Million Dollar Password was an updated version of the game show Password on CBS, which was hosted by Regis Philbin and ran from June 1, 2008 to June 14, 2009. Based upon a format created by Bob Stewart for Goodson-Todman, FremantleMedia produced the program.

Production history and notes

Million Dollar Password premiered June 1, 2008 at 8:00 PM Eastern. The initial order of the series consisted of six hour-long episodes, each comprising of two games. These six episodes were taped in New York City's Kaufman Astoria Studios in March 2008. Repeats of the first season aired on Thursdays beginning June 26, 2008, moved to Sundays on August 3 and completed on August 24.

The second order, another six episodes, began airing on December 18, 2008 in a special Thursday broadcast. Three days later, the show moved to its regular Sunday time slot. These games were taped on August 2-4, 2008 in Los Angeles's CBS Radford studios. On January 7, 2009, CBS removed the two remaining episodes in the season (one featuring Norm Macdonald and Jamie Kennedy scheduled for January 11 and another with Chelsea Handler and Jeff Garlin scheduled for January 25), along with a season one repeat scheduled for January 18 from its schedule. The program returned to the schedule on May 24, 2009. Excluding June 7 for the broadcast of the 63rd Tony Awards, the network ran a mixture of unseen episodes and repeats of season one and two episodes on Sundays until the beginning of July.

By participating in this show, Betty White became the first celebrity to play in all American television versions of Password and during her second appearance, became the first celebrity to appear on the program more than once. Sande Stewart, the son of Password creator Bob Stewart, was a consultant for the show. Noted puzzle maker Trip Payne acted as the show's "word expert".

On August 3, 2009, during the 2009 Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour, CBS Entertainment President Nina Tassler officially announced that there were no current plans to order any more episodes of the series.

Gameplay

This format of Password departs somewhat from its predecessors in terms of gameplay. The first half of the game is an elimination game featuring two contestants and two celebrity guests. The contestants alternate playing 30-second rounds in which they attempt to correctly identify as many as five given words with a celebrity partner using the traditional one-word clue method, like the Lightning Round. There is no limit on the number of clues for each word. Words can be passed on and returned to later if time permits. The gameplay has similarities to the bonus round of the original series, as well as the elimination round of the various Pyramid series (also created by Bob Stewart).

The contestants are each paired with one of the celebrity partners for the first two rounds, and then switch partners for the next two rounds. The rounds alternate between the contestant giving and receiving clues, such that they give and receive once to each celebrity. After four rounds, the contestant who has correctly identified the most words moves on to the Million Dollar Password game. For the final round, the contestant who is trailing in score plays first. His opponent does not need to play the final round if they are still leading after that, and otherwise has their round cut short as soon as they have passed his opponent's score. If the contestants are tied after four rounds, a tiebreaking word is given to both teams, starting with the winner of a coin-toss. The teams alternate giving clues and responses in "classic Password" format, until one contestant gets the word and wins the game.

Million Dollar Password

Solved words to complete Value if 5 words are solved 5 out of 10 $10,000 5 out of 9 $25,000 (guaranteed sum) 5 out of 8 $50,000 5 out of 7 $100,000 5 out of 6 $250,000 (guaranteed sum) 5 out of 5 $1,000,000 (jackpot prize)

The Million Dollar Password round has a six-step prize ladder with a top prize of $1,000,000. The contestant's partner in this round is the celebrity with whom he earned more points in the elimination game; if he earned the same number with both celebrities, his partner is the last celebrity he played with. The contestant may choose to give or receive the clues for the entire round. For each step of the ladder, the clue giver must get their partner to say five given passwords within 90 seconds. For each word, the clue giver may give a maximum of three clues (similar to Cashword from Super Password). The giver may pass, but cannot return to a word, like the original "Lightning Round" of the classic Password.

Successful contestants may take their winnings and leave, or may attempt the next prize level. At each subsequent level the gameplay remains the same, but the number of available passwords is reduced by one. Failure to complete a level ends the game. A contestant who fails on the first two levels earns nothing. Failure on the $50,000, $100,000 or $250,000 levels means the contestant leaves with $25,000. Should a contestant clear the first five levels, s/he wins a guaranteed $250,000 and gets a free shot at the $1,000,000 top prize. (In season one, $250,000 was not a safety level).

If a contestant giving the clues clears the $100,000 level, s/he is shown the six (the first five in season one) passwords for the $250,000 level (and in season one, the five passwords at the $1,000,000 level) before making a decision.

Of the forty-eight contestants that have been seen on the program, twenty-four have won the right to play the Million Dollar Password round. Sixteen have departed with $25,000, two walked away with $50,000 and five have won the $100,000. Six have seen the preview at the $250,000 level, but only one contestant has decided to continue and, subsequently, he lost. So far, no contestant has won the $1,000,000. Only one contestant has won nothing in the final round.

