Reality show contestants from Western Pennsylvania have always been plentiful, but this week two new shows premiere on NBC with hosts who have local ties.

Dan Cortese, who grew up in Sewickley, referees the reality competition "My Dad Is Better Than Your Dad" (9 p.m. Monday, WPXI) and Dennis Miller, who grew up in Castle Shannon, guides contestants through the game show "AMNE$IA" (9 p.m. Friday, WPXI). Both programs are executive produced by reality-show mastermind Mark Burnett ("Survivor," "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?").

Miller's show is sort of a modern "This Is Your Life," while Cortese's taunt-titled show sounds more like the old Nickelodeon series "Double Dare."

In "My Dad Is Better Than Your Dad," teams of fathers and their 8-to-12-year-old sons or daughters compete for a chance to win up to $50,000 and the ability to boast the show's title.

In one competition, the fathers have to climb in a vat of green goo to retrieve letters and hand them to their children who must use the letters to spell a word. In the Human Dart Board, fathers launch their harnessed children across a soundstage onto a Velcro wall. In a round that is meant to determine bravery, fathers must enter a snake pit and retrieve tomatoes using only their mouths.

"I have a son who is 7. My daughter is getting ready to turn 4. And unless you have children, it's hard to describe the feeling and the sensation that you have as a father when you do things with them," said Cortese, who hosted MTV Sports shows and starred in the sitcom "Veronica's Closet."

"My son has been playing Little League baseball the past two years and even if it's as simple as going outside and pitching him a ball or playing catch with him -- it's one of those things that you realize that, truthfully, a father will do anything for their kids."

The last competition in each episode is a question-and-answer round. Cortese said the questions may seem simple, until you stop to think if you know the answers to the same question when applied to your own family.

"When I ask some of these guys a question, and each question is worth $10,000, and I ask, 'What is your daughter's shoe size?' and I'm thinking, 'I don't know my daughter's shoe size!' " he said.

Creator Jon Hotchkiss said that makes "My Dad Is Better Than Your Dad" a show families can play along with at home.

"It can get great conversations going," he said, citing the shoe size example. "It's about the little things that go on in your lives."

That interest in minutia also lies at the heart of Miller's "AMNE$IA," which tests contestants' memories and introduces figures from their pasts.

"It's the easiest game show in the world," said Burnett, the show's executive producer. "You answer about your own life."

While Fox's lie-detector show "Moment of Truth" does the same thing, Burnett and Miller said the tone is different in "AMNE$IA."

"This is a light-hearted, comedic look at someone's mind," Burnett said.

"I'm trying to be more of an amiable interlocutor," Miller said. "If the other show is 'gotcha,' this is more 'gotcha covered.' It seems there's the potential [on 'Moment of Truth'] for great heartache. The potential for us is a few smiles, a few blasts from the past and somebody walks away with some bread."

Burnett said one episode features a police officer who is asked to remember the speed limit on the street where he lives. He can't remember it.

Last summer Miller hosted the limited series "Grand Slam" for GSN, but at the time he said he didn't think he'd want to follow his fellow comedians (Howie Mandel on "Deal or No Deal," Bob Saget on "1 vs. 100," Drew Carey on "Power of 10") into a regular weekly game show.

He was intrigued by "AMNE$IA" because of Burnett's involvement and the game itself.

"It felt like [I'd be] a cross between Ralph Edwards and Alex Trebek," he said. "It's not just a game show where we're out there smacking buttons all the time and trying to do speed and alacrity. There's some sort of whimsical walk through a person's life, sort of like Ralph Edwards on 'This Is Your Life.' "

Miller said comedians are often tapped to host this type of show because of their backgrounds.

"Comics have been steeled in the fire of nightclubs. Nightclubs make you, not bulletproof, but you do think on your feet," he said. "These game shows are fluid situations."

For him, "AMNE$IA" also represents a chance to show another aspect of his personality.

"I remember the first thing [Burnett] said was, 'I think I see a friendlier side of you, a warmer, cuddly side, and I'd like to play to that.' I haven't heard that in 20 years in show business," Miller said, noting his sardonic comedy and political shows can be polarizing forces. "I don't want to be fractious all the time. ... I'm always some Marlboro Man off in the distance. For him to say, 'Come on inside, come in from the cold and be more of an Arthur Godfrey type,' that sounded good to me."