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Million Second Quiz
- 128 statements
- 24 feature instances
- 3 referencing feature instances
| Million Second Quiz | type |
TVTItem | |
| Million Second Quiz | label |
Million Second Quiz | |
| Million Second Quiz | page |
MillionSecondQuiz | |
| Million Second Quiz | comment |
A 2013 NBC Game Show aired over an 11-day span, where Ryan Seacrest subjected contestants to a nearly-nonstop quiz competition lasting exactly a million seconds.The object of the game was for a contestant to defend a "Money Chair" by competing in timed matches (referred to as "bouts") of multiple-choice questions against other contestants. If you win, you keep the chair. If you lose, the winner takes your place. For every second a player keeps the chair, they earn $10. Much like The Challengers, questions occasionally involved recent events. When you make it into the 8:00 p.m. hour (when the competition was aired in primetime on TV), things changed a bit; point values for questions begin steadily increasing throughout the round, and contestants could play the "Doubler"—which challenges their opponent to answer the current question for double points (with the contestant receiving all the points if they answer incorrectly). If, when finally defeated, a contestant's score was within the top 4, the contestant moved into a residence known as "Winners' Row" with little access to the outside world until either the game ends, or someone else outscores or eliminates them. They also play along with the other matches going on using a tablet.The second matchup of each primetime show featured the "Line Jumper", a wild-card contestant flown in overnight who qualified by playing through the app. The final matchup was the "Winner's Defense" round, where that day's "Power Player" (the Winners' Row contestant which had the highest score playing along with other matches) can send themselves or a contestant of their choice into a Tiebreaker Round against the current holder of the Money Chair, winner take all. When the million seconds ended, the top four players won the money they had banked, and competed in a three-round, stepladder playoff (the fourth place finisher went against the third place finisher for a chance to play against the second place finisher. The winner of the match against the second place winner went on to face the first place finisher in the championship game) for $2,000,000.The show also attempted to be trendy and emphasize interaction with through social media and the official app, where viewers could watch the proceedings live, Big Brother style, and even play the game themselves, either normally or along with the show.Promotional spots for the show made reference to the largest prize in game show history - $10,000,000. This was a theoretical maximum that assumed 100% Completion, and isn't even the largest prize in the genre (a pair of Play For A Billion specials touted a $1 billion prize) or even the second-largest (Deal or No Deal once held a promotion offering $100 million). On top of that, the final winner (Andrew Kravis) got an extra $273,654 added to his winnings for a total of $2.6 million, likely to make sure he dethroned Ken Jennings' original run on Jeopardy! (where he won $2,522,700).Eventually, everyone walked out either intrigued, confused, or craving Subway, and NBC decided never to be this innovative again. | |
| Million Second Quiz | fetched |
2023-12-11T03:27:33Z | |
| Million Second Quiz | parsed |
2023-12-11T03:27:33Z | |
| Million Second Quiz | isPartOf |
DBTropes | |
| Million Second Quiz / int_143939c1 | type |
Trailers Always Spoil | |
| Million Second Quiz / int_143939c1 | comment |
Trailers Always Spoil: Averted only by the mere fact that it was live on the east coast... and time-delayed for the others, meaning the stream stopped for three hours. | |
| Million Second Quiz / int_143939c1 | featureApplicability |
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| Million Second Quiz / int_1467a30c | type |
Unexpected Gameplay Change | |
| Million Second Quiz / int_1467a30c | comment |
Unexpected Gameplay Change: On the games outside of the primetime hour - no Doubler, all rounds are 500 seconds, and all questions are worth 1 point. Then again, if you're the one in the Chair, the sudden introduction of the Doubler, shorter rounds, and Ryan Seacrest is even more unexpected. | |
| Million Second Quiz / int_1467a30c | featureApplicability |
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| Million Second Quiz | hasFeature |
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| Million Second Quiz / int_1667cb1 | type |
Calvinball | |
| Million Second Quiz / int_1667cb1 | comment |
