"My favorite thing on this particular show was doing something
most game show hosts don't get to do: I got to laugh at the contestants if
they were wrong. I don't know if the public will think it's funny, but it
cracked me up every time."
-- Paul Reubens to CNN.
http://www.cnn.com/2001/SHOWBIZ/Movies/04/10/paul.reubens/index.html
Produced by Carsey-Werner-Mandabach Productions, LLC, YDKJ debuted as a TV show in summer 2001, as Captain Spam notes above. As host, Reubens plays the fictitious Troy Stevens. The show does well at mimicking the computer game, adding lots of random goofiness like walk-on mariachi bands as well as skits that have nothing to do with the game. It's a different spout of creative ideas every time.
Here's the problem: I'm not sure this is the kind of thing you want to see every week. I watched the first two episodes, which I thought were loads of fun and not nearly as sneering as some critics said. But once you know how over-the-top it's going to be, the zaniness in each episode stops being charming.
Maybe ABC felt the same way, or maybe the show offended the network's Disney sensibilities, but the first six episodes languished in the can for months. YDKJ finally debuted as a summer replacement series and won its time slot for the first couple of installments. ABC has an option on 13 more but apparently doesn't plan to exercise it; YDKJ isn't on the fall 2001 schedule and has been removed from ABC's Web site. On the other hand, they do plan to show even more of Who Wants To Be a Millionaire?.
Writeup rewritten Sept. 8, 2001