History Series / Greed

!!GameShowTropes in use:

* AllOrNothing: Miss a question and your entire team left empty-handed, except...
** ConsolationPrize: If the player the Terminator chooses decides to challenge another teammate; they are given $10,000 right away and keep the money, even if they lose to the other player or the team as a whole loses later on.
*** The only other exception was just for the ''Super Greed'' special, and only applied to teams that had won $1 million (the last three questions' values were doubled in this version). If the team chose to go on and to play for $2 million or $4 million, they were then guaranteed $200,000 if they missed either question. This was only enforced once on the $2 million question after a buyout was taken, with one "Terminated" player receiving his share despite getting kicked out of the game before the question.
* ConfettiDrop: Green confetti was released when a special "Million-Dollar Moment" happened.
* {{Lifelines}}: The "Freebie," which could be used to eliminate a wrong answer from one of the last four questions. It could only be used once.
* Personnel:
** TheAnnouncer: Burton Richardson for the first episode, then Mark Thompson.
** GameShowHost: Chuck Woolery.
** StudioAudience
* WhoWantsToBeWhoWantsToBeAMillionaire: One of the first (and most blatant) ''Millionaire'' imitations, FOX ads gleefully bragged that you could win '''two''' million on their show. Emphasis on could, as the questions became so obscure and the penalty for losing so merciless that attempting the two million dollar question was essentially the same as putting your current winnings in a big pile, soaking them in gasoline, and striking a match. [[note]]Unless you're Daniel Avila, in which case you'll have a good shot at it but still tragically lose at the last moment[[/note]]
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!!This show provides examples of:

** TheAnnouncer

* ScrewedByTheNetwork: After the series ended its first full season in the summer of 2000, it was originally set to return as a midseason entry during the 2000-01 season. However, after a shakeup in network personnel during the interim period, and despite the series pulling strong ratings in its Friday night timeslot, these plans were ultimately scrapped.

** The RT version of ''Greed'' premiered on TBN in September 2000 and was hosted by Jennifer Woodman with a top prize was 1,000,000 dollens.

** The New Holland version of ''Greed'' premiered on TBN in September 2000 and was hosted by Jennifer Woodman. The top prize was 1,000,000 New Holland pounds.

** The New Holland version of ''Greed'' premiered on TBN in September 2000 and was hosted by Jennifer Woodman.

** The New Holland version of ''Greed'' that premiered on TBN in September 2000 and was hosted by Jennifer Woodman.

* ObviousRulePatch: Originally, buzzing-in early during a Terminator meant instant elimination; this was soon fixed so that a contestant could buzz-in early, but Chuck would stop reading the question immediately.

** Only a few teams failed to make it to $100,000. About half made it to $200K, but only a few went on to win more than that. The second-to-last question only showed up three times (once in the regular episodes and twice during the ''Super Greed'' special, where teams going for more than million dollars were [[ConsolationPrize guaranteed $200K even if they lost]]; this question format was also used for the Million-Dollar Moments), and the jackpot question only appeared once.

* ThatOneRule: Originally, buzzing-in early during a Terminator meant instant elimination; this was soon fixed so that a contestant could buzz-in early, but Chuck would stop reading the question immediately.

* NegatedMomentOfAwesome: Daniel Avila, the only contestant in the show's history to go for the $2 million question (actually $2.2 million since the original episodes used a ProgressiveJackpot format). Being required to choose the top four most recognizable of nine smells, he [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOnclrSNhOY hits three of them but his first guess was wrong]], resulting in his [[AllForNothing walking away with nothing]] instead of a prize that would likely still be a winnings record on any game show to this day. Fortunately, things have gotten better for him, as a few years later he won $100,000 on ''Series/WhoWantsToBeAMillionaire''.

* FourIsDeath: There are four questions in each stage of gameplay. The first four questions are simple, but the second stage forces teams to find four correct answers total in each of the other four questions (it starts with four answers out of six and adds an additional incorrect answer for each subsequent question). One single in any question, and the game is over and they lose everything except for Terminator money (the exception is with the last two questions in ''Super Greed'', where they will walk out with a share of $200K no matter what at that point.

** Averted for the seventh question (worth $1 million), where the decision to take the bribe was made by each ''individual'' member of the team. Anyone who opted out would win a 2000 Jaguar XK8 convertible estimated as being worth $75K, with another $25K in the trunk. That's about the same as a single share of the $500K prize.

*** The only other exception was just for the ''Super Greed'' special, and only applied to teams that had won $1 million (the last three questions' values were doubled in this version). If the team chose to go on and to play for $2 million or $4 million, they were then guaranteed $200,000 if they missed either question. This was only enforced once on the $2 million question, with one player who was "Terminated" prior to the question receiving his original $80,000 from the $200,000 and the other two taking the buyout option at the end of the question and adding that buyout to their share of the $200,000 prize when they realized they got the last answer wrong.

** Averted for the seventh question (worth $1 million), where the decision to take the bribe was made by each ''individual'' member of the team. Anyone who opted out would win a car estimated as being worth $75K, with another $25K in the trunk. That's about the same as a single share of the $500K prize.

