Newsday (Nassau Edition) from Hempstead, New York • 120

Turn the page for today's highlights and pvimo-timo grid CVD1C THURSDAY JULY 22 2004 Washington Wivas lO jh A look at 2004 presidential candidates' wives including eresa Heinz left Elizabeth Ed- -right and Judy Steinberg Dean S' The local angle SCHUMER WEIGHS IN The senior senator from New York has stepped into the Nielsen Local People Meter fray Sen Charles Schumer on Monday sent a letter to Nielsen chief Susan Whiting asking why the company is ing" the new technology when it had already deployed less-error prone technology in Canada (If you are just tuning into this flap minority commu-- nities have complained that the new people methodology will undercount African-Amer- ican and Latino viewers) the lack of accredi-' tation by an industry standards organization I for LPM and the concerns voiced by minority com-" munities it is difficult to I understand why Nielsen would not move toward a new technology that by its nature seems to be i less prone to human the senator wrote Whiting The Nielsen spokesman could not be reached photo iv nc lEiiowrrz thews The WB network is branching out into reality with the contestants of an unscripted game show hosted by NY1 anchor Pat Kieman inset PAT KIERNAN OFF CAMERA VERNE GAY few generous spoonfuls of and DNA added to the soup Seven contestants around college age spend most of the week together in a New York apartment Fun games and booze? Not quite: They have to study hard and memorize trivia they will be quizzed on when the game is taped The quiz itself has many elements too many to lay out in this space but suffices to say alliances are forged and broken and the winner gets a check for $770001 After seven weeks of this there will be a championship round "The core says Davies 'is when it comes down to money who can you rally trust? When you're 18 or 20 years bid and often have to work with people vou don't like life is not only knowing the answer but social skills and popularity So if you mess something up you're not immediately out of the game" Besides taping in Manhattan 7" generously represents the metro area too In tonight's edition there are three NYC-based contestants Amadou Doumbia Christine Mendez and Barry Postrygacz while next show has more including North Bellmore native Nick Giglia Will survive? Well Marc Berman programming editor for Meaiaweekxom posted this reasonable assessment in his newsletter from the ongoing Television Critics Association tour: in the most competitive hour ou televi-sion means Studio 7 is unlikely to put the network' on the unscripted map" our glass-half-full assessment: It's cheap to produce and the threshold for success has got to be negligible Besides if got Pad "This something that I went looking he says I take my journalism seriously If someone wants me to do a late-night talk show rd be happy to talk about that If someone wants to talk to me about the Today I'm happy to talk about that IQ Bob Barker retired Fd consider (Thafs a joke by the way) see myself a a he says The NY1 anchor tries an alternate reality as host of an unscripted show SPENCER'S NEW GIG Lara Spencer specialist" on Morning and longtime reporter for WABC 7 and before that Newsl2 has a new gig She was named New York anchor of the spin-off which premieres this September (For you junkies fear hot Lara will continue to poke at the dusty old furniture for the PBS stalwart) new game show consider this: about time Canadian-born Kieman who joined NY1 in 1997 has emeiged as the high- -est-profile anchor at the studiously calm intelligent and low-profile cable channel To call a gig the big would be uh-huh an overstatement More like hitting the slightly bigger time -Tune in tonight and you Df you live in New York City and have cable TV you pretty much know who Pat Kiernanis the wry morning anchor at NY1 who (here we betray our own provincial interests) also hosts a daily segment called the which effectively determines whether a reporter at one of die city's major papers will have a good day or a rotten one On the segment Pal lects the Big Important Stories and so this is a must-watch for the self-absorbed navel gazers of our tribe Kieman also co-anchors "The Money the afternoon show that looks at investment strategies (Not a must-watch for our tribe) Now for something entirely different Starting tonight at 9 Eeman becomes host of the first game show in WB history 7" and as such also becomes a guinea pig for the network's inaugural effort to attract an older viewer or as they say in the biz broaden its demographic This is a vital task for the WB because the network had an execrable 2003-04 season It needs to go broad and fast So Pat is suddenly one important guy within the vast Time Warner empire If all this seems like a lot to put on the shoulders of a New York 1 anchor and a modest albeit particularly clever one viewers can take he said in a recent phone interview were all fied the show is doing the right thing and something be happy to be involved with No one will have a problem watching this on Thursdays and then turning in to watch Friday Indeed the pedigree's a solid one "Studio was conceived by Michael Davies the veteran producer who also conceived a little show called Wants to Be a Millionaire" and ABC's fall reality show charter was to figure out a show that would go broad but also play young the audience after alL is called a a new breed of reality show that borrows elements from various genres this a miT of standard quiz format (as old as the hills) and newfangled unscripted show with a SPITZ WEDS NY1 reporter Rebecca Spitz was married Saturday to Stephen Fulling in Manhattan Pat swathed in the ows a sinister all-knowing presence who looks like one of the bad guys from and who asks contestants some hard questions and some-not-so-hard ones the new European Duh) all me my wife my agent and New York 1 asked The WB about the content and whether it would be smart enough and whether it would uphold my reputation as some nearly killed on a Harlem 1 street last September when she was hit in the head by I the side mirror of a van undergone intensive physical therapy since then No word per a channel spokesman about when retum to the I a VERNE GAY CLASSIFIED FOUR-PAGEI PULLOUT.