Quiz Shows Here, Quiz Shows There . . .

If imitation is really the sincerest form of television, as comic Fred Allen once said, then prime time will be brimming with sincerity this week. “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire”--the surprise hit that lead ABC to victory during the November sweeps--returns Sunday after a six-week hiatus, but this time, it’s not alone. Each of the major networks will have its own variation on display, beginning with Fox’s big-money game “Greed,” which will air starting this week at 9 p.m. Fridays. CBS weighs in the next night by introducing “Winning Lines”--a show whose auspices include the British producer responsible for “Millionaire,” hosted by Dick Clark--while NBC chimes in Sunday with Maury Povich as host of “Twenty One,” reviving the disgraced 1950s program that inspired the movie “Quiz Show.” The other networks have freely admitted that they have two motivations in adding these quiz entries: to attract big ratings if the trend is here to stay, and to hasten “Millionaire’s” demise if it isn’t. Given that these shows are less expensive to produce than sitcoms and dramas, they won’t need stellar ratings to survive, but other than perhaps ABC, no one appears to see them as a “final answer” to their scheduling needs.

Film Critics to Bestow Awards

When it comes to movies, everyone’s a critic. So, when the National Society of Film Critics votes on the best film of 1999 on Saturday at New York’s Algonquin Hotel, don’t be surprised if the winner isn’t greeted with universal approval. Last year, the Critics Society bestowed three major awards to the George Clooney-Jennifer Lopez crime thriller, “Out of Sight,” beating out Steven Spielberg’s “Saving Private Ryan,” a film that dominated the awards race up to that time and had received five Golden Globe nominations and best picture awards from both the L.A. and New York critics. The group also singled out Nick Nolte in “Affliction” and former Brat Packer Ally Sheedy in “High Art” as best actor and actress. This year’s race appears to be wide open. The Los Angeles Film Critics Assn. named “The Insider” as its best film of 1999, while the New York Film Critics Circle ignored the film in all major categories, choosing “Topsy-Turvy” as the year’s best movie. Meanwhile, the National Board of Review picked “American Beauty” as best film. Peter Rainer, film critic of New York magazine and chairman of the 53-member National Society of Film Critics, recalled that a reporter called him after last year’s vote asking whether the group was being “perverse” for choosing “Out of Sight.” “I’m not saying ‘Out of Sight’ was the best movie without question that year,” Rainer said recently, “but it’s fine for the critics to do that. Whenever a movie comes from out of left field, or is one that doesn’t come with all the buzz, everyone assumes that critics are being perverse. If you think that way, though, you’re thinking the way the studio marketeers want you to think. Critics aren’t there to endorse the ‘obvious’ choices.” Sometimes the Critics Society choices are so unusual that the public hasn’t heard of the winning film or the actors. In 1991 Alison Steadman was chosen as best actress for “Life Is Sweet,” but that night, a local TV newscast flashed a photo of actress Annette Bening from “Bugsy” on the screen, saying Bening was not chosen. Added Rainer: “I think the group’s finest hour was when it voted for ‘Babe’ as best picture of the year.”

Twain’s Now ‘Over’ the 12 Million Mark

Shania Twain is still the one when it comes to Top 10 success. The holiday season sales surge pushed the singer’s 1997 album “Come On Over” back into the nation’s Top 10 throughout December, and if that momentum holds this week the disc will have made it into that elite tally, astoundingly, in four different calendar years. “For an album to be anywhere on the chart after four years is remarkable, so to be in Top 10 is really, really impressive,” says Geoff Mayfield, charts director of Billboard. The album also appears poised to make some impressive music history. “Come On Over,” featuring hits such as “You’re Still the One” and “That Don’t Impress Me Much,” has passed the 12 million mark in copies sold in the U.S., and its ongoing robust performance at the cash register suggests it will soon eclipse Alanis Morissette’s “Jagged Little Pill” (13.5 million in U.S. sales) as the bestselling album ever by a female artist.

--Compiled by Times staff writers