Television critics have been blasting The Weakest Link (NBC, Mondays, 8pm) since it’s premiere because the host, Anne Robinson, is so mean to the contestants. What do they prefer? The coddling performed by Regis Philbin on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (ABC, nearly every minute of every day)? Jay Leno’s celebrity interviews have more teeth than that. These critics are just wusses who hate confrontation and criticism unless they’re the ones delivering it. Entertainment Weekly’s Ken Tucker, you are a total puss. Goodbye.
I actually missed the first half of the first episode of The Weakest Link and had some trouble trying to figure out what the heck was going on. Anne Robinson stands behind her podium with eight intentionally intimidated contestants in front of her, also behind podiums. Robinson wears her blond hair short, dark rimmed glasses, a long leather coat and black boots. She’s a sadistic British school marm, that part the critics got right. The fact that she’s an absolute joy has escaped them.
The goal of the show, as I eventually learned, is for the contestants to answer a series of completely random trivia questions, some embarrassingly easy, others surprisingly difficult, and form a chain of correct answers that will lead them to a total of $125,000 at the end of the round. For the seventh round, the total is doubled, bringing the maximum amount to be won up to $1 million. The trick is that at the end of each round, one poor dope is voted out and leaves empty handed. For revenge, they’re allowed a brief rant against their back stabbing former team. The fact that the highest amount won in the first three episodes was $73,000 doesn’t seem to bother the contestants, who came hoping to win the million. But the money is not the appeal here, unlike on ABC’s former ratings power house. The in-between round verbal beatings Robinson dispenses on whomever she chooses are why people will tune in. She asks rhetorical questions like “Who is not burdened with excessive knowledge?” after a particularly low scoring round, and pounces on a contestant to ask who they think got the fewest correct answers and delights when she gets to tell the fool that it was in fact them who is, statistically, the weakest link.
The Weakest Link is in danger of becoming a ratings fluke. It’s possible that people will get tired of Robinson’s antisocial antics. And a celebrity edition is impossible, no way will self esteem impaired actors and musicians subject themselves to such punishment.
The celebrity angle is the main reason why ABC hasn’t trimmed the number of times Who Wants to Be a Millionaire airs during the week (I think it’s four times right now). The episodes where famous people demonstrate their knowledge, or lack thereof, by correctly answering questions that have been dumbed down, Celebrity Jeopardy style, until the $32,000 mark, after which it’s all business, no more cheating allowed, are always the highest rated ones. The fact that these episodes have become a sweeps month staple speaks to the show’s desperation, now that it’s been revealed that the show has drastically increased the average age of the ABC network viewer. Worse, the show now heavily advertises which episode will feature a million dollar winner, essentially telling viewers to not bother tuning in unless they tell us to.
Philbin has been confident in interviews when asked how he thinks his show will fare against Weakest Link, but remember what happened when it was stupidly scheduled against Survivor for one time only? Millionaire was slaughtered and quickly scurried out of the way. I think that, with Weakest Link, NBC has finally found the show that could put a dent in ABC’s biggest money maker. If they put the two in direct competition, Millionaire may win over all, but Link will have the most desired demographics - the young ‘uns who crave Survivor type cruelty in their game shows.
On a handful of occasions, Philbin has made light of his contestants and almost tried to get them to change their minds from the correct answer, but he always ends up laughing heartily, letting everyone know that he’s just being “Regis.” If Millionaire wants to continue it’s success, it’s going to have to do some retooling - shorter contestant interviews would be a great way to go. Who cares what’s going on in these people’s personal lives? This isn’t Live With Regis & Kelly’s trivia segment, this is prime time.
The Weakest Link: A; Who Wants to Be a Millionaire: C
posted April 22nd, 2001 by Jamie Brophy
