OK, so the fact that the new prime-time game show "Greed" is a rip-off of ABC's "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" is not particularly surprising. But just how liberally Fox and Dick Clark Productions stole from the ABC hit is a bit of a shocker.
The rules are similar. The set is very similar. Even the use of lighting is similar.Apparently, when you're experiencing the kind of disastrous ratings that Fox has seen this season, you don't worry much about looking like thieves as long as you think you can get somebody to tune in.
Not that we're surprised by this kind of behavior from Fox. A quick look around the network's schedule reveals that its programmers have no shame.
And maybe we shouldn't be surprised by this kind of behavior from Clark, either. People with long memories may recall that he was caught up in the music business payola scandals early in his career.
Fox rushed "Greed" on the air for a couple of reasons. First, it wanted to beat the return of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" which it managed to do by three days. And, second, its Thursday-night schedule has been a bomb of atomic proportions and the network desperately needed help.
What it came up with is a show that looks highly familiar -- a series of multiple-choice questions that lead to higher and higher dollar totals. (Fox's idea of better is bigger, which explains the possibility of a $2 million-plus payout as opposed to $1 million on the ABC show.)
Oh, there are some permutations, of course. The contestants act as a team instead of simply as individuals. That is, until one of them gets a chance to eliminate another.
(A ploy that instantly made me dislike the greedy so-and-so's.)
If nothing else, "Greed" host Chuck Woolery may make viewers appreciate "Millionaire" host Regis Philbin. Compared to the oily Woolery, Philbin is a soothing presence.
And it's hard to be as annoyed with Philbin asking "Is that your final answer?" anymore. Not with Woolery asking "You wanna keep the cash or do you feel the need for greed?" -- which is already the verbal equivalent of nails on a chalkboard.
And Fox's desperation didn't make "Greed" a better show. An hour would have been plenty; two hours is almost interminable.
Of course, if you can't come up with one original idea how are you going to come up with two original ideas?
Which is not to say that "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" is exactly an original idea. It owes more than a bit to any number of game shows that preceded it, from "The $64,000 Question" to "21" to "Jeopardy!"
But "Millionaire" took at least a bit of a fresh take on an old formula. "Greed" did almost nothing but steal from a competitor.
Whether there's room on prime-time network TV for a whole slew of quiz shows remains to be seen. "Greed" didn't do especially well, although it did improve Fox's numbers among key demographics considerably -- up 60 percent among viewers 18-49. (Of course, you have to take into consideration that's 60 percent better than the awful numbers the network was getting.) It finished third in its time slot, behind NBC and ABC.
And there was mixed news on "Millionaire's" return. Sunday's hourlong episode finished second (to NBC's "Leprechauns") but it still managed to draw its biggest audience ever.