The new Fox reality show "Secret Millionaire" (8 tonight, WPGH) features a group of millionaires who go undercover, posing as average people, to find others worthy of financial help.

Finding people who need money is a no-brainer. The task was to find millionaires who were willing to give away their own money.

Executive producer Bruce Toms ("The Real World") explains that the search required doing a little homework.

"This was different than casting a normal reality show," Toms said. "We couldn't put anything out on any kind of Web site or anything. So it was very targeted. We did a lot of research through Lexis-Nexis and reading articles and lists. And then it was contacting and getting through the different levels of gatekeepers. Millionaires tend to have a lot of people that keep you away from their fortunes."

Once contact was made, the millionaires were shown the British series that inspired this American version. That was enough to get a handful of rich folks to agree to being part of the program.

Those who said yes include:

• Gregory and Cole Ruzicka (Gregory is the founding and managing partner of Ruzicka & Wallace, an Irvine, Calif., law firm);

• Gregory R. Haerr, who made his money with interests in computer software;

• Myles and Cynthia Kovacs, co-founders of DUB Magazine;

• Gurbaksh Chahal, a technology entrepreneur;

• Molly Shattuck, a Baltimore civic leader;

• Todd and Gwen Graves, founder of the Raising Cane's restaurant chain.

The Graves, of Baton Rouge, La., went to South Plaquemines, La., an area hit hard by Hurricane Katrina.

Myles and Cynthia Kovacs volunteered to go to a low-income area less than 30 minutes from their Los Angeles home.

"It was an eye-opener. Being used to living a certain lifestyle and then having to transition, it's really tough. You're afraid. The area that we were in was very gang-infested. It was a really, really tough journey for us to go through," said Myles Kovac. "But this was about changing people's lives." (Rick Bentley, McClatchy Newspapers)

Hollywood's studio heads, stuck in a standoff with the Screen Actors Guild, are making their plea to the rest of the industry in a full-page ad in the Los Angeles Times as the threat of a strike looms.

The "open letter" that appeared in Monday's paper said the actors are jeopardizing the work of other unions that have already made deals with producers.

It says "SAG is demanding that the entire industry literally throw out all its hard work because it believes it deserves more than the 230,000 other people working in the industry."

The letter was signed by the chief executives of eight major Hollywood studios including The Walt Disney Co. and Paramount Pictures.

The guild responded by accusing the executives of "stonewalling" and said it should not be forced to accept deals made by other unions.

"No other guild or union can negotiate a pattern deal that fits the industry and SAG members, any more than ABC can negotiate license fees for NBC," it said. "Our issues are different -- not better, but different."

SAG wants union coverage for all Internet-only productions regardless of budget and residual payments for Internet productions replayed online, as well as continued actor protections during work stoppages.

Directors, writers, stagehands and another actors union settled for lesser terms and the studios, represented by the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, said it was untenable for SAG to demand a better deal, especially now that the economy has worsened.

The union is holding a strike authorization vote this month. (Associated Press)

CBS has picked up additional episodes of the Thursday night drama "Eleventh Hour." ... Sci Fi Channel has ordered 20 episodes of "Caprica," the prequel to "Battlestar Galactica," which ends its run in March. "Caprica" is likely to premiere in early 2010. ... NBC won't comment on published reports that David Gregory will soon be named as host of "Meet the Press." (Rob Owen, Post-Gazette TV editor)