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Regis Philbin hosts 'Million Dollar Password'

BY VERNE GAY | verne.gay@newsday.com

June 1, 2008

There's a blast from the past on CBS Sunday night, and to prepare ourselves for the grand event, let's strap ourselves into a time machine and zip all the way back to 1962 or so:

It's prime time, and a show called "Password" is airing on CBS. "Password" is a very popular show on a very popular television network, and involves a celebrity guest, such as Lucille Ball, giving clues about a particular word to a "civilian," or nonceleb, contestant. The idea is to guess the word, and then win the cash prize. Very simple. This takes place under the watchful eye of host Allen Ludden, whose wonderfully angular head is accessorized - or accented - by a pair of wonderfully square glasses.

On this edition, the celebrity is Jack Paar. Paar is a man who loves words, and to prove it, piles up mountains of them every evening on "The Tonight Show." He's also an impatient man, and his "Password" partner is having trouble guessing the word. Finally, Paar has had it:

"LUGGAGE!" he yells at the poor man. "THE WORD IS LUGGAGE."

And so ends a classic clip in TV history. (Ludden's exact reaction, sadly, has not been preserved for posterity.) Now, back to the present.

Regis Philbin, another TV classic who will host this revival of "Password" - renamed "Million Dollar Password" (8 p.m., CBS/2) for our million-dollar-obsessed times - recalled this moment during a conference call with writers a week ago.

"Ludden said, 'Jack, PLEASE. You've got to give them the word that will make them THINK of luggage.'"

Just two words, Betty White

As Philbin was talking about this - with a clarity and joy that only Reege could muster - you instantly realized why he's the perfect person to host this revival. There are few people working in TV today who even know who Allen Ludden was; Philbin not only appeared on another revival of "Password" (in '82) but knows Betty White (who was married to Ludden, who died in '81). This walking encyclopedia of pop-culture trivia also probably knows that White didn't become really famous until the mid-'70s and "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," but her run on "Password" got her a new husband and a growing fan base.

Nearly half a century has passed. White will appear on the new version, too.

Everything (and sometimes, it seems, everyone) gets recycled in television, and this recycling often seems to happen during the summer. What, after all, is summer-born " American Idol" but a revival of one of the oldest forms of television, the talent show (such as "Ted Mack's Original Amateur Hour," which kicked around the various networks from the dawn of television time until it finally expired in 1970). "Password" itself has undergone at least three revivals.

Who wants to be a host?

Beyond mere reasons of nostalgia, however, tonight's noteworthy because Philbin, 76, hasn't hosted a prime-time game since the one that actually changed prime time, "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," which bowed late summer in 1999, quickly became TV's most popular program and then most popular franchise. The ABC schedule was promptly consumed by the thing, then audiences got sick of it, and the network's prime time collapsed in a heap of dust and faulty assumptions. "Millionaire" was revived for a few prime-time specials here and there, and is still in syndication, but otherwise is now patiently awaiting its return to prime time, probably in the year 2055.

Philbin - who, let's just admit right now, was the reason for "Millionaire's" enormous success - ventured briefly back to the nighttime hours in 2006 with "America's Got Talent," but that gig was more of a tryout than a triumphant return.

"I bowed out because of the travel," he said, explaining that he'd leave for the West Coast right after "Live!," then "rehearse all day Saturday and [tape] Saturday night. Sometimes I'd take the red-eye back to New York to spend a little time [Sunday] at home. It got to be too much, and of course six months after that I had the bypass. I feel a lot better now, but when I was doing it I could feel the pressure."

If "Password" becomes a hit, Philbin won't have the same problem; the show is taped in Astoria.

So what can we expect - besides Philbin's wonderfully mind-bending monochromatic shirts and suits?

"When the show debuted in the '60s, it was a small, intimate parlor game," says executive producer Vincent Rubino, who also worked with Philbin on "Millionaire." "That was the challenge for us - how to make this worthy of a prime-time spectacle."

Part of the responsibility will lie with Philbin, "who changes it exponentially by adding humor and energy."

Then there are the celeb contestants. Besides White, they include Rosie O'Donnell (Philbin says she's good at this), Rachael Ray ("a little shy, believe it or not"), Steven Weber ("very funny") and Neil Patrick Harris ("skillful").

So, Reege. Why are you back after all these years?

"Well, prime time is the biggest arena we have in the business, and I really enjoyed my four or five years on the ABC network, and the CBS network is number one right now and so ... here I am."

Yes, here you are, Reege, and welcome back. Just be careful with that word "luggage."