MONEY TALKS; SWEEPS ASIDE, ABC WON ONLY WITH `MILLIONAIRE'.

Byline: David Kronke Television Writer

It would seem to be an even easier question than one posed to the contestants of ``Who Wants to be a Millionaire,'' but ABC just can't cough up its final answer.

One thing for sure, though, is that because of the phenomenally popular prime-time game show's success, all the networks are jumping on the bandwagon.

``Millionaire,'' hosted by the ever-effusive Regis Philbin, single-handedly gave ABC - mired this time last year in third place - its first sweeps win since 1994. Still, the network is being devilishly coy on when and where the show will show up again.

``We have made the water cooler a noisy and crowded spot again,'' crowed Stu Bloomberg, co-chairman of the ABC Entertainment Television Group. ``We are still finalizing our plans (as to when the show will return). By the end of the week, we'll be making an announcement. We're in a win-win situation no matter what we do, but it's inappropriate to discuss it now.''

Les Moonves, president and CEO of CBS Television, cited a trade report indicating that beginning in January, ABC would air ``Millionaire'' on Tuesdays at 8:30 p.m., Thursdays for an hour at 8:30 p.m. and Sundays for an hour at 9 p.m.

``That's 2-1/2 hours of other programming not going on - that's not good for the Hollywood community,'' Moonves observed, conceding that nonetheless, his network, too, is developing some game shows.

If ABC does make the ``Millionaire'' move, ``Spin City'' is expected to move from 8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. on Tuesday, but that leaves the fate of two other shows up in the air - the sitcom ``Sports Night'' (also on Tuesdays) and David E. Kelley's ``Snoops,'' which is on Sundays at 9 p.m. and has a full season of episodes ordered. ABC has already axed the Thursday 9 p.m. show, ``Wasteland.''

In truth, ABC has few other positives to point to. Outside of the spectacular showing of the TV movie ``Annie,'' the improvement of the Emmy-winning drama ``The Practice'' and the fact that the network's other semi-game show, ``Whose Line Is It Anyway?,'' is faring better than expected opposite NBC's Thursday night lineup, the network's schedule hasn't yielded a lot of encouraging surprises.

During November sweeps, ABC had only 70 percent of its regular schedule on the air, the rest supplanted by specials but mainly by ``Millionaire,'' which seemed to have a minimal effect in terms of increasing viewers for other ABC series. By contrast, NBC and CBS had strong sweeps showings with 88 percent of their scheduled programming on the air. Cable television suffered a rare dip in viewership during November, largely attributable to ``Millionaire.''

As Moonves put it, ``Without one show (`Millionaire') in there, it would be quite a different story. It sort of points out why we feel that sweeps are a ridiculous measure.'' At the same time, he admits, ``I wish I had it. An old genre is being reborn, and we're jumping on the bandwagon like our competitors.''

Indeed, everyone wants the dough ``Millionaire'' has generated for ABC. Virtually the only good news at the Fox network was the fair-to-middling performance of its ``Millionaire'' knockoff, ``Greed.''

NBC and CBS are preparing their own quiz programs and Michael Davies, ``Millionaire's'' executive producer, is developing other programming for ABC. Celebrities such as Rosie O'Donnell have clamored to appear on ``Millionaire,'' suggesting a potential future-sweeps stunt.

Garth Ancier, president of NBC Entertainment, declared of ``Millionaire,'' ``It's going to be around for a while. It's not always going to be the phenomenon that it is, but it's good counter-programming.''

Even so, he predicted, ``It will become more humdrum as it goes along, as it has in England where it originated.''

Still, that hasn't prevented NBC from developing its own prime-time quiz show, ``Twenty-One,'' which Ancier says the network will premiere ``in the next couple of months.'' The show is still in run-throughs and in the process of casting a host. Ancier says that network executives are currently ``not totally happy with what we've seen so far,'' and the program will not air until they are.

CBS had previously announced an even more ambitious game/reality series, ``Survivor,'' an extreme-games variation in which contestants compete against one another on a deserted island. It's also bringing out a new show from Paul Smith, who devised the original British incarnation of ``Millionaire,'' titled ``Winning Lines,'' and updated versions of ``The $64,000 Question'' (multiplied by 10) and ``What's My Line?''

``I wouldn't be putting `Winning Lines' on the air if it wasn't for `Millionaire,' '' Moonves admits. ``It would be silly not to try to enter the fray.''

ABC's Bloomberg, predictably, replies, ``I don't believe that it will become humdrum. It has become a cultural phenomenon. Something inherent in the show makes it fun. Its human drama celebrates what's great about Americans. There's a lot of drama even when someone's going for just $16,000. The tension that Regis creates with contestants - this is more than a game show.''

CAPTION(S):

Photo

Photo: Regis Philbin hosts ABC's ``Who Wants to be a Millionaire,'' which single-handedly gave ABC its first sweeps win since 1994.