Calvinball: Subverted; while the format is somewhat simple, how it was explained in the first few episodes was a tad disorganized, leading some viewers to declare it as such. | |
| Million Second Quiz / int_1667cb1 | featureApplicability |
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| Million Second Quiz | hasFeature |
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| Million Second Quiz / int_19ebe383 | type |
Never Trust a Trailer | |
| Million Second Quiz / int_19ebe383 | comment |
Never Trust a Trailer: Suberted; initial publicity touted that the show would have the biggest prize in game show history, but this actually referred to the theoretical maximum $10,000,000 which would have required 100% Completion (and, as noted above, isn't even the second-biggest prize in the genre). However, they still managed to do so after all: Andrew Kravis finished with a grand total of $2,326,346, the largest single prize in U.S. game show history (the previous record was Kevin Olmstead and his $2,180,000 win on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?). Ryan then announced that his total would be increased to $2,600,000, guaranteeing that Andrew would surpass the $2,522,700 that Ken Jennings won during his original 75-episode run on Jeopardy! (the rest of his total came from tournaments, special episodes, and other game shows). | |
| Million Second Quiz / int_19ebe383 | featureApplicability |
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| Million Second Quiz | hasFeature |
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| Million Second Quiz / int_2319aa2e | type |
All or Nothing | |
| Million Second Quiz / int_2319aa2e | comment |
All or Nothing: To an extent. None of the players got any money unless they ended up with one of the four highest totals. | |
| Million Second Quiz / int_2319aa2e | featureApplicability |
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| Million Second Quiz | hasFeature |
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| Million Second Quiz / int_27ca7ddd | type |
Tick Tock Tune | |
| Million Second Quiz / int_27ca7ddd | comment |
Tick Tock Tune | |
| Million Second Quiz / int_27ca7ddd | featureApplicability |
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| Million Second Quiz / int_34082c59 | type |
Wolverine Publicity | |
| Million Second Quiz / int_34082c59 | comment |
Wolverine Publicity: Aside from being on every night for the duration of the competition (except on Sundays due to Sunday Night Football), practically every single thing that NBC owns was promoting the show in some way, shape, or form—such as having Seacrest make guest appearances to plug the show, and themed commercials cross-promoting Million Second Quiz with other NBCUniversal properties. | |
| Million Second Quiz / int_34082c59 | featureApplicability |
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| Million Second Quiz / int_34082c59 | featureConfidence |
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| Million Second Quiz | hasFeature |
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| Million Second Quiz / int_39f8d688 | type |
Home Participation Sweepstakes | |
| Million Second Quiz / int_39f8d688 | comment |
Home Participation Sweepstakes: Playing the app enough allowed you to enter to become a "line jumper", a sort of wild card during the primetime show. Said player was surprised Publishers Clearing House Prize Patrol-style by an anchor from their local NBC affiliate, and flown to New York overnight. Of course, if you lived in New York City or were willing to spring for a plane ticket there, there was nothing stopping you from actually going down there yourself and trying out to be a contestant the old-fashioned way. Well, "surprised" probably isn't the right word, as in every case the person in question was dressed nicely when they were "surprised" and usually had a bunch of friends/family conveniently over at the time. In at least one case, you could clearly see the friends and family sitting in the background, waiting for their cue to come forward. | |
| Million Second Quiz / int_39f8d688 | featureApplicability |
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| Million Second Quiz / int_3d699462 | type |
Curb-Stomp Battle | |
| Million Second Quiz / int_3d699462 | comment |
Curb-Stomp Battle: The championship game in the finale. Andrew pulled so far ahead of Brandon in the final seconds that Brandon just leaned back in the Money Chair and doubled on every question. And Andrew still got most of them right. | |
| Million Second Quiz / int_3d699462 | featureApplicability |
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| Million Second Quiz | hasFeature |
