The most powerful words in advertising may be free and new, but the word Oprah can't be far behind. She can turn difficult literary novelists into the authors of bestsellers, can make someone as unappealing as Dr. Phil McGraw into a TV star, and may be in the process of getting someone elected president. King Midas was begging on street corners by comparison.

So when Oprah Winfrey has an idea for a new show, she has little trouble getting the attention of networks. Sunday marks the premiere of an eight-week series called Oprah's Big Give, a contest in which ten people are given money and the name and address of a person or family, and presented with the task of using the cash to improve the lives of their designated target. The idea is to use the seed money to find ways of raising even more. After each challenge, a panel of three will judge the contestants on how well they did in their giving, and how creative they were. Just to prove this is a reality show at heart and it's not all sweetness and light, the judges will also designate a worst-of-the-week, who will be eliminated from the chance to give the following week. At the end of the line, a $1 million prize awaits the winners, although that part was kept a secret from the givers while filming.

Oprah has her name on the program, but she's not a major on-air presence. Nate Berkus, the design expert who is part of her rotation of semi-regulars, will host the show. The judges seem like a truly random collection: Chris Rock's wife Malaak, Naked Chef Jamie Oliver, and Kansas City Chiefs tight end Tony Gonzalez. All have charitable deeds in their background, but since the same can be said for thousands of people who are just as famous, it's unclear why these three get the honor of judging. The show also promises occasional appearances from celebrities who get roped into the various money-raising endeavors.

Two familiar names from reality TV are among the producers on Big Give: Bertram Van Munster and Elise Doganieri of The Amazing Race, which has a hammerlock on the Emmy in the reality category. Their presence is a sign that Oprah had the ambition of bringing first-rate production values to what otherwise might seem like one step up from the Publisher's Clearing House giveaway commercials in the excitement department. Big Give even borrows an element from The Amazing Race, in that players are handed an envelope and cash at the start of a challenge.

Big Give has been in the works for over a year, but the writers' strike gave ABC the ideal opportunity to run it while Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sisters are filming a final few episodes. Viewers are already used to tuning into ABC on Sundays for a program that's quite similar, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, so the segue into Big Give should be smooth.

The eventual success of the program will depend on just how much sweetness people are in the mood for on Sunday nights, and whether some will regard Big Give as not so much heartwarming as another example of a billionaire reminding everyone how much money she likes to give away. Yes, the church of Oprah does have its detractors, and it remains to be seen if her unprecedented entry into presidential politics might chip away at her air of universality. But you would really have to be a high-stakes gambler to ever bet against Oprah succeeding.

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