Reality TV runs into a new reality

By Lauren Hunter
CNN Showbiz Today Reports

Ratings for reality shows such as CBS' "Survivor: Africa" are not meeting expectations

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- When "Survivor" debuted in the summer of 2000, it was a tremendous success.

The show was inexpensive to produce. Tens of millions of viewers watched each week -- and each week's ratings improved upon the previous week's. And with the popularity of the final episode in its first series, which set ratings records, networks and advertisers were convinced of the viability of this new genre of TV programming.

Critics and pundits hailed its advent as a television revolution, and producers throughout Hollywood rushed dozens of new reality shows onto the air.

Now more than a year has passed -- as has the threat earlier this year of strikes by writers and actors -- and reality shows remain on the schedule of most broadcast and cable networks.

But, with the terrorist attacks of September 11, the country is dealing with a new war and threats of domestic terrorism. That reality has changed every facet of American life, including pop culture.

Not meeting expectations

Americans remain glued to their TV sets, transfixed by the grim reminders of recent American life. As the delayed fall season got underway it was accompanied by a laser-like focus on reality shows. Those shows' ratings have not met expectations.

The season premiere of "Friends"

For two weeks CBS's "Survivor: Africa" has been beaten by NBC's "Friends" in one of the fall's fiercest network battles. 29.2 million viewers tuned in to the "Friends" premiere to discover that Ross and Rachel were expecting a baby, 5 million more than watched the "Survivor" premiere.

Numbers for both shows declined in the second week, with "Survivor" eclipsed by "Friends" as well as by its network follow-up, "CSI," which delivered 23 million viewers compared to "Survivor's" audience of 21.4 million. Comedies such as CBS' "Everybody Loves Raymond" on CBS and dramas including NBC's "The West Wing" and "ER" have enjoyed some of their highest ratings yet.

In general, reality shows haven't performed well this season. "The Amazing Race" on CBS has had less-than-stellar ratings, along with Fox's "Love Cruise," and NBC's "Lost" hasn't been found by many viewers.

ABC benched "The Mole II: The Next Betrayal" after three low-rated episodes, though it's expected to continue production and relaunch in the spring. The Disney network also pulled the highly-anticipated Matt Damon-Ben Affleck-produced reality show, "The Runner," originally planned for a January debut, saying that a show about a nationwide manhunt isn't appropriate now.

"All of us kind of look at entertainment and the world through a prism of a new set of experiences and a new kind of worldview. Collectively, we sort of felt like now is not the right time to do this show," explained Affleck.

'The real reality is ... on the nightly news'

Bryce Zabel, the Chairman and CEO of the Academy of Televison Arts and Sciences -- the organization that sponsors the annual Emmy Awards -- says that reality isn't what it used to be.

"It's clear that the reality shows weren't that much about reality and that the real reality is on our television sets on the nightly news at this point," he says. "And in some respects, that may weaken the overall sense of why one watches a so-called reality show, and it may give more impetus to watching a dramatic show or a comedic sitcom, because we know what that is."

"The networks were hoping against hope that this (reality programming) was going to be something that was going to save them. It was unreasonable to expect that to be the case," said Michael Wolf, media columnist for New York magazine.

"Hollywood is hypersensitive. New York is hypersensitive. Everyone is hypersensitive and I think that's what we're seeing. They're hypersensitive to the fact that they literally don't know what's going on. We're seeing a resurgence in basic, safe, conservative thinking. Everyone is saying 'let's be safe, let's be conservative.' We just very clearly don't want to run into sensibility issues, and we don't want to embarrass ourselves."

Mark Burnett, the creator of "Survivor," agrees that the country is in the midst of terrible times, but believes there is still an appetite for entertainment, whether comedy, drama or the win-at-all-costs philosophy of reality shows.

"There's dramatic incidents and character arc with protagonists and antagonists ... it's the same thing in reality. I think there's always a need for good entertainment, equally in hard times and in good times," he says.

But the question remains whether primetime's unscripted shows can outplay and outlast the competition in this fall's ratings race, or whether real life is enough reality for today's TV audiencce.