The Lost Tombs

Q: With Opening the Lost Tombs: Live From Egypt, Fox promised to make history by opening an ancient tomb on live TV. But given Geraldo Rivera's Al Capone vault bust, didn't the producers peek just a little?

A: Just a little. On the special, Fox opened three tombs. Before the telecast, says Fox's exec VP of specials, Mike Darnell, "we used [tiny cameras on the ends of cable] and sonograms to check out the first two." That way, the network knew ahead of time that at the very least, they'd find a skeleton. But Darnell swears no one sneak-previewed the last crypt. So finding an unfinished sarcophagus and a skull was completely unscripted. Of course, if the dig had yielded just hot air, the special still had a chance at success: People forget, says Darnell, "even though Geraldo didn't find anything, the numbers [for his show] were huge." So is this what you'd call a pyramid scheme?

— Written and reported by Joe Dziemianowicz, Daniel Fierman, Tricia Laine, and Shawna Malcom

Originally posted Mar 12, 1999 Published in issue #476 Mar 12, 1999 Order article reprints
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