Network Defends Its Vision of Reality

CBS entertainment and news executives faced combative questioning from TV critics and reporters in Pasadena over the weekend regarding the network’s voyeuristic summer series “Big Brother” as well as its news division’s cheerleading role in promoting the show.

“Big Brother” and the similarly themed “Survivor”--each hinging on isolating a group of people and eliminating them one by one--have spurred a degree of controversy. Background checks failed to reveal a criminal warrant for one of the latter’s castaways as well as the alias of ousted “Big Brother” housemate William Collins, affiliated with a group associated with anti-Semitic views. After much hand-wringing by CBS officials about whether to make him available, Collins met with reporters Sunday.

Another occupant of the “Big Brother” house has aired dirty laundry about her troubled marriage, and having Julie Chen of CBS News’ “The Early Show” host the series has spurred debate about newscasters taking part in such a vehicle.

CBS Television President Leslie Moonves called “Big Brother” “an experiment” and conceded that the network is “flying without a net on this one.” Still, he stressed CBS had taken precautions, spending over $100,000 on background checks. That didn’t mollify some of the TV critics, however, with one asking if CBS was willing to “roll the dice with these people’s lives.”

“I’m not going to apologize for this show,” Moonves said more than once during a one-hour question-and-answer session Saturday.

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CBS News President Andrew Heyward admitted there were “rough spots” in Chen’s performance on “Big Brother” but maintained viewers “totally understand that it’s a contrived situation” and that the assignment wouldn’t damage her journalistic credibility or that of CBS News.

Seeking to deflect criticism, Moonves also pointed to other network morning shows engaging in promotional stunts. “How about when Matt Lauer got his hair cut on the set of ‘Friends’?” he asked, referring to NBC’s “Today” host. “Is that news?”

While “Big Brother” has yielded respectable ratings, the story for CBS remains “Survivor,” whose audience ballooned to 26 million viewers last week. Having locked in eight primary sponsors before the show premiered, CBS is moving to cash in as much as it can on the franchise, announcing a one-hour interview program with the contestants to follow the two-hour final episode on Aug. 23.

Moonves said CBS is commanding as much as $600,000 for some of the 30-second commercials that will be broadcast that night, comparable to what NBC garners on “ER.” The network also confirmed the next “Survivor,” set in Australia, will premiere immediately after CBS’ telecast of the Super Bowl in January, funneling a vast audience from the year’s most-watched event into the show.

On the few questions dealing with matters beyond voyeuristic TV, Moonves outlined budding synergy between CBS and merger partner Viacom’s cable channels. These include having Nickelodeon produce CBS’ Saturday-morning children’s fare, MTV producing next year’s Super Bowl halftime show and TV Land running the original “The Fugitive” TV series before CBS launches its new version in the fall.

Yet CBS did cancel a new show from sister studio Paramount, the sci-fi romance “Now and Again,” prompting unrest among a group of loyal fans lobbying for the show via the Internet.

“It would have been idiotic to pick up that show” for a second season, Moonves said, citing per-episode costs in excess of $2.3 million--which are extremely high for a first-year series--making it difficult to justify continuing the program based on its modest ratings.

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The ultimate goal of the so-called reality shows, Moonves added, was to “take down the ‘We’re closed for the summer’ sign” viewers saw in a glut of summer reruns. The executive said CBS is weighing other low-cost programming alternatives for next summer, including variety shows.

Near the session’s close, Moonves--who has played golf with President Clinton and slept in the White House--was asked if he would be as welcome in the wake of “Big Brother,” whose “cast” includes a former beauty queen and an exotic dancer.

“With Bill Clinton? He already called me about some of the people on ‘Big Brother,’ ” Moonves quipped.

Although computer hackers have broken into CBS’ “Survivor” Web site--with one claiming to have discovered the winner and posted his conclusion on the Internet--CBS will neither confirm nor deny those reports. Five of the ousted contestants, sworn to secrecy about the results, appeared Sunday with producer Mark Burnett.

“Everybody already knows who the winner is,” noted Gretchen Cordy, one of the group. “That would be Mr. Burnett and CBS.”