But "Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire?" missed that mark completely. The show combines one of our worst characteristics--our ever-lasting pursuit of monetary success--with one of our most respectable social institutions--marriage. The "Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire?" web-site beckons to only two types of people. The right side of the screen summons anyone who wants to marry a multi-millionaire and the left side of the screen gestures to anyone who already is a multi-millionaire. Anyone who doesn't have any dollar bills to throw around or possesses enough ethics to prevent themselves from picking the Franklins off the ground need not apply.

The marriage, of course, is supposedly all for show and it can be annulled as soon as the bride and groom place their John Hancocks on the dotted line. (Why else would Fox broadcast the show from Last Vegas, Nevada?) Regardless whether the bride and groom fulfill their vows "to love each other forever," both have signed a standard prenuptial agreement and the bride will walk away with nothing less than a two-week vacation (the honeymoon), an Isuzu Trooper and a $35,000 diamond ring.

According to television ratings, "Who Wants to Sell Their Soul?" gained audience momentum as the night wore on. Apparently the show was especially popular with teenage girls and young women viewers. I could only hope that these women shared my motivations for watching the show; that their confusion and disgust that someone would marry a person they knew nothing about except the size of his stock portfolio prevented them from tearing their eyes away from the screen.

More disappointing than the high ratings was the fact that the Fox web site www.whowantstomarry.com crashed on Wednesday afternoon because of the number of requests from women to be on the next edition of "Multimillionaire."

But perhaps recent developments will halt this fever for amoral marriages. According to the New York Times, last week's groom, Rick Rockwell, was the subject of a 1991 temporary restraining order after a woman filed a petition saying Mr. Rockwell had threatened her life after she broke off her engagement to him.

Ironic, isn't it? The same man who received an avalanche of requests to say "I do" allegedly threatened another woman for her unwillingness to say the exact same words.

Last week, Fox executives assured the New York Times that they had done a thorough background check on Rick Rockwell to make sure that he was in fact worth the millions of dollars that he claimed he was worth. Even Fox realized the superficiality of their background search in light of this new discovery, and have cancelled the next showing of "Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire?"

Let's hope Fox divorces itself from the show for good.