ABC Tossing Gimmicks Into ‘Millionaire’ Mix

After mostly striking out with new fall series, ABC is preparing to launch a second wave of programs in March, at the same time exploring more stunts and special episodes hoping to shave years off the median viewing age of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.”

ABC officials, who addressed TV critics and reporters in Pasadena Friday, have consistently sought to downplay declining ratings for “Millionaire,” which remains popular but has seen its overall audience diminish about 30% compared to last season’s average. More significantly, the quiz show has lost younger viewers sought by advertisers at a more precipitous rate, causing ABC to drop behind NBC for the current season among adults age 18 to 49.

The network’s latest wrinkle in taking wrinkles off “Millionaire” will be a rock-and-roll version in February, clearly designed to attract young viewers by placing members of groups such as the Dixie Chicks, Backstreet Boys and Metallica in the program’s “hot seat.”

In another bit of February sweeps gimmickry, ABC will try a “tax-free’ edition of “Millionaire” sponsored by accounting firm H&R; Block.

“We recognize the value of stunting,” said ABC Entertainment Television Group Co-Chairman Stu Bloomberg.

Prior to the season, ABC executives said adding a fourth edition of the Regis Philbin quiz show would provide them an advantage over competitors, enabling the network to introduce just four new series and target promotion on those shows; still, two of those offerings--”Madigan Men” and “The Trouble With Normal”--have already been canceled, while “The Geena Davis Show” and “Gideon’s Crossing” have struggled in the ratings.

Both surviving programs, in fact, will go off the air in March, as ABC announced plans to temporarily replace Davis’ show Tuesdays after “Dharma & Greg” with a new sitcom starring Joan Cusack, while “The Beast”--a drama featuring Frank Langella as the head of a fictional TV news network--will supplant “Gideon’s Crossing” on Mondays. ABC will try to boost “Gideon’s” before that by running a crossover story line with “The Practice.”

In other changes, “My Wife and Kids”--featuring former “In Living Color” star Damon Wayans--joins ABC’s Tuesday roster on March 13 after “The Mole” finishes its run, and another half-hour starring comic Denis Leary as an acerbic cop, “The Job,” will get a tryout following “The Drew Carey Show” beginning March 14, bumping “Spin City.”

ABC also confirmed a three-year contract extension on “The Practice,” which has blossomed into a clear-cut hit since “Millionaire” became its lead-in on Sunday nights. Terms weren’t disclosed, but sources say ABC will pay 20th Century Fox Television, which produces the Emmy-winning legal drama, in excess of $5 million per episode--well short of “ER” territory but far more than the current fee.

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ABC officials also noted that having “Millionaire,” the improv show “Whose Line Is It Anyway?,” “20/20” and movies in its lineup will help the network endure possible strikes this year by writers and actors better than other broadcasters.

“I think we’re in a very good position to weather [a strike] if unfortunately it happens,” said ABC TV Co-Chairman Lloyd Braun. In what could be another strike hedge, ABC recently reacquired broadcast rights to the first 13 James Bond films from MGM, with plans to spice up the package by featuring previously unseen footage.