Tv Game Shows, Come On Down!

Here's a clue: This TV programming format is being dusted off, spruced up, and heralded as a fix for declining network fortunes and even the first real bridge to the interactive world. If you guessed "What is the game show?" you would be correct.

And if you are a honcho at Walt Disney Co.'s ABC network, you are the first big winner in the game show comeback sweepstakes. In the mid-summer TV doldrums, ABC aired a 15-day run of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, a show on which daytime chatmeister Regis Philbin challenged regular folks to skill-testing questions. The result: Millionaire was a giant hit, and by the end of its run had been seen by 115 million people--nearly half the U.S. population. "We had confidence in this show," says Stu Bloomberg, co-chairman of ABC Television Entertainment Group. "But I have to admit we were over the moon with its results."