European Production Firms Can Gloat at Success

Dressed all in black, shaved bald, Gary Carter oozes the satisfaction of someone who knows he’s on a winning streak. He is. He’s one of the masterminds of “Big Brother,” the hotly touted reality-TV show that debuted this week on CBS.

The program has turned the Dutch company Carter works for, Endemol Entertainment, into an international media player courted by rich and desperate American networks. And overnight it has turned Carter and a few other European mavericks--including the British producers of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” and the Swedes who developed “Survivor”--into creative and marketing gurus.

“The Americans have woken up to the fact that other people have expertise,” said Carter, 38, Endemol’s program director.

For half a century, European politicians and intellectuals have grumbled about the American pop culture juggernaut that has overrun their entertainment industries and--maddeningly--captured the imaginations of their consumers.

Now, Europeans are entitled to gloat: ABC’s fall prime-time lineup hinges on “Millionaire,” CBS’ “Survivor” is the No. 1 show on American television, and CBS has scheduled “Big Brother” five nights a week for three months.

Reality TV can be viewed as Europe’s latest volley in the transatlantic trade wars where beef hormones and bananas most recently have flown. The Europeans are delivering audiences to American television programmers caught in a crisis of cost and creativity.

As for “Big Brother,” Carter can hardly believe the compliment the United States paid Europe when the four networks bid ferociously for the rights.

“Who would have thought anyone would put aside nearly a hundred days of prime-time television for 10 people locked up in a house?” he marveled.

The competition is only getting hotter. Shows being ground out in European conference rooms and studios to meet the surge in demand for reality TV include:

* “Chains of Love,” another concept from Endemol Entertainment, in which a woman is chained to four men and once a day must cut one loose to end up at the weekend with the man of her choice. NBC, whose Hollywood executives are under extreme pressure to catch up in reality TV, is close to signing a deal for this show and others from Endemol.

* “The Mole,” a Belgian production in which a group of ordinary people under the cameras includes a planted agent who seeks to divide and disrupt them. Purchased by ABC.

* “Wanted,” in which contestants are on the run from a group of “trackers”--ex-bounty hunters and cops (although freelancers from the viewing public are welcome to get in on the chase and the cash prizes). Purchased by Fox.

* “Boot Camp,” from Britain’s Granada Television, puts 20 contestants through the physical and psychological equivalent of the Navy SEALs’ Hell Week. Fox is in negotiations to buy it.

* Also from Endemol, a VIP version of “Big Brother” featuring Dutch celebrities, and another traveling version of the same idea, “The Bus,” both ready for easy export.