Abc Correcting Error On ‘Millionaire’

ABC’s “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” Wednesday admitted it made a mistake in a $64,000 question on its Jan. 25 broadcast.

The show, the nation’s most-watched series, is already embroiled in a dispute over a question about the age of U.S. presidents.

This time, contestant Dr. Kurt Warkenthein of Naperville, Ill., was asked to identify the classic TV show for which Neil Simon and Woody Allen wrote.

Warkenthein guessed “I Love Lucy,” but host Regis Philbin, reading from the computer screen in front of him, said the correct answer was Sid Caesar’s “Your Show of Shows.”

In fact, Allen wrote for “Caesar’s Hour,” a later series, not “Your Show of Shows.”

“We’re wrong,” said “Millionaire” executive producer Michael Davies, “and we have to make some sort of reparations.”

What specific form those reparations might take is still being discussed, Davies said.

Reached at his family-practice medical office in Naperville, Warkenthein said he had not yet heard from the producers. “But if they made a mistake,” he said, “it was an honest mistake.”

The physician said he didn’t know whether he would return to the show if Davies asked him to take a second shot at the $1 million jackpot.

“I personally don’t hold them accountable for that. I enjoyed being there on the show. I don’t want to be part of any sour-grapes kind of thing,” he said