KEY POINTS:
They say you have to cross the Ditch to get rich these days and quiz show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (Tuesday nights, TV One, 8.30pm) proves the point.
It might be our very own version of the world's most popular telly game show but it's filmed in Melbourne, presumably to save building our own set. After all, it wouldn't do not to have enough dosh left over to be able to offer the signature jackpot. Who Wants to Win A Hundred Bucks? doesn't have quite the same enchanting ring to it.
However, you can't help suspecting the country's Brain Drain must be truly serious if we have to even film our quiz shows overseas.
Still, our very own WWTBAM host Mike Hosking was doing his best to convince us that despite its transtasman setting, this was going to be a true-blue Kiwi outing.
As contestant number one resorted to a lifeline in question two, he remarked: "Didn't think we'd use this this early, eh?", with ironic emphasis on that last, cultural identifier. The late Sir Robert Muldoon once famously suggested that Kiwis going to Oz raised the IQ in both countries.
Unfortunately, the first contestant, a nervous school teacher, failed to prove this thesis. As a debut, hers was less than sparkling, foundering on the easy questions and coming to grief by never having heard of the term "wowser".
As host, Hosking adopts a solicitous bedside manner. "Happy? Comfortable?" he asked at frequent intervals. "Confident?" Or "Very confident!" he says approvingly as contestants decided on their answers. There's not a lot of variation in the act. It's safe to say he's confident about asking people if they're confident.
His other attempts at chit-chat were less successful. "What's the difference between an air hostess and a ground hostess?" he asked the third contestant, about her former job.
At times his ad libs veered into the spacey. On the subject of the Phoenix Mars explorer - the answer to a much-debated quiz question - he waxed lyrical: "It took a long time to get there, long time coming down - just brilliant!"
Perhaps the admiration for the Phoenix's confidence in making us wait was understandable. Another duty of the host is to draw as much suspense as possible out of decision time. This proved difficult.
"This is my chequebook, my pen - it's a good pen," he noted, trying to delay the inevitable handing over of the dosh. As if we were in danger of doubting the quality of his writing tools.
The million-dollar question is whether Kiwi contestants will play it too cautious with their money for a show that requires bold punts to be fun. Hesitant, $8000-man Tim was sent home with plenty of regrets for calling time so soon.
In a strange synergy with the news, the show debuted on the same night Owen Glenn presented his evidence to the parliamentary privileges committee, and, unhappily for Winston Peters and the Labour Party, showed all the wannabes how its done. Real-life millionaires are very good at confidently answering questions.
