TV show to revel in family misfortune

Perhaps the entire legal department of the American TV network ABC took holidays at the same time this year.

It is difficult to see how else it could have approved a new reality-based game show which looks like the biggest recipe for expensive lawsuits and grievous bodily harm in the history of television: a competition in which the relatives of a wealthy benefactor are pitted against each other to win the fortune once he or she dies.

Rich people interested in destroying their families are being invited to apply to The Will, produced by Mike Fleiss, the man responsible for the US version of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

"Family members who have a lifetime worth of baggage will be voting each other out," a gleeful Mr Fleiss told Variety.

"It's much more interesting than a bunch of strangers doing it to each other."

The show, which may be broadcast next year, will consist of challenges partly devised by the benefactor, and the outcome will be based on the results.

Some contests will be for small parts of the legacy, such as a car or a house. And since the awkward necessity of having to wait for the benefactor to die runs against the instant-gratification grain of such shows, the network hinted that it might make some other smaller prizes available immediately.

"I'll probably talk to 300 or 400 lawyers before this is over," Mr Fleiss acknowledged. One issue is likely to be the legal position of relatives with a theoretical claim to the money who do not take part in the programme.