Quiz Show

KABUL, Afghanistan - Cue music. (Man with accordion assaults the ears.) Lights! (They flicker a bit, but the studio brightens.) Cameras! (The picture seems slightly unfocused, but it will do.) And ... finally: Live, from Afghanistan! It's Saturday night! (So what if it's only live in a sort-of kind-of way.) More than 700 people applaud wildly. Those who can whistle do. For after more than six years in the dark, Afghanistan's longest-running, even if limping, variety and quiz show is back on the airwaves, drawing standing-room-only crowds to the theater where it is taped and attracting people to the country's few remaining televisions like moths to light bulbs.

Ever wonder what would happen if they crossed "Jeopardy!" host Alex Trebeck and "McLaughlin Group" leader John McLaughlin? Anne Robinson, host of British game show import "The Weakest Link," could be the answer. The quiz show, which makes its debut tonight at 8 on NBC (Channel 11), at first seems to bear a resemblance to "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" (also a British import), with its flashy set and questions worth more and more as each round progresses. But there are definitely some differences.

So many people know the voice. So few know the man. Carl Kasell is the man behind the voice millions listen to over their morning coffee or on their commute to work. He's a fixture at National Public Radio, the serious broadcast journalist who has done the hourly news updates for "Morning Edition" since the show went on air back in 1979. But for almost three years now, Kasell has had another gig at NPR, one where he gets to loosen up a little, have some fun, even let the actor in him come out to play.

IN THE END, it was a hippopotamus that trampled Jason Dettelbach's chances of becoming a millionaire last month. The 24-year-old College Park resident, appearing on the television quiz show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" failed to pick out the hippo in a multiple choice lineup as the animal that kills the most people in Africa. Still, Dettelbach walked off with $125,000 and another question: What do you do with a windfall? It's not an unusual situation. Bonuses, inheritances, lotteries and stock options can all of a sudden dump a lump sum in your lap. Local, financial experts say those with newfound wealth may splurge on a new car or vacation, but often end up with the same goal: To not lose what they've gained.

The November "sweeps" ratings period won't officially end until tonight, but the blockbuster performance of ABC's "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" is already altering the prime-time landscape and shaking up network strategy for the next important audience measurement in February and beyond.CBS yesterday announced it will launch a new quiz show, "Winning Lines," in early January, while NBC said it hopes to have its remake of "21" on the air by February."In the vein of networks being copycats, we're jumping on the quiz show bandwagon like all our other competitors," CBS chairman Leslie Moonves said yesterday during a teleconference.

Joe Russo, Hammond High's first and only head football coach, announced at a meeting of county football coaches that he has resigned as the Bears coach.Russo, 54, has a 22-year career record of 119 wins and 101 losses -- all at Hammond. The Bears posted a 1-9 record this season.The Bears never won a Howard county title and their best record was 8-2 in 1985.In 1990, his team had three running backs with 1,000-yard rushing seasons, including Kelly Woodward, John Bell and Mario Mason.Currently, two of his players are enjoying outstanding Division I college careers -- Tim Spruill at Virginia and Ron Gamble at Connecticut.

You have to see it to believe it, and even then you want to nudge the person next to you and ask: "Have we somehow entered a parallel universe here?"What you're watching is America's newest quiz show, ABC's "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" a campy half-hour unlike probably any other game show you've seen.For openers, there's omnipresent music that swells so B-movie ominously you half expect Bela Lugosi to lurch across the set.Then there's the audience, which encircles the host and contestants like an edgy fight crowd at a Vegas casino.

Andrew Maly has this gift.He can tell you that in 1846, the settlers in California staged the Bear Flag Revolt. He can name the capitals of Sri Lanka and Cyprus. He can tell you that Leon Spinks beat Muhammad Ali in 1978 to win the heavyweight title in one of the biggest upsets in boxing history.Perhaps even more impressive: He can listen to a three-second snippet of a cartoon voice and tell you, with absolute certainty, that it belongs to Woody Woodpecker."I'm blessed," says Maly, 34, an environmental engineer from Bel Air, "with the ability to retain useless knowledge.

HARPER'S CHOICE resident Rita Benton started the New Year by receiving the gift of life -- a new kidney donated by her teen-age son, Shannon."I feel like a brand new woman," said Rita from her bed at Johns Hopkins Hospital last week."

BEIJING -- China's craze for books on current affairs has filled bookstores with volumes on wars and famines, trade disputes and dictators. But the topic that is probably the most important to China this decade is ignored: Hong Kong's return next year to Chinese rule after 150 years under the Union Jack.It isn't as though Beijing were purposefully ignoring Hong Kong. Under government orders, China is being flooded with television specials, radio shows, photo exhibitions, new textbooks, even a game show, all designed to interest people in Hong Kong's return.