Game Shows Are Back, With Big Jackpots.

Why work to be a millionaire when you can win that much on television during the November sweeps?

TV game shows, a staple of prime-time programming in the 1950s, are back, and they are holding out the promise of bundles of cash to lure viewers to network television -- meaning jackpots as big as $2 million for contestants.

"TV is returning to its puberty," groaned Jerry Isenberg, a former ABC executive who is now a professor at USC's school for cinema and television. "Game shows are cheap to make, easy to promote -- win a million, win 2 million -- and they are highly exploitative. While you don't get the upscale demographics on these shows, they are good for plugging in holes in a schedule."

Andrea Wong, ABC's vice president or alternative series and specials, disagrees about the exploitative part. She just thinks game shows make compelling TV.

"They are filled with human drama, tension, people testing their knowledge and whether or not they decide to lay it all on the line for money," she said.

ABC's breezy "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" shocked the TV world this summer when it was rated among the top 10 shows of the week. Its final show was watched by a whopping 22 million viewers. The show's success started a stampede to bring back quiz shows to prime time.

"We are thrilled to be the first," Wong said.

"Millionaire," based on a highly successful British game show, returns Nov. 7 and will run for 15 consecutive nights with Regis Philbin as host. The show holds out the tantalizing possibility that lucky contestant will walk away with $1 million.

The Fox network is upping the ante by rolling out "Greed," hosted by game-show veteran Chuck Woolery and starting Nov. 4 for three weeks. It's being produced by Dick Clark Productions Inc., and offers a jackpot of $2 million. Fox is betting that its unprecedented cash prize will draw millions of viewers away from NBC's vaunted Thursday-night lineup.

CBS and NBC also are getting into the game. CBS is developing "The $64,000 Question," which was the No. 1 show on television during the 1955-56 season, but the prize money will have to escalate to keep pace with Fox's "Greed" -- the amount hasn't yet been determined.

CBS also plans to resurrect "What's My Line," which like "The $64,000 Question" was a top network show during the '50s.

NBC is developing "Twenty-One," which ironically is the show that started the Quiz Show scandals of the late 1950s. It, too, will have to boost its prize money to compete with its million-dollar rivals.

Perhaps the riskiest of all the game shows in development is another CBS production. Based on a successful program produced in Sweden, the network is developing "Survivor," in which 16 contestants are marooned on a desert island in the South China Sea. Contestants vote each week on which of them will be eliminated from contention; the sole survivor gets $1 million.

King World Productions Inc. has jumped into the big-money fray, coming up with a twist for viewers of its syndicated game show "Hollywood Squares." Starting Nov. 8, contestants will have a chance at winning $1 million if they guess the celebrity in the secret square.

"There is an old adage that something original in television is something that hasn't been done in the last 30 days," said Bishop Cheen, an entertainment specialist at First Union Capital Markets. "You have to go with what works. 'Millionaire' worked. (The networks) are all dusting off shows from the past and rushing them out in an eye-popping response to 'Millionaire.'"

But CBS Entertainment President Nancy Tellem said it is pure coincidence that her network is developing game shows in the wake of ABC's success. "We always viewed them as a viable format, but with the success of 'Millionaire' it makes them even more valuable," she said.

Games shows are considered especially appealing because they can be made cheaply.

"It's an efficient way of programming," said Bill Cella, executive vice president of broadcast and programming at McCann Erickson World-wide. "Their costs are miniscule compared to making a prime-time sitcom that costs around $800,000 an episode. A game show might cost $200,000."

As for all that prize money, nobody walked away with a seven-figure check this summer from ABC.

But there is a downside to this cheap programming. Quiz shows usually are not repeated, nor can they be sold after they've aired on the networks in syndication -- except to the Game Show Network, the struggling cable channel run by Sony Entertainment, which doesn't pay much for them. A successful sitcom, however, can be repeated indefinitely here and abroad.

"There is no back end (for a game show)," said Derek Baine, an analyst at Paul Kagen & Associates.

                            Quiz-Show Invasion
            Big-money game shows either airing or in development.
Network     Show              Air Date
  ABC   "Who Wants To          Nov. 7
        Be A Millionaire"
  CBS   "$64,000 Question"       In
                            development
  CBS   "Survivor"         In production,
                            not scheduled
  Fox   "Greed"                Nov. 4
  NBC   "Twenty-One"       In development
Network       Nature of Game
  ABC   Trivia questions that can earn
        a winner a seven-figure payday
  CBS   More trivia questions
  CBS   Contestants marooned
        on a desert island
  Fox   Trivia questions, $2 million jackpot
  NBC   Based on '50s' game show