Fox Hands Rivals a ‘Wedding’ Present

Fox’s fiasco with the special “Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire?” is turninginto a windfall for rival networks’ news organizations, which have scrambled to follow the story as the February sweeps speed toward next week’s finish line.

“Dateline NBC” received an apparent ratings boost Tuesday by virtue of its interview with the program’s would-be groom, Rick Rockwell, while ABC’s “Good Morning America” devoted an extensive segment Wednesday to its exclusive chat with the chosen bride, Darva Conger, who will also appear on tonight’s “20/20.”

Tune-in for “Dateline” surged by nearly 2 million viewers during the half-hour when the Rockwell interview was broadcast. He will also appear on today’s “Good Morning America”--after telling NBC, according to sources, that he hoped the “Dateline” appearance would be his last in relation to the story.

Even more interest was anticipated for Conger, the nurse who had yet to speak out about her instant Feb. 15 marriage to Rockwell on live TV before it was revealed the groom once faced allegations of abusing an ex-girlfriend.

Fox issued a statement Tuesday largely blaming the special’s producer, Next Entertainment, for an inadequate background check of Rockwell. The network has said it won’t air any additional specials of this kind and will conduct its own investigation to see if any additional action needs to be taken.

Still, one veteran TV executive said that Fox--as the final arbiter of what gets on the air--should have taken responsibility: “What’s worse than what happened is all this finger-pointing.”

Fox wouldn’t comment on whether any disciplinary action would be taken internally. The project was conceived by Mike Darnell, Fox’s executive in charge of specials, who has shepherded along numerous high-rated concepts but also some embarrassing snafus--including the aborted idea of crashing an airplane in the Mojave Desert.

Darnell reportedly shopped “Multi-Millionaire” to several producers who passed on the opportunity before settling on Mike Fleiss, a relatively inexperienced producer who previously worked for the producer of Fox’s “When Good Pets Go Bad” and “Breaking the Magician’s Code” specials.

Erik Nelson, who has produced such hidden-camera specials as “Busted on the Job” for Fox, cited a distinction between such real-video shows and luring ordinary people into dicey situations.

“I draw the line at creating aberrant behavior,” he said, calling the show the equivalent of a “cultural root canal” for the millions who watched it.

Both Rockwell and Conger have now indicated the instant marriage will be annulled. In her interview with ABC’s Diane Sawyer, Conger insisted she was naive about the process and “didn’t know how to escape” after Rockwell chose her from among the 50 contestants at the end of the special, which drew nearly 23 million viewers during its final half-hour.

“I committed an error in judgment. I didn’t look at the ramifications,” she said, adding later, “I just want to go back to my real life.”

Conger’s prize package, which Fox said amounted to around $100,000, included an Isuzu Trooper, a wedding ring, a pair of diamond earrings, a $2,500 jewelry spending spree and miscellaneous other gifts. Fox said the car and the ring “are on their way.”

Sawyer made a point of mentioning Conger was not paid for the ABC interviews.

Times staff writer Greg Braxton contributed to this story.