Legal clues

Throughout the game, the giver must wait for a response before giving a new clue, and only one clue may be given at a time. Breaking either rule forfeits the word. (The guesser may suggest the giver pass, but only the clue giver may officially do so.) Antonyms are acceptable clues, but hyphenated clues and acronyms are not. Using a "coined", foreign or otherwise unrecognized clue will also forfeit the word.

Password outside of the USA

The program was also aired in Canada. Season one was broadcast on CTV, while season two was broadcast on CTV's sister network A.

The format has been adapted for viewers in Spain. The program, entitled Password, premiered on July 7, 2008. Hosted by Luján Argüelles, it is nearly identical to the American program. The biggest differences include the top prize of €25,000 (with a guaranteed sum of €2,500 after completing the 5 out of 8 level) and changing the program to a forty-five minute (with commercials) weekday broadcast. It airs on the country's Cuatro channel.

Indonesia's variation, Password Jutawan, debuted on August 23, 2008. The show is hosted by Muhammad Farhan. The hour-long, weekly (airing on Saturdays) used by the American version is kept. Gameplay is very similar to the Spanish version, with a top prize of Rp200,000,000 (with a guaranteed sum of Rp5,000,000 after completing the 5 out of 9 level). It airs on Global TV.

A French adaptation premiered on January 10, 2009. Mot de Passe (French for Password) is hosted by Patrick Sabatier and retains the hour-long, weekly (airing on Saturdays) format of the American program. Minor differences including not starting any clock until a contestant his given his/her first clue and adjusting the top prize to 1/10th of the top prize in the US version, but in euros (€100,000 with a guaranteed sum of €5,000 after completing the 5 out of 8 levels). After achieving their safe haven, contestants are given a "Joker". This allows him/her to see the first five passwords in one level of their choosing. The program airs on France 2.

Licensed merchandise

Endless Games began distributing a home box version of Million Dollar Password in November 2008. iToys distributed a handheld electronic version of the program. In November 2008, RealArcade published an iPhone OS game based on the show entitled Million Dollar Password 2009 Edition. In December 2008, the game was released on some mobile phone platforms and, in March 2009, RealArcade released a version of the game for PC and Macs. Million Dollar Password 2009 Edition was released on CD-ROM in July 2009, distributed by Encore USA. Andrews McMeel published a 2010 day-to-day calendar based upon the program in July 2009.

Ratings

U.S. standard ratings

In the following summary, "rating" is the percentage of all households with televisions that tuned to the show, and "share" is the percentage of all televisions in use at that time that are tuned in. "18–49" is the percentage of all adults aged 18–49 tuned into the show. "Viewers" is the number of viewers, in millions, watching at the time. "Rank" is how well the show did compared to other TV shows aired that week.

Season one (2008)

#	Air date	Celebrity players	Rating	Share	18–49	Viewers (m)	Weekly rank
1	Sunday, June 1, 2008	Neil Patrick Harris, Rachael Ray	6.8	12	2.2/7	10.69	#3
2	Sunday, June 8, 2008	Tony Hawk, Rosie O'Donnell	6.3	11	2.1/6	9.64	#5
3	Thursday, June 12, 2008	Susie Essman, Betty White	6.4	12	2.0/7	9.52	#7
4	Sunday, June 22, 2008	Shanna Moakler, Steven Weber	5.5	10	1.5/5	8.29	#12
5	Sunday, June 29, 2008	Sara Evans, Steve Schirripa	5.6	10	1.7/5	8.55	#7
6	Sunday, July 6, 2008	Monique Coleman, Damien Fahey	5.0	9	1.3/5	7.53	#3

Season two (2008–09)

#	Air date	Celebrity players	Rating	Share	18–49	Viewers (m)	Weekly rank
7	Thursday, December 18, 2008	William Shatner, Aisha Tyler	5.3	9	1.6/5	8.27	#24
8	Sunday, December 21, 2008	Julie Chen, Phil Keoghan	6.0	10	1.8/5	9.52	#19
9	Sunday, December 28, 2008	Adam Carolla, Betty White	6.3	10	2.0/5	9.84	#7
10	Sunday, January 4, 2009	Craig Ferguson, Serena Williams	6.8	10	1.9/5	10.43	#14
11	Sunday, May 31, 2009	Jamie Kennedy, Norm Macdonald	4.5	8	1.2/4	6.88	#20
12	Sunday, June 14, 2009	Jeff Garlin, Chelsea Handler	4.4	8	1.0/3	6.69	#22

Notes and references

1. Unless otherwise cited, the overnight rating, share, 18-49 and viewing information come from TV by the Numbers.
2. Unless otherwise cited, the weekly ranks come from TV by the Numbers.

External links

• Official website