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If I Had a Million

So Wheel of Fortune is adding “a million-dollar bonus round?” As the linked article explains, the rules are set up in such a way that it’ll be almost impossible to win $1 million, but that’s nothing new. It seems like because of Deal Or No Deal, everybody’s under pressure to add some kind of “you can win $1 million” element to their shows. The Price is Right did that with the prime-time version, but almost made it too easy to win (just as Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? had a problem with too many $1 million winners). I’m weird this way, but I almost find $1 million jackpots a bit too much — part of the fun of watching a game show is seeing people compete for things, and sums of money, that we could theoretically get in real life, like cars and bedroom furniture and the equivalent of a year’s wages. The idea that these people could become millionaires kind of reduces their “ordinary people” appeal. But that’s just me; the $1 million jackpots seem to be quite popular even if hardly anybody wins them on some shows.