Quiz Shows Here, Game Shows There . . .

“Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” won’t become a regular part of ABC’s prime-time lineup until January, but the wave of game-show related programming has already begun. The other networks are all planning their own quiz concepts, hoping either to create a hit or at least dilute ABC’s success. Having dumped “Action,” Fox has also extended the run of its hastily assembled quiz knockoff “Greed” and scheduled the show to air twice this week, Thursday and Friday, at 9 p.m. Cable networks hope to capitalize on the craze as well. A&E;’s “Biography” weighs in starting tonight with a “Game Show Week” theme, offering profiles of Vanna White, Bob Barker, Monty Hall, Merv Griffin and, yes, “Millionaire’s” Regis Philbin. MTV recently launched a new interactive game, “WebRIOT,” while Sony’s Game Show Network is celebrating its fifth anniversary this month and is about to introduce interactive elements to its programs, “Inquizition” and “All-New 3’s a Crowd,” via Web TV. While lower costs have made games a staple of cable, some wonder if the quiz revival will ultimately turn out to be a passing fad at the major networks. If so, you can still count on the airwaves being filled with Hula-Hoops before it’s over.

Year-Round Awards Mean Music Never Stops

You could say the pop world’s award season kicks off this week with today’s announcement of nominees for the 27th annual American Music Awards and the staging of the Billboard Music Awards on Wednesday in Las Vegas (featuring Britney Spears, Jennifer Lopez and Ricky Martin as performers). But you could also say the season never really ends anymore, not with nearly a gala per month feeding the hunger of television network executives and, apparently, the public for glittery gowns and acceptance speeches. The MTV Video Music Awards, the WB Radio Music Awards, the World Music Awards, the Source Hip Hop Music Awards, the Teen Choice Awards . . . the list goes on and on. And don’t forget the granddaddy of them all, the Grammys on Feb. 23. “It’s amazing, really, and I was talking with a network executive who says they are thinking of adding another one or two here or there,” says Larry Klein, one of the producers of the American Music Awards. “I was joking that we could just go ahead and make the AMAs a weekly show. People love these shows.” But the glut of galas may be taking a toll: The American Music Awards have seen the audience slide each of the past three years, and last year’s drop to 15.6 million (down from nearly 20 million viewers in 1997) was likely due to the show airing the night after the People’s Choice Awards, which featured some of the same big-name performers. “Everybody goes after the same artists; there’s only so many hot artists around,” Klein says with a sigh. What to do? Klein says expect the upcoming American Music Awards on Jan. 17 to be spruced up with some new technology, a tribute to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. (the date coincides with the holiday in his honor) and, of course, some sort of millennial tie-in. A more important nod to the calendar, though, may be the airdate--a full eight days after the People’s Choice Awards this time.

‘War Zone’ Brings Incest to the Forefront

Incest is never an easy topic to discuss, let alone dramatize. But that’s what actor Tim Roth set out to do in his directorial debut, “The War Zone,” which opens Friday. And audience reaction at pre-release screenings indicates that he has--for better or worse--tapped deeply into some of the charged emotions surrounding the topic. Consider: At the Sundance Film Festival in January, a shaken woman stood up after a screening and thanked Roth for giving her the courage to confront her own abuse. At the Toronto Film Festival in September, a man ran out of the darkened theater screaming and crying. At the Fort Lauderdale Film Festival last month, a man stood up, weeping, after seeing the movie and thanked Roth for making him feel less alone. Then, just a few weeks ago, an irate man ran out of a private screening in Los Angeles. “What is Hollywood coming to?” he yelled. “Do we really need to see this?” The film, which has already won several festival awards, depicts an incestuous relationship between a father (Ray Winstone) and daughter (Lara Belmont) and the damage it wreaks upon a family. Roth, who describes himself as a fellow “survivor” of abuse, screened the film at this year’s Midwest Conference on Sexual Abuse and Incest and has supported his independent distributor’s idea to create a study guide to help parents and educators better discuss the topic with kids. Roth, who is best known for his roles in such films as “Pulp Fiction” and “Rob Roy,” said he never intended to make a therapeutic aid. “I wanted to make cinema and I hope it’s cinematic,” he said. But if the film ends up helping people? “I can’t think of anything better.” Tori Amos’ organization, the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, is co-sponsoring the premiere Tuesday.

--Compiled by Times Staff Writers