify this? --Coingeek (talk) 20:12, 12 April 2010 (UTC)