‘Amazing Race,’ ‘Lost’ Go Toe to Toe

The fall TV season doesn’t officially start for a couple of weeks, but it will get underway Wednesday on NBC and CBS, as two high-profile, unscripted shows with similar premises make their debuts.

In this case, in fact, the backbiting and nastiness that has surrounded some unscripted series is largely taking place at the networks themselves, as CBS decided to premiere “The Amazing Race” early to get a jump on the fall season, only to have NBC counter by introducing “Lost” the same night.

CBS retaliated by scheduling an episode of “Big Brother 2” against “Lost,” creating a logjam of such fare.

CBS executives have been talking up “The Amazing Race” for months. The show, which airs at 9 p.m., features 11 teams of two people on a race around the world, with $1 million as the prize. Over the course of 13 weeks, the teams will compete in a series of tasks before heading out to their next destination with limited resources; those lagging behind will be eliminated as the weeks go on.

NBC’s “Lost,” airing at 8 p.m. and produced by late-night host Conan O’Brien’s company, features three two-person teams--unlike on CBS, the partners don’t know each other--who are dropped into an unknown locale, with limited resources (and a cameraperson to chronicle their progress).

The first team to make it to the Statue of Liberty splits $200,000.