NBC TO OFFER GAME SHOW WITH $10M TOP PRIZE

In what sounded to many TV columnists like a desperate stunt that only a long-struggling network would make, NBC announced on Wednesday that it plans to launch a 12-day live competition in the fall (date undecided) called The Million Second Quiz. Competitors will test their trivia expertness while living in a gigantic hourglass somewhere in New York City for the entire 12 days (about one million seconds). At the same time viewers will be able to play along, 24 hours a day, with the opportunity to be flown to New York to replace the contestants in the hourglass. NBC is calling it the first “fully convergent television experience.” The network said that as the 12 days draw to a close, the finalists will battle it out and that the winner could claim a cash prize of $10 million. (Details were sketchy.) The show is being developed by Stephen Lambert, whose previous credits include Wife Swap, Undercover Boss and Secret Millionaire.