Who Wants to be a Millionaire, "the most consequential game show in television history," paved the way for the reality TV boom and Jeopardy!'s James Holzhauer

Slate

The syndicated version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire was canceled last Friday just three months shy of the ABC primetime version's 20th anniversary breaking ground with massive ratings in the summer of 1999. "There’s a decent case that Who Wants to Be a Millionaire is the most consequential game show in television history," says Justin Peters. "Though Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! have longevity on their side, and though O.G. quiz programs like Twenty-One conceived the language that 1,000 game shows speak, Millionaire changed the landscape unlike any other televised trivia contest before or since. The show’s glossy aesthetic and superhigh stakes attracted unprecedented audiences—at its peak Millionaire was more popular than Monday Night Football—and ignited a game show arms race. No Millionaire? No Greed, no Weakest Link, no Deal or No Deal. Jeopardy! likely wouldn’t have ditched the pre–Ken Jennings rule that limited contestants to five consecutive victories. There would have been nothing to inspire Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire?—a harbinger of the reality TV boom."