Top-Rated ‘Survivor’ Helps Launch ‘Big Brother’s’ Debut

CBS used its summer hit “Survivor” as a springboard to successfully launch a second voyeuristic series imported from Europe that locks people up and then votes them out, “Big Brother,” which made its debut Wednesday to an impressive audience estimated at 22.4 million viewers.

That represented a modest dip compared to “Survivor,” which averaged not quite 24 million viewers--virtually the same as the previous week, indicating that tune-in for the show has flattened after steady increases in its first few weeks. Viewing still regularly builds during the hour, with more than 26 million people watching after 8:30 p.m. Wednesday to see which contestant was “voted out.”

“Big Brother,” by contrast, lost viewers through the hour, with more than 23 million people sampling the show initially and about 1.5 million fewer watching the second half.

Some rival TV industry executives felt the producers erred by building too slowly to placing the contestants in the “Big Brother” house while explaining the show’s rules, which may have contributed to the decline in viewership.

The opening-night rating nevertheless represents a solid start for CBS, which will broadcast “Big Brother”--based on a Dutch concept--five nights a week through September.

In other countries, the pattern has been for viewing of “Big Brother” to fluctuate over its run but peak at the end, when viewers discover who wins the $500,000 prize. Unlike “Survivor,” which has long since been completed and thus posed a challenge for CBS in keeping the outcome secret, footage from “Big Brother” will generally be edited and broadcast a day or two after it is originally shot.

Overall, “Survivor” beat the three competing major networks combined, with NBC repeating its usual Wednesday lineup and ABC and Fox running the movies “Con Air” and “Jerry Maguire,” respectively. CBS also broadcast a special edition of its newsmagazine “48 Hours” tied to the theme of ordinary people achieving fame on TV, averaging about 16 million viewers with that hour.

Viewing estimates are preliminary and could be revised slightly when final numbers are made available today by Nielsen Media Research.