Who wants to cancel a Millionaire? That's the question at ABC, the network that burned out Who Wants to be a Millionaire from overexposure.

        ABC programmers say “it's possible” that Millionaire, TV's top-rated series in 1999-2000, won't be in the fall 2002 schedule. Ratings have fallen 50 percent this year.

        “There are no guarantees,” says Lloyd Braun, ABC Entertainment co-chairman.

        The rapid demise of Millionaire has prompted a debate on the ratings drop for most prime-time game shows and unscripted so-called “reality” shows this fall. Viewers also have shunned The Mole 2 (to be relaunched in spring), Elimidate Deluxe (canceled), Temptation Island 2 and Love Cruise. Survivor: Africa is down from last season, though still No. 7 this season.

        Mr. Braun cites the chilling effect of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

        “Those types of shows seemed to work best when the reality of your own life does not seem so daunting,” he says.

        “When you see these horrifying pictures on the news, you're not as willing to get invested in those petty, interpersonal relationships that many of these shows were built on. They just don't seem to be as much fun.”

        NBC Entertainment President Jeff Zucker doesn't agree. He blames TV's overdose on reality.

        “It has less to do with Sept. 11, than the fact there was a glut of them on the fall schedule,” he says.

        That's why he withheld Fear Factor from fall. Buoyed by strong ratings for a Nov. 26 celebrity Fear Factor (No. 15 that week), the show returns at 8 p.m. Monday, Jan. 7. NBC will cut Weakest Link from two weekly broadcasts to one, at 8 p.m. Sundays.

        “Reality is not dead. The good shows will endure, whether scripted or unscripted,” Mr. Zucker says.

        The Millionaire collapse has hastened a change in direction at ABC. The network will “go back to what made ABC great,” family comedies like Home Improvement, Roseanne, Happy Days and Damon Wayons' My Wife and Kids and dramas like The Practice, Mr. Braun says.

        “We had hoped to have two or three years to rebuild under the glow of Millionaire, but we only got one,” he says.

        Instead of so-called reality shows, ABC will again invest in more of Dick Clark's Classic TV Bloopers (9 p.m. Dec. 21) and America's Funniest Home Videos, Mr. Braunsays. ABC's new low-cost “alternative” shows will be similar in tone to That's Incredible (1980-89), without the “titillation” of Fear Factor, he says.

        And Millionaire won't vanish completely. Disney will produce a syndicated half-hour version for next fall. If ABC pulls the prime-time show, Regis Philbin would be free to host the syndicated show.

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