Will Temptation to Watch Unscripted Series Survive?

Afew months ago, as networks trotted out talent to meet the press, I asked “Temptation Island” producer Chris Cowan if he had been incompetent or disingenuous in claiming that background checks failed to uncover that a couple cast on the series had a child together, which violated the show’s guidelines.

What I foolishly neglected to add, having purged myself of a question equivalent to “Have you stopped beating your wife?,” was how long it would be before “Island” sank into the sunset.

Then again, before Labor Day, few were thinking along those lines. Even detractors have been surprised by how quickly so-called reality television is fading as a prime-time alternative, which--along with sun-drenched beaches and well-toned bodies--provides part of the backdrop for “Temptation Island 2,” which premieres tonight after weeks of double entendre-laden promotion asking if viewers are “Ready to go again?”

Based on recent history, many may not be. Just consider the sorry track record for unscripted series over the last two months. “The Mole 2” has been removed. “Elimidate Deluxe” has been eliminated. The air has been let out of “Popstars 2.” “Lost” didn’t find an audience, “The Amazing Race” hasn’t lived up to its name, “Love Cruise” hit a ratings reef and “The Runner” never got out of the starting blocks.

Even the haughty “Survivor” is down substantially compared with the second edition, and although the show continues to draw more-than-respectable ratings, that decline raises the uncomfortable specter of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire”--another one-time phenomenon whose ratings cooled with unanticipated speed. Suddenly, the prospect of “Survivor XIV” no longer seems a certainty, causing some to wonder if the program’s unexpected legacy may be its role in helping launch the red-hot “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” one of those unabashedly scripted dramas not long ago being left for dead.

Seeking to bring meaning to these statistics, many have pointed to the terrorism of Sept. 11, suggesting that fabricated images of reality and summer-camp hardships seem especially pallid held up against those events.

Any real explanation, however, is clearly more complicated than that, beginning with the inevitable saturation of these series brought about by the networks themselves, glutting the market and proving that greed isn’t always so good.

If sheer tonnage has taken its toll, with more than a dozen unscripted series scheduled, so has the networks’ determination to replicate concepts that thrived initially because they were presented as something special--as opposed to the traditional franchises to which viewers are asked to return week after week, year after year. Think back to “Survivor’s” summer 2000 introduction and, for that matter, ABC’s decision to broadcast “Millionaire” on 13 consecutive nights the year before.

This isn’t to completely dismiss what happened Sept. 11 as a factor--either in the way newsmagazines have become more compelling given the heightened priority on news and information or in the way some viewers doubtless feel more reluctant to get wrapped up in a manipulated reality.

It’s also worth noting that while network honchos scratch their heads about what to do with so many unscripted series in the production pipeline, many within the television industry are privately chortling over and praying for the form’s demise or at least decline, not only because they covet those time periods but because “reality’s” well-documented excesses have served as a source of embarrassment.

While those who work in television are stereotypically viewed as being morally challenged, many actually do have what would pass for a conscience and would rather make a living churning out sitcoms and dramas that aim for something higher than bending to freak-show instincts, from burying people neck-deep in rodents to having them devour insects to graphically slaughtering a cow--as “Survivor” did, so contestants could drink its blood--all in the name of “entertainment.”

That said, the assumption that some sort of collective wake-up call will chase “Survivor” and its ilk into full-blown retreat is simply misguided. Millions of viewers like these shows, and networks have a strong financial incentive to put them on, not only because they have garnered vast audiences but because most cost relatively little to produce, an attribute that’s hard to overstate given the current advertising downturn and weakened economy.

Moreover, once something in television demonstrates its viability, it will never be wholly abandoned before being utterly exhausted. At the least, unscripted fare will continue to pop up in daytime, on cable and in prime time during the summer months, when viewing levels tend to be lower, as programmers keep looking for the next variant strain--”It’s like ‘Survivor’ meets ‘The Mole,’ only with cats and dogs!”--that will potentially capture viewers’ imagination, if only for a few months.

Coming on the heels of what has transpired this season, then, ratings for “Temptation Island 2” will help indicate just how many of these programs occupy the prime-time spotlight--while again testing the willingness of young women, in particular, to buy into faux romance wrapped in a pretty package.

By the way, at that aforementioned “Temptation Island” press conference, Cowan, who calls his company Rocket Science Laboratories, responded to my question by saying, “I’m maintaining that we knew absolutely nothing before that show started,” so draw your own conclusions. Granted, that statement itself is pretty remarkable, given that a Times reader--using only his computer and Lexis database--easily located court documents revealing the child born in 1998 to Taheed Watson and Ytossie Patterson, the ousted couple who later sued the producers and Fox.

“We were beside ourselves, because we informed them that we had a child and it was always known,” Patterson, a model and actress identified on the show as an “executive administrator,” said when the suit was filed.

“Anybody could have found out. It’s all public record,” the duo’s attorney, Steve Sandler, added at the time.

Cowan never returned my calls to elaborate on what the producers knew and when they knew it, so that particular mystery remains unsolved.

As for the unspoken question about “reality TV” becoming the land that prime time forgot, the next few weeks will go a long way toward providing an answer, but it might require a true rocket scientist to ever fully comprehend why.

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Brian Lowry’s column appears Wednesdays. He can be reached by e-mail at brian.lowry@latimes.com.