ABC Shuffles Deck; Quiz Show Is Three-of-a-Kind

Answering what has fast become the TV industry’s biggest question, “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” will rejoin ABC’s prime-time lineup three times a week beginning in January, filling three hours of the network’s 22-hour schedule.

The quiz show sensation, which averaged more than 24 million viewers during November, will air at 8 p.m. Tuesdays starting Jan. 11 and at 9 p.m. Thursdays and Sundays.

As part of the move’s domino effect, ABC has canceled “Snoops,” its Sunday drama from “The Practice” creator David E. Kelley. That means two of ABC’s new fall dramas (the other being “Wasteland”) have bitten the dust, with the sitcom “Odd Man Out” soon to join them.

In addition, the Tuesday shift will result in “Spin City” moving to 9:30 p.m. after “Dharma & Greg,” and ABC wouldn’t discuss the status of “Sports Night,” the critically acclaimed if marginally rated occupant of that slot.

ABC’s indecisiveness allowed the gist of its plans to dribble out in the trade press, after the network angered producer Steven Bochco with a similar noncommittal approach pondering when to bring back “NYPD Blue.”

“Sometimes the decisions we have to make are tough ones, and we’re trying to show everyone as much respect as we can,” said Lloyd Braun, co-chairman of the ABC Entertainment Television Group, during a conference call earlier this week.

Presented with the lone alternative of moving “Snoops,” Kelley acknowledged the choice was ultimately mutual.

“I was hard-pressed to argue with it, looking at the numbers ‘Millionaire’ did in that slot,” he said, adding that based on his juggling act writing “The Practice” and “Ally McBeal,” he intends to “think really hard about when and where I will develop” new shows in the future.

The other networks recognize “Millionaire” as a force to be reckoned with but insist they are not quaking at the prospect of its return. “As it moves into being a regularly scheduled show, we think we can compete better against it,” maintained NBC West Coast President Scott Sassa.

Still, rivals concede they are moving forward with their own quiz shows, largely hoping to dilute the “Millionaire” franchise. Fox hastily added “Greed” to its sweeps roster, CBS has ordered a show called “Winning Lines” from “Millionaire’s” British producer for early next year, and NBC is developing “Twenty-One,” a new version of the program that caused the 1950s quiz-show scandals.

Despite jumping on that bandwagon, many executives see the trend as a foreboding omen for producers of more conventional fare.

“Every game show on the air means another 100 people in Hollywood who are out of work,” said CBS Television President Leslie Moonves. “It certainly is not a good sign for the Hollywood community.”