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| Million Second Quiz / int_443c241c | type |
Double the Dollars | |
| Million Second Quiz / int_443c241c | comment |
Double the Dollars: The primetime matches featured the "Doubler", where a contestant could challenge their opponent to answer the current question for double points, but with all of the points going to the contestant if they answer incorrectly. However, the opponent could also double-back at the contestant, quadrupling the points (no option to take the physical challenge, unfortunately: Double Dare this ain't). This mechanic was often used as a Desperation Attack by doubling and hoping for a double-back when you know the answer: you do it because you're running out of time and need the points, even if you think the opponent knows the answer. It can border on What an Idiot! at the very end of the bout, if the doubling player is too far behind to catch up with the extra points. Once the clock runs out, the opponent can guarantee themselves a win if they don't double back. | |
| Million Second Quiz / int_443c241c | featureApplicability |
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| Million Second Quiz / int_443c241c | featureConfidence |
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| Million Second Quiz | hasFeature |
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| Million Second Quiz / int_49d59be9 | type |
Scenery Porn | |
| Million Second Quiz / int_49d59be9 | comment |
Scenery Porn: Their set for the primetime show, which consisted of a giant hourglass-like structure built on the roof of a former Mercedes-Benz dealership in Hell's Kitchen (no, not that one), mid-Manhattan, which had a screen around the outside of its "rim" that displayed a scrolling countdown clock. A secondary, indoor studio was used for non-primetime activity (and the one night that it rained), which featured a duplicate of the podium portion of the set just steps from Winners' Row. | |
| Million Second Quiz / int_49d59be9 | featureApplicability |
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| Million Second Quiz | hasFeature |
Million Second Quiz / int_49d59be9 | |
| Million Second Quiz / int_5fcb3c79 | type |
Golden Snitch | |
| Million Second Quiz / int_5fcb3c79 | comment |
Golden Snitch: The Winner's Defense round had the possibility to turn into this, and actually it did so twice. | |
| Million Second Quiz / int_5fcb3c79 | featureApplicability |
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Million Second Quiz / int_5fcb3c79 | |
| Million Second Quiz / int_68d43ebc | type |
Game Show Host | |
| Million Second Quiz / int_68d43ebc | comment |
Game Show Host: Ryan Seacrest. Curiously, this is the second time-related show he's hosted, the other being Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve. Other hosts were used outside of primetime. | |
| Million Second Quiz / int_68d43ebc | featureApplicability |
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| Million Second Quiz / int_68d43ebc | featureConfidence |
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| Million Second Quiz | hasFeature |
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| Million Second Quiz / int_6e7e9709 | type |
Cosmetic Award | |
| Million Second Quiz / int_6e7e9709 | comment |
Cosmetic Award: The majority of the contestants' "earnings" was, as only the top four winners (including the last player in the Money Chair) got to keep their cash. Anyone who made it into the Money Chair won a $5 Subway gift card. | |
| Million Second Quiz / int_6e7e9709 | featureApplicability |
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| Million Second Quiz / int_6e7e9709 | featureConfidence |
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| Million Second Quiz | hasFeature |
Million Second Quiz / int_6e7e9709 | |
| Million Second Quiz / int_806c21c8 | type |
Fight Unscene | |
| Million Second Quiz / int_806c21c8 | comment |
Fight Unscene: On the first two days of the stream, barely any matches were shown, at all. Games appeared to be going on, given that the official Twitter account was posting results, but you just weren't seeing them. Instead, viewers were treated to a live feed of people in the green room being told to throw away any beverage not provided by Subway. Then came a report from a contestant that alleged the show was literally doing matches inside an unfilmed "closet" with a cheap computer rig, flip card scoring, and controllers reused from the PlayStation 2 game Buzz!. Or in the words of a Twitter user, "The future of TV / social media integration is watching a live stream of people sitting around a table". There must have been something technically wrong somewhere in the system; by Wednesday, they finally managed to get the stream going correctly with live games going on, as promised. The show's biggest gimmick arrived three days late. | |
