‘Survivor’ Surpasses Scaled-Back Dreams of CBS

CBS officials breathed a sigh of relief as the third edition of its cornerstone “Survivor” franchise opened to more-than-respectable ratings Thursday, bucking a trend that has seen most unscripted programs wither this fall.

Beyond concern that the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 and a glut of similarly themed shows have diminished public appetite for fabricated reality, CBS was also thrown for a loop when President Bush scheduled a prime-time press conference Thursday at 8 p.m., meaning “Survivor: Africa” didn’t begin until 8:45 p.m. in the Eastern and Central time zones, with more than two-thirds of U.S. homes.

“Survivor III” averaged 23.8 million viewers, steadily building throughout the hour. “Friends” (29.2 million viewers) easily prevailed in its common half-hour, which could reflect a reversal of fortune in that race, as the NBC sitcom has bolted out of the starting gate this season; still, “Survivor” easily beat “Will & Grace”--which fell nearly 10 million viewers off “Friends”’ plateau--after NBC pulled the new sitcom “Inside Schwartz” because of the White House press conference.

Measuring “Survivor: Africa” against earlier installments of the show is imprecise. The first version made its debut in the summer, when viewing levels are lower, and the second premiered after the Super Bowl. The best comparison may be the first Thursday telecast in February, which drew 29 million viewers, or roughly 25% more than “Africa’s” premiere.

CBS--which did its best to diminish expectations--said it was more than satisfied. “There’s been an awful lot written about ‘Is reality [programming] dead?’ ... so it was great to see those numbers,” said CBS Television President Leslie Moonves, who suggested Thursday recent events had dampened public awareness of the show and that the latest edition “will not be as huge as it would have been a few months ago.”

Other networks were monitoring Thursday’s results closely, given that ABC’s “The Mole,” CBS’ “The Amazing Race” and Fox’s “Love Cruise” have all delivered poor ratings since the attacks. Moreover, Fox will seek to piggyback on the “Survivor” audience by launching a second version of “Temptation Island” in November that will run in the hour immediately following the CBS show.

For viewers who missed “Survivor,” CBS will repeat the episode at 10 p.m. Wednesday.