Millionaire Set for ABC Summer Schedule

BURBANK: Ten years after its first appearance in the U.S., the game show Who Wants to be a Millionaire is returning to the ABC prime-time schedule with Regis Philbin for a special two-week run this summer.

The show premieres August 9 at 8 p.m. and will run for 11 nights, Sunday through Thursday, with the finale set for August 23. The show was one of ABC’s biggest hits when it premiered in 1999, at its height reaching almost 30 million viewers. Audiences had dropped off by 2002, when it was removed from the schedule, but the game show format continues to run in syndication with Meredith Vieira as host, and local versions are still airing on networks across the globe.