Sure, many others have beaten the "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" thing to death, but the New York Times has jumped on this topic as well. One thing that a lot of critics and other media reporters seem to miss when discussing the demise of WWTBAM is the elimination of the phone-in game to determine contestants. Sure, celebrity editions wore thin really quickly, but that happened after contestants were picked more for personality/looks/etc. rather than actual playing ability. The show had gotten away from what made it click -- people you believed could win lots of money because they supposedly knew a lot.

Many of my quizbowl friends and associates have been contestants on the show, and needless to say, many of these folks wouldn't have been on the show through the more recent system. A lot of the thrill of the show was the fact that, "Hey, I can make this show!" as long as you could play the phone game well. Going through a contestant search is far more grueling time-wise, and god forbid you don't live within a couple of hours from a city with a search. The net effect was less money being given away. What a surprise.

Unfortunately, it looks like Regis won't be back on newer versions of the show. So minus Regis, minus the phone-in game and you've eliminated two huge reasons why people won't be going back.