Premiere Date, Network, and Broadcast Schedule
The current season of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire premiered on ABC with episodes airing in the standard primetime slot on Wednesdays. The show continues to air new episodes throughout the television season, with reruns often syndicated in weekend daytime blocks. Production is handled by Valleycrest Productions in partnership with Disney Entertainment, and episodes are distributed digitally on Hulu the day after broadcast. For the latest episode schedule, check the official ABC show page at ABC's official Who Wants to Be a Millionaire page.
The premiere episode typically features a high-profile celebrity guest playing for charity, setting the tone for the season. Broadcast logistics include a live studio audience, a fixed set design, and a countdown clock that governs the main game. The show maintains a consistent runtime of approximately 43 minutes for standard episodes, excluding commercials.
Current Prize Structure and Lifeline Mechanics
The top prize remains one million U.S. dollars, awarded for correctly answering the fifteenth and final question in the main game. The guaranteed safe levels are set at the $1,000 and $32,000 marks, meaning a contestant walks away with that amount if they answer incorrectly before reaching those thresholds. The question values increase in a fixed ladder from $100 up to $1,000, then jump to $2,000, $3,000, $5,000, $10,000, $25,000, $50,000, $100,000, $250,000, $500,000, and finally $1,000,000.
Contestants have access to three lifelines: Ask the Audience, Phone a Friend, and 50:50. Ask the Audience polls the studio crowd via keypads, Phone a Friend connects the contestant to a designated supporter for a 30-second call, and 50:50 removes two incorrect answers from the four-choice question. In the current season, the production team has maintained these lifeline rules without introducing new ones, keeping the format aligned with the established American version.
Host, Production Company, and Format Evolution
The show is currently hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, who took over the role from Cedric the Entertainer in 2014 and has continued through the latest season. Production is led by Valleycrest Productions, a division of Fremantle, with the format originally based on the British series created by David Briggs, Mike Whitehill, and Steven Knight. The American version debuted on ABC in 1999 and has since aired multiple seasons with periodic format tweaks, including the introduction of the Shuffle format and the Fastest Finger First round.
Ratings for the current season place Who Wants to Be a Millionaire among the more stable primetime offerings on broadcast television, though it does not rank in the top tier of network shows by total viewership. The franchise has expanded internationally, with over 160 local versions produced worldwide, according to franchise owner ITV Studios. For background on the original British format and its global adaptations, see the overview at ITV Studios' official franchise page.