Game show veteran Wink Martindale is back, hosting “Debt” on the Lifetime cable network beginning next week. Contestants arrive with between $6,000 and $10,000 in debt—from credit cards, student loans and car loans—and try to head into the black by answering pop-culture questions. Instead of taking home TV’s or bedroom sets, players get a chance to win up to twice what they owe. “The reason contestants are in debt in the first place is that people have already gone out and bought these prizes,” says Martindale. What about the folks who pay their bills on time? “Buy the time-share you’ve always wanted and then come see us,” suggests senior producer Andrew Golder. “Or just enjoy the drama of watching others trying to escape the pit you were smart enough to avoid.”

U. S. News & World Report, June 3, 1996, p. 13.