They're running what when?

I blogged long ago about ABC's adaptation of the long-running Russian quizzer What? Where? When? ABC taped six episodes of its version, renamed Million Dollar Mind Game.

The network apparently didn't think much of the show, and it never got on the air. Until now. For whatever reason ABC will burn off the six episodes on Sunday afternoons starting October 23 at 4:00PM Eastern. Yep, right in the middle of a football Sunday.

I assume the network expects nothing from the show and just didn't want to waste the investment. The Russian format is difficult by any standard, but particularly tough compared to most American quizzers. Reportedly, the degree of difficulty soured ABC on the six episodes.

The format is a fairly free-form quizzer where six contestants try to identify something based on devious and obscure clues. Have no idea what ABC's version will look like, but YouTube offers some samples of What? Where? When? in Russian. About all I can understand is the Thus Spoke Zarathustra theme from 2001.