Who Wants to Be a Millionaire
Christmas Special
TV Flash files “Christmas Special” as hour 65 of 450 in the TV Flash guide — Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (1999–present) on ABC, season 5, episode 16, aired 1999-12-25, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S05E16: listed hour 65 of 450 in the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire guide, hour 16 of 18 in season 5. It aired 1999-12-25 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “Christmas Special” (S05E15). Next is “Christmas Special” (S05E17). Broadcast log — titles and dates, not a plot bible.
Viewer FAQ
Where does Christmas Special sit in the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire guide?
S05E16 is listed hour 65 of 450 — hour 16 of 18 in season 5, season 5 episode 16.
When did Who Wants to Be a Millionaire S05E16 air?
Christmas Special aired 1999-12-25 and is listed at 60 minutes.
Is this the British show or the U.S. one?
U.S. primetime, hosted by Regis Philbin from August 1999, adapted from the British format that debuted in 1998.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Regis in the hot seat, a pulsing soundtrack, and a nation screaming answers at the set. Quiz-show architecture rebuilt as primetime siege warfare — lifelines, dramatic lights, and the fantasy that trivia could pay the mortgage. The format that hijacked ABC’s schedule at decade’s end and taught networks that a game could be an event again.
Calendar first: **August 16, 1999**. ABC drops a British quiz format into primetime and treats weeknights like a siege window. Rex can toast the golden-age podium until the ice melts; this is inventory that hijacked a schedule, not a museum hour with a nicer lamp. Contestants climb a cash ladder with lifelines while America yells answers at the screen. The metric is not nostalgia for a bell. The metric is **multi-night airings** at the turn of the millennium — a game stacked like a sports series, not parked as a…
Open the Who Wants to Be a Millionaire package · Season 5 hub
Filed against
- Regis Philbin as Host
Regis Philbin hosted Who Wants to Be a Millionaire from the hot seat — 1990s quiz-show architecture rebuilt as primetime siege warfare, a pulsing soundtrack, a nation screaming answers at the set. Lifelines, dramatic lights, the fantasy…