*** The only other exception was just for the ''Super Greed'' special, and only applied to teams that had won $1 million (the last three questions' values were doubled in this version). If the team chose to go on and to play for $2 million or $4 million, they were then guaranteed $200,000 if they missed either question.

** Only a few teams failed to make it to $100,000. About half made it to $200K, but only a few went on to win more than that. The second-to-last question only showed up three times (once in the regular episodes and twice during the ''Super Greed'' special, where teams going for more than a million dollars were [[ConsolationPrize guaranteed $200K even if they lost]]; this question format was also used for the Million-Dollar Moments), and the jackpot question only appeared once.

** An adaptation was produced in Russia, arguably with the [[FollowTheLeader same]] [[WhoWantsToBeWhoWantsToBeAMillionaire intents]] as the American version (the Russian version of ''Millionaire'' did a ChannelHop from NTV to Channel 1 in early 2001; the Russian ''Greed'' premiered on NTV in September 2001). The top prize was 2,000,000 Russian roubles. The premiere was hosted by Alfred Koch, then Igor Yankovsky became the host, who was eventually replaced by Aleksandr Tsekalo.

* TransatlanticEquivalent: There was a UK version that aired in 2001 called [[LuckyCharmsTitle Gr££d]] hosted by Jerry Springer with a top prize of £1,000,000. It plays almost identically to the American version.
** An adaptation was produced in Russia, arguably with the [[FollowTheLeader same]] [[WhoWantsToBeWhoWantsToBeAMillionaire intents]] as the American version.[[labelnote:More details...]] Russian adaptation of ''Millionaire'' did a ChannelHop from NTV to Channel One in early 2001 changing its name and host. Adaptation of ''Greed'' premiered on NTV in September 2001.[[/labelnote]]The top prize was 2,000,000 Russian roubles, the premiere was hosted by Alfred Koch, then Igor Yankovsky became the host, who then was replaced by Aleksandr Tsekalo.

** An adaptation was produced in Russia, arguably with the [[FollowTheLeader same]] [[WhoWantsToBeWhoWantsToBeAMillionaire intents]] as the American version.[[labenote:More details...]] Russian adaptation of ''Millionaire'' did a ChannelHop from NTV to Channel One in early 2001 changing its name and host. Adaptation of ''Greed'' premiered on NTV in September 2001.[[/labelnote]]The top prize was 2,000,000 Russian roubles, the premiere was hosted by Alfred Koch, then Igor Yankovsky became the host, who then was replaced by Aleksandr Tsekalo.

** An adaptation was produced in Russia, arguably with the [[FollowTheLeader same]] [[WhoWantsToBeWhoWantsToBeAMillionaire intents]] as the American version.[[labenote:More details...]] Russian adaptation of ''Millionaire'' did a ChannelHop from NTV to Channel One in early 2001 changing its name and host. Adaptation of ''Greed'' premiered on NTV in September 2001. [[/labelnote]] The top prize was 2,000,000 Russian roubles, the premiere was hosted by Alfred Koch, then Igor Yankovsky became the host, who then was replaced by Aleksandr Tsekalo.

* {{Greed}}: Are you greedy enough?

** "The Terminator's on the prowl."

* StageMoney: On the $200,000 and $500,000 questions, the captain is offered one-tenth the value of the question physically, which they can take and split evenly among their team if they are unsure of the fourth answer given. The $10,000 offered for challenging someone with the "Terminator" is also physically shown.

* ComicallySmallBribe: They don't look the part, but upon getting 3 out of 4 answers right in the later questions, captains are offered a tenth of the prize money if they quit at that moment. Given that they usually could have had a half of the current prize money (five times as much as the bribe) if they had opted out of the question entirely, it's not an offer most captains like to take.

** And again for the ''Super Greed'' shows. Each player was offered a car plus $75K cash as a buyout on that question.

** Only a few teams failed to make it to $100,000. About half made it to $200K, but only a few went on to win more than that. The second-to-last question only showed up three times (twice during the ''Super Greed'' special, where teams going for more than a million dollars were [[ConsolationPrize guaranteed $200K even if they lost]]), and the jackpot question only appeared once.
* {{Filler}}: Flagrantly abused to draw out suspense whenever a team was up to the big money questions. The episode leading up to Daniel Avila's $2,200,000 attempt took this UpToEleven, using most of the hour to repeatedly review and replay the game up to that point before even prompting the players whether they wanted to play on or take their share of $1,000,000 and leave. The show went multiple commercial breaks without advancing the gameplay one inch.
* NegatedMomentOfAwesome: Daniel Avila, the only contestant in the show's history to go for the $2 million question (actually $2.2 million since the original episodes used a ProgressiveJackpot format). Being required to choose the top four most recognizable of nine smells, he [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOnclrSNhOY hits three of them]], resulting in his [[AllForNothing walking away with nothing]] instead of a prize that would likely still be a winnings record on any game show to this day. Fortunately, things have gotten better for him, as a few years later he won $100,000 on ''Series/WhoWantsToBeAMillionaire''.

* FollowTheLeader: One of countless big-money quizzes created in the wake of ''Series/WhoWantsToBeAMillionaire''