Millionaire is the boy scouts, we're the Green Berets

Anne Robinson

NBC's airwaves have been thick with incessant promotional messages that constantly quote her famous line.

Her face, even if it has been somewhat airbrushed in publicity photos, is also fast becoming recognizable.

Gigantic Anne Robinson billboards preside over Times Square in New York, her animated image also appears intermittently on a massive video screen.

Every effort

There are already reports of Weakest Link postcards, ashtrays and sweet wrappers.

NBC is also making every effort to make sure The Weakest Link reaches the maximum number of viewers.

In its first week on the air the show will be broadcast on three consecutive nights.

The programmes have been strategically scheduled to inherit large audiences from popular NBC shows like Friends.

The idea is to hammer home Robinson as a must-see phenomenon, and to determine in a matter of days whether Britain's tart-tongued quiz show host is a US ratings success.

Superficial hosts

In her American promotional interviews Robinson has tried to capitalize on the fact that her demeanour is quite different from the all-smiling, gentle and frequently superficial American game show hosts.

She just seems mean, it just seems cruel

Lisa Bernhard, TV Guide

She thinks Americans have "had enough of crazy game show hosts who pretend to be their friends".

She has taken aim at America's top quiz show (another British import) Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? by declaring "Millionaire is the Boy Scouts, we're the Green Berets!"

Regis Philbin, the genial host of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire does not know quite what to make of Robinson.

'Singling out'

He says, "I think she's singling me out. I really don't care what she thinks.

America is really going to take a hoot and a liking to her

Jeff Zucker, NBC

"I'm doing the show the way I think it should be done and I want those contestants on my show to relax and give the best."

When it comes to advice for Robinson he said: "Don't take Americans for granted, that's it!"

TV critics seem divided on how she will fare, particularly in middle America, and among viewers accustomed to seeing men presiding over game shows.

Lisa Bernhard , deputy editor of TV Guide, says "my gut instinct is that it is not going to play well here, she just seems mean, it just seems cruel".

Full backing

But one American who has given Robinson his full backing is NBC's new entertainment chief Jeff Zucker.

Regis Philbin: "Don't take Americans for granted"

He desperately needs her show to succeed because his network has so far missed the reality TV bandwagon.

Zucker said: "This show is all about Anne, she's quite a character and I think America is really going to take a hoot and a liking to her when they see her."

As the first British host of a prime time US quiz show Anne Robinson has already made far greater headway than most TV personalities who have come to America.

Over the years everyone from Angela Rippon to Ainsley Harriott has attempted to crack the US market but none ever received the hype or the opportunities given to Robinson.

If The Weakest Link does take off in the US, it will be quite a feat.

Robinson will have not only beaten the Americans at their own game, but she will rapidly emerge as one of Britain's most visible cultural exports to America.