Who Wants to Boost a Sagging ‘Millionaire’?

Just weeks after Viacom-owned CBS told “Everybody Loves Raymond” star Patricia Heaton that it did not want her to help competitor ABC by appearing on November’s celebrity edition of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,” Viacom-owned VH1 helped ABC by producing--for free--”Pop-Up Video” versions of those same “Millionaire” broadcasts in a bid to boost their ratings in rerun on ABC.

Heaton would have been playing to make money for a charity of her choice, which would have guaranteed at least $32,000. Heaton did not go on the show.

“Raymond” is averaging more than 20 million viewers this season--which is about what “Millionaire” averaged in the November sweeps, when the five celebrity editions were broadcast. No wonder CBS didn’t see much promo upside to having Heaton on the ABC program. VH1, on the other hand, is pulling in an average audience of 459,000 in prime time and a measly 138,000 for its “Pop-Up Videos” late-night program, in which music videos are augmented with pop-up bubbles containing fun factoids about the production and the performer.

So, according to a VH1 programming exec, the cable network paid to refresh the five celebrity shows by adding its signature bubbles telling viewers such trivia as: which celebrity had never seen “Millionaire” but nonetheless didn’t bother to show up for rehearsal (Sean “Puffy” Combs); how many times host Regis Philbin called Alec Baldwin “Alex” (twice); and how many packs of gum Norm Macdonald chomped while awaiting his turn (10). The shows have been renamed “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire: VH1’s Pop-Up Celebrity Edition,” and will air on ABC Sunday through Dec. 31. VH1 and “Pop-Up Videos” will be mentioned on the broadcasts and in all promotions and advertising for the reruns.

“For us, it’s a branding extension. It is truly an extension of the number of eyeballs to have ever seen our logo,” explained Lauren Zalaznick, VH1 senior vice president of programming and development. “We get our show . . . on national television in prime time five nights in a row. We really couldn’t afford 2.5 hours of ad time on ABC--that’s why it’s worth it to us.”

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Aligning itself with the hip, younger-skewing network is just one way ABC will try to boost “Millionaire” ratings, which have slipped, by about 3.5 million viewers compared with last November’s sweeps rating. Though the producers have long maintained that the show’s popularity isn’t about the money, come Jan. 4--the night before “Millionaire” debuts on ABC’s Friday lineup--the top prize will be increased from $1 million to $1.71 million and every night without a grand-prize winner $10,000 will be added to the pot. The show hasn’t had a million-dollar winner since July 11; the immediate hike of $710,000 comes from upping the ante by $10,000 for each broadcast since.

Executive producer Michael Davies has no patience with press reports that the show is in ratings trouble; he says it has merely changed from a national phenomenon into a hit series.

“If we were a scripted show, this would be like a new plot line or a new character,” Davies said of the changes, which also include three consecutive “College Edition” nights, featuring students selected during a national contestant search.

Notice how many of the changes are designed to bring younger viewers to the show? That’s because the median age of “Millionaire” viewers has aged six years to 54, well outside the 18-49 age group advertisers pay a premium to reach. Because ABC relies so heavily on “Millionaire” in prime time, airing it four nights a week this season, the network’s median age has been driven up by five years to 47.