| Million Second Quiz / int_806c21c8 | featureApplicability |
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| Million Second Quiz | hasFeature |
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| Million Second Quiz / int_b01abe4f | type |
Catchphrase | |
| Million Second Quiz / int_b01abe4f | comment |
Catchphrase: "Your time in the hourglass is up.", said by Ryan to each defeated contestant. | |
| Million Second Quiz / int_b01abe4f | featureApplicability |
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| Million Second Quiz / int_b37f7b5 | type |
Bladder of Steel | |
| Million Second Quiz / int_b37f7b5 | comment |
Bladder of Steel: Partly averted. Although it isn't stated on-air, the player in the Money Chair gets a 10-minute bathroom break every hour. The padding during the live show probably helps with this too. | |
| Million Second Quiz / int_b37f7b5 | featureApplicability |
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| Million Second Quiz / int_b37f7b5 | featureConfidence |
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Million Second Quiz / int_b37f7b5 | |
| Million Second Quiz / int_bb48f8ba | type |
Timed Mission | |
| Million Second Quiz / int_bb48f8ba | comment |
Timed Mission: The lengths of the rounds fluctuated wildly between scenarios. | |
| Million Second Quiz / int_bb48f8ba | featureApplicability |
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| Million Second Quiz / int_be9d4a56 | type |
Home Game | |
| Million Second Quiz / int_be9d4a56 | comment |
Home Game: The show's official app allowed users to play the game itself against friends and other opponents from across the country; users could even play along live with the primetime show. The app was also one of two ways (the other being NBC's website) viewers could watch the aforementioned 23/7 live stream of the competition itself. | |
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Million Second Quiz / int_be9d4a56 | |
| Million Second Quiz / int_d148b019 | type |
Mundane Made Awesome | |
| Million Second Quiz / int_d148b019 | comment |
Or in the words of a Twitter user, "The future of TV / social media integration is watching a live stream of people sitting around a table". | |
| Million Second Quiz / int_d148b019 | featureApplicability |
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| Million Second Quiz / int_d148b019 | featureConfidence |
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| Million Second Quiz | hasFeature |
Million Second Quiz / int_d148b019 | |
| Million Second Quiz / int_d9f97805 | type |
Wins by Doing Absolutely Nothing | |
| Million Second Quiz / int_d9f97805 | comment |
Wins by Doing Absolutely Nothing: It was pointed out that all the padding in the primetime hour was really adding to the players' banks without them needing to actually play. | |
| Million Second Quiz / int_d9f97805 | featureApplicability |
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| Million Second Quiz | hasFeature |
Million Second Quiz / int_d9f97805 | |
| Million Second Quiz / int_f511ea9b | type |
Product Placement | |
| Million Second Quiz / int_f511ea9b | comment |
Product Placement: Subway was the primary sponsor. As such, it was everywhere backstage. The "Winners' Row" area had televisions permanently tuned to several NBC-owned channels, including CNBC, E!, MSNBC, and NBCSN, with the intent being that contestants could brush up on potential question subjects by watching them all day. There were even video questions featuring personalities from other NBC shows, such as The Voice and America's Got Talent. | |
| Million Second Quiz / int_f511ea9b | featureApplicability |
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| Million Second Quiz / int_fc5a190f | type |
Commercial Break Cliffhanger | |
| Million Second Quiz / int_fc5a190f | comment |
Commercial Break Cliffhanger: Sometimes, Ryan paused a round for commercials. The final bout on the first night (which was longer) had two pauses, but in any case, at least they weren't stopping in the middle of questions. | |
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Million Second Quiz |
The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.
| Million Second Quiz | hasFeature |
Game Show / int_ec14e62e | |
| MillionSecondQuiz | seeAlso |
Million Second Quiz | |
| Million Second Quiz | hasFeature |
Repeating Ad / int_ec14e62e |
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Copyright of data TVTropes.org contributors under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.