Shatner's game show gets six more episodes

LOS ANGELES -- "Show Me the Money" hasn't exactly been money in the Nielsens, but ABC is showing it some love anyway.

The network has ordered six more episodes of the game show, which features William Shatner, a bunch of trivia questions and a bevy of scantily clad dancers who alternately increase or decrease a contestant's winnings. ABC announced earlier this week that the show will move from Wednesday to Tuesday nights starting Jan. 2.

The scheduling change means ABC will be asking "Money" to take a bullet by airing opposite "American Idol," which returns to FOX in mid-January. It will also mean a double dose of Shatner -- a Shaturation, if you will -- on Tuesday nights, with "Show Me the Money" and "Boston Legal" bookending the night (comedies "Big Day" and "Help Me Help You" are in between).

A preview of "Show Me the Money," drew some 12.4 million viewers when it followed "Dancing with the Stars" on Nov. 14, but it hasn't fared as well since moving to its regular time period the following week. In its regular timeslot, it's averaged 7.5 million viewers and a 2.1 rating in the key adults 18-49 demographic. Those are hardly stellar numbers, but in a somewhat soft time period it does rank second in total viewers.

The game, from "Deal or No Deal" producer Endemol USA, involves contestants answering a series of trivia questions, then picking from one of 13 "Million Dollar Dancers," who each hold scrolls with dollar amounts printed on them. When players get answers right, their winnings increase by the amount on the scroll; wrong answers subtract from their haul.