CAPTAIN KIRK TO SHOW MONEY

TV legend William Shatner (Star Trek, TJ Hooker, Boston Legal) will host a new game show on ABC this season. A joint statement from the Alphabet network and Endemol USA (American division of a leading international producer of reality and non-scripted programming) announced plans to air a new game show series entitled "Show Me The Money".

The players in the programme will answer trivia questions, taking chances to accumulate prize money. A never-before-seen mechanism will then either cut the contestants' winnings to nothing or catapult them into the millions.

Endemol USA has already produced a number of hit shows on American television including ABC's "Extreme Makover: Home Edition", CBS's "Big Brother" and NBC's "Deal Or No Deal".

The company has allegedly insisted on hiring Emmy-winning actor as they recognized him for his "showmanship, witty presence and instant recognition across all audiences". Endemol is launching a new game show this month already - the Bob Saget-hosted "1 vs. 100" premieres Friday, October 13 on NBC.

The Disney-owned ABC TV network had been in a ratings slump until 2004 when new scripted series "Desperate Housewives" and "Lost" reversed their fortunes. Since then the network had successfully launched a number of hit shows including "Grey's Anatomy" (currently #1 show on American television), "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" and "Ugly Betty". The network's sitcom development is, however, still lacking.