Saunders: Networks play money games

Published October 16, 2006 at midnight

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The networks love to play games with viewers, particularly when traditional programming isn't producing audience ratings.

Latest example: 1 vs 100, NBC's new big-money giveaway extravaganza, which premiered at 8 p.m. Friday, right after Deal or No Deal, which has already established a solid audience in other prime time periods.

The two series, produced by the same company, have at least two more things in common.

Both give away buckets of money and are produced in huge, arena-like studio settings that could lead to fractured eardrums.

The noise level makes Duke's famed basketball arena seem like a public library.

By, the way, contestants don't need a master's degree from Duke to compete on 1 vs. 100.

An early-round question Friday night: In the 2003 film Seabiscuit, what type of animal was in the title role – one with a) fins b) paws, or c) hooves?

The scheduling of two Friday night money give-away series before the dramatics on Law & Order doesn't seem designed to create the traditional audience flow the networks say is essential.

But NBC seems to be operating under a desperate-for-viewers philosophy.

The network benched Las Vegas and delayed the seasonal premiere of Crossing Jordan to accommodate the money giveaway shows.

There's more of the same on the horizon.

The Rich List debuts on Fox Nov. 1, while ABC's Set For Life is scheduled to premiere Jan. 1.

Like the NBC series, both are geared to give contestants potential prize money surpassing $1 million.

Anyone recall the tension involved on CBS' The $64,000 Question?

BRAINY SERIES: Thus far CBS has refrained from joining the giveaway gang, preferring to stick with more traditional, dramatic programming.

Joining the schedule at 9 p.m. Tursdays on Nov. 14 will be 3 LBS, a medical drama about a team of top New York City neurosurgeons who explore the brain, which is considered "the core of intelligence, the center of emotion and spirit and the last great medical frontier."

This probably means we'll see numerous up-close looks at damaged brains as examined by co-stars Stanley Tucci and Mark Feuerstein.

CBS refers to the series as the network's "new Tuesday brain child." Whatever they call it, 3 LBS will replace the canceled Smith.

Wondering about that title? The average brain weighs about three pounds.

RENEWAL NOTICE: CBS' Jericho is the second network series to be assured of a full season run.

Earlier, NBC's Heroes was extended for 22-episodes.

Jericho, in maudlin and unconvincing style, details the problems of residents in a small Kansas community near the Colorado border impacted by nuclear disaster.

The drama premiered with a view of a mushroom cloud over Denver as a result of a nuclear attack.

SIGN OF THE TV TIMES: During last Tuesday's episode of NBC's Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, 9News, the network's local affiliate, aired a promotion for the nightly half-hour local newscast on KTVD-Channel 20 - produced by 9News.

So what's the big deal?

The newscast airs nightly at 9 directly opposite SVU and other NBC programming in that time period.

In essence, 9News is asking viewers to stop watching the NBC shows and begin viewing the 9News-produced program on Channel 20, now owned and operated by Gannett Broadcasting.

This is not the last time 9News viewers will be reminded about the local newscast during a 9 p.m. NBC series, according to Mark Cornetta, president and general manager of the two Gannett-owned properties.

"We wrestled with this decision," Cornetta says.

"Getting an audience for Channel 20 has been a challenge. We think this is one way of letting viewers know we have an early newscast.

"We'll continue such a promotion on a selective basis," Cornetta says.

Gannett did seek approval from NBC for the promotional pitch because 9News is an affiliate rather than a network-owned station.

"We have not had any reaction so far from NBC," Cornetta says.

On Dec. 4, 9News will begin airing a continuation of its top-rated early morning weekday newscast on Channel 20 at 7 a.m., opposite NBC's popular Today, which airs on 9News.

That move might get NBC's attention.

Are such decisions a biting-the-hand-that-feeds-you scenario or simply an acceptable chess move in the rapidly changing network television environment?

TODAY'S NOSTALGIA: On Oct. 16, 1964, Bob Hope starred in a highly-rated NBC comedy-variety hour, Have Girls-Will Travel, which featured Rhonda Fleming, Jill St. John and Marilyn Maxwell.

Dusty Saunders is the broadcasting critic. Saunders@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5137

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