“The Wall” (NBC)
This high-stakes quiz show has been a slam dunk for aspiring millionaires — and NBA legend LeBron James, who serves as executive producer, certainly knows a thing or two about making a mint. In the show, hosted by Chris Hardwick, teams of two answer questions, triggering balls to drop down a board reminiscent of the one used for decades in “The Price Is Right” Plinko game. Correct answers earn green balls, which travel down “The Wall” toward numbered slots at the bottom and add to contestants’ winnings, while incorrect answers earn red balls that make the same drop downward to subtract from a team’s total.
Teams can earn more than $12 million on a single night of the show, or lose as much as $3 million with a single wrong answer, if a red ball finds its fateful mark. As the stakes rise, one team member must answer alone while the other waits behind “The Wall,” leaving the pair’s financial future to fate and a teammate’s trivia prowess. So far, a few teams have walked away with more than $1 million, with James personally delivering the cash to winners from the show’s inaugural episode. “The Wall” is also poised to move overseas, with a French broadcasting network commissioning 40 episodes.