NBC readies ‘genre-redefining’ live quiz series

US network NBC has commissioned a huge live interactive quiz show that will broadcast from a giant hourglass in the middle of Manhattan, with a potential US$10 million cash prize on offer.

The Million Second Quiz comes from Lambert (pictured), with his Studio Lambert, All3Media America (fka Studio Lambert USA) and Universal Television and will get a two-week run in primetime on NBC and continuously across NBCUniversal’s digital platforms at an unspecified later date.

It’s being billed as a “state-of-the-art, electrifying new live competition where contestants test the limits of their knowledge, endurance and will to win as they battle each other in intense bouts of trivia for twelve consecutive days and nights” inside the hourglass.

Four reigning game champions will live in the hourglass, taking only strategic breaks to eat and sleep, while new contestants challenge them in trivia trials. The ultimate winner at the end of the series, which will total a million seconds, could win a prize of up to US$10 million.

The interactive element will allow viewers to play along at home. NBC affiliate channels will also be able to interact throughout the day and showcase their own local contestants.

“The Million Second Quiz is a genre-redefining spectacle,” said Paul Telegdy, president of alternative and late night programming, NBC Entertainment. “It is a game, a social experiment, and a live interactive event all wrapped into a uniquely sticky entertainment experience. What is exceptional about The Million Second Quiz is that it embraces technology’s ability to allow everyone in America to actively participate and compete in a way that has never been done.”

Lambert, All3Media’s US chief Eli Holzman and Fear Factor executive David Hurwitz will be executive producers.