Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (U.S. version)

Who Wants to be a Millionaire (known simply as 'Millionaire') is a United States game show that is hosted by Regis Phylbin and Meredith Viera. They host different shows, and are never seen in the same episode. The top prize is $1 million (in some episodes changed due to annuities) for answering fifteen random trivia questions correctly.

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire debuted in the United States on August 16, 1999 on the ABC television network, and was hosted by television personality Regis Philbin. In its initial run, it had the question mark at the end of the title just like its British counterpart. When it returned for its second run, the question mark was removed from the title.

The network version, whose episodes were originally shown just a day after their taping in New York, became explosively popular in 2000, and at its peak was airing in prime time four nights a week on ABC. The show was popular enough to find rival networks creating or reincarnating game shows of their own, and created a brief renaissance of sorts for United States based game shows (e.g. Greed, Twenty One, etc.) as well as a flurry of American versions of UK originals, such as Winning Lines and The Weakest Link.

ABC used Who Wants to Be a Millionaire in so many prime time slots that when the show's popularity faded by the fall of 2001, it was left with a dearth of original programs on June 27, 2002. ABC's overall Nielsen Ratings suffered as a result of the show's decline in popularity. Michael Eisner, then CEO of The Walt Disney Company (ABC's parent), a former page at Jeopardy! and The Price Is Right, thought that the show would be successful like many other daytime television shows. However, he had realized too late that a hot show like Millionaire would tire more quickly in prime time than in daytime.

Millionaire's place as a daytime show was granted when ABC's sister company, Buena Vista Television (now Disney-ABC Domestic Television), produced a daily Television syndication offering with Meredith Vieira which premiered in September 2002. This version, also taped in New York, began airing its seventh season on September 8, 2008, and has earned Vieira an Emmy for best game show host. The format is licensed by Sony Pictures Television as part of the acquisition of 2waytraffic in 2008, though the U.S. version is still distributed by Disney.

To celebrate Millionaire's 10th anniversary, the show will return to ABC Primetime with host Regis Philbin for a two week event.