Thursday, Dec. 9, 1999

The return of the TV quiz show: Networks scramble to cash in

   Get ready for the game show glut. With ABC claiming its first sweeps victory in five years almost solely on the strength of its 18-night run of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," the other networks are busy getting their own quiz programs up and running for January.
   On "Live with Regis and Kathie Lee" yesterday, Maury Povich announced he will host "21" for NBC, starting Jan. 9. That update of the old 1950s quiz hit will pit two players against each other as they answer increasingly difficult questions.
   Fox already has "Greed" on the air. CBS is reviving "The $64,000 Question" and is developing a new one called "Winning Lines."
   "Millionaire" will return in January as a thrice-weekly regular series.
   The boom in game shows is a financial boon for budget-busted networks. NBC spent $20 million on its "Leprechauns" miniseries in November. CBS sank $10 million into "Shake, Rattle & Roll." Both were steamrolled by "Millionaire," which drew an average of 24 million viewers per episode (twice the audience of the sitcoms it pre-empted) and cost only $400,000 an episode (not counting the prize money) to produce. With such a huge audience, particularly in the 18-49 prime demographic group, ABC was able to sell 30-second commercial spots on the show for nearly $500,000 apiece during November sweeps. You do the math.
   But as the networks rack up the bonus points of running cheap game shows, the creative forces behind TV's sitcoms and dramas find themselves out of the game entirely.
   "Every game show that's on the air means another 100 people in Hollywood out of work," CBS Entertainment president Les Moonves told TV writers this week. "We're going to do fewer pilots, fewer scripts, less marginal programming."
   Beyond sweeps
   Now that sweeps are over (local November ratings numbers come in next week), the networks are counting on holiday specials to see them through the end of '99.
   ABC's heart-tugging Sunday movie, "Tuesdays with Morrie," was last week's most-watched program, drawing 22,476,000 viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research. Second was CBS' yearly rerun of the 35-year-old "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer," watched by 19,208,000 viewers.
   CBS finished No. 1 last week, averaging just over 13 million viewers. In a season where TV dramas are holding strong, the network's military series "JAG" had its best week ever. It was the No. 3 show of the week, watched by more than 18 million viewers.
   ABC was the No. 2 network last week, with 12,770,000 viewers. NBC averaged 11,490,000 viewers. Fox had an average 9,250,000 viewers (down 16 percent from a year ago). UPN averaged 4,390,000 and The WB averaged 4,020,000.
   The networks held onto 60 percent of the primetime audience.

 
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