YET ANOTHER REALITY SHOW TO TREASURE.

Byline: David Kronke Television Critic

Nothing about ``Treasure Hunters'' is particularly original -- imagine the Nicolas Cage flick ``National Treasure'' reimagined as an ``Amazing Race''-style reality show, and you're right there -- but it hurtles along agreeably enough, and every once in a while, it tucks in a little historical factoid, which can't be a bad thing.

Still, the show almost lost me in its opening seconds, with host Laird Macintosh's grimly histrionic narration: ``It's out there -- somewhere -- a treasure that will change the lives of those who find it forever. -- Its location is guarded by an ancient secret society that still exists today.'' And so on. When Macintosh glowers at the contestants, he does so with an arched eyebrow that would do Stephen Colbert proud.

In tonight's two-hour premiere, we meet 10 groups of three -- with that many participants, ``characterization'' is fairly minimal at this point, and terribly simplistic. What they're vying for is not clear at this point, except for, of course, the notion that it's life-changing. Five of the groups are traipsing through the arctic chill of Alaska, while the other five are sunning themselves off the coast of Hawaii. They race to Nebraska, where they discover there are 10 teams competing for the first time, then tool off to Mount Rushmore, all at a pace that is fairly hyperventilating and music that's wildly melodramatic.

As mentioned, so far we know little about the competitors -- the requisite religious family team so far has emerged as the most duplicitous, and the group of former Miss USA contestants actually say things like, ``Let's save our manipulation for when we really need it.''

Other teams include ex-CIA employees, members of the Air Force, some Texas ``geniuses'' (honestly -- that's their team name; they're not in line for a gratifying comeuppance, no siree), some rowdy Boston firefighters, and a couple more groups from Texas -- three fairly rotund brothers and some mullet-sporting good-ol'-boys going by the moniker of the ``Wild Hanlons.''

Nonetheless, we know far more about the items being hawked on the show, as there's some unusually bald product placement for cell phones, credit cards, Internet search engines and travel agencies.

(Apparently they couldn't get an underwriter for laptops -- those logos are cropped from the picture's frame.)

As our teams traverse the land, Macintosh will toss in some intriguing trivia; for example, there are replicas of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights concealed at Mount Rushmore. Just in case, you know, someone in Washington accidentally misplaces the originals.

David Kronke, [phone]

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TREASURE HUNTERS - Three stars

What: ``The Amazing Race'' meets ``National Treasure'' in this reality competition pitting 10 teams of three to find loot of an undisclosed nature.

Where: NBC (Channel 4).

When: 8 tonight; thereafter, 9 p.m. Mondays.

In a nutshell: Serviceably entertaining, with something of a history lesson sneaked in.

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Teams of competitors traverse the United States in their search for hidden treasure in NBC's new reality-challenge show, ``Treasure Hunters,'' premiering at 8 tonight.