Rocky ‘Big Brother’ a Quiet Hit

CBS’ controversial “Big Brother,” the unscripted series in which several contestants are isolated from the world in a custom-made house, is expected to end its second edition on Thursday.

But the series concludes amid the kind of uncertainty and finger-pointing that has seemingly plagued the show from its inception--from threatening behavior by one contestant to a decision by producers to tell the isolated group about last week’s terrorist attacks.

The three-night-a-week series has been preempted along with other regular programs since the attacks on New York and Washington, leaving its hard-core fans to monitor the show via its live Internet feeds.

Chat rooms dedicated to the show were buzzing about how producers handled informing the remaining house guests about the attacks, in the process breaking the rules of the game.

And there was concern among fans when it was determined that Tamitha Freeman, the cousin of house guest Monica Bailey, was reported among the missing at the World Trade Center.

Arnold Shapiro, the executive producer of the series, said since the situation came under the definition of “family emergency,” “we do tell the people involved, so we also had to tell the house guests the context. The decision was made for us.”

Bailey, he said, “has a phenomenal coping mechanism. She did not ask to talk to her sister. She asked us to keep her posted. She also said it was OK to let the other house guests know.”

Given the option to leave the house, Bailey chose to stay. Bailey was subsequently voted out by the two remaining house guests on Saturday, which will be detailed tonight in a one-hour installment. The network plans to air a “48 Hours” special at 8 p.m., followed by “Big Brother” at 9 p.m.

CBS is proceeding with plans for Thursday’s live finale, in which the $500,000 winner--either Nicole or Will--will be voted on by the ousted house guests. The episode, which was to have gone up against the season premiere of NBC’s “Friends,” will mostly likely air against repeats. The producers have not decided how they will handle the finale should events result in another preemption.

For a series whose ability to endure an entire summer at one point seemed questionable, “Big Brother” has quietly become a success. The show averaged 8.3 million viewers, up from 7.4 million earlier in the run.

Moreover, the Tuesday and Thursday installments have been building, exceeding 11 million viewers in recent weeks.

“We completely revamped the rule, redesigned the house, put a lot more emphasis on casting,” Shapiro said. “What we set out to do is a real, live soap opera with a story. We really upgraded the production values and the editing. People come up to me saying it’s a better show, they like the cast better, and that they can’t wait for the next episode.”

This season’s version is a dramatic shift from last summer’s inaugural “Big Brother,” which was criticized for its “casting” of contestants that failed to engage in confrontations or romantic relationships. Producers attempted to manipulate interaction in the house, to the point where they appeared to violate the show’s own arcane rules.

Wanting sexier, more contentious shows, the network brought in Shapiro to liven up the proceedings for the new version. It didn’t take long for fireworks to occur, though they far outstripped anything CBS had imagined.

Justin Sebik, a bartender from Bayonne, N.J., was threatening with several of the contestants. Racial and sexual slurs were heard in the house.

Then, in the midst of drunken revelry, Sebik held a knife against the throat of a female contestant, Krista Stegall, prompting the producers to abruptly evict him from the “Big Brother” house.

Shapiro said the producers were left with “‘no choice but to expel him.” CBS did not show the moment when Sebik actually held the knife against Stegall, though it was witnessed by viewers on the live Internet feeds.

Network Defends Its Background Checks

The show’s background checks were clearly inadequate, underscored by the fact that Sebik had several assault charges against him that network officials claimed were unknown to them as well as to the producers.

Several other contestants had had brushes with the law, including one who was involved in a vehicular manslaughter case and another arrested for trespassing on the Warner Bros. lot, seeking to obtain unauthorized footage of the movie “Batman and Robin” that he could sell to a tabloid television show.

In July, CBS Television President Leslie Moonves sat through a bruising press conference with reporters and TV critics, insisting that CBS “did do our homework” and refusing to answer hypothetical questions as to whether he would have canceled the show had the knife-wielding incident ended violently.

Ratings did increase after that widely reported episode, and rose again in the latter half of the summer, when CBS moved the program from 8 p.m.--an hour when more children are apt to be watching television--to 9 p.m. The move also benefited the show, since more viewers are available at the later hour, especially during the summer.

Said Shapiro: “It’s impossible to go through 90 days and not have something unexpected happen. But no one got sick and had to go to the hospital. No one physically hurt another person. One house guest used very poor judgment and broke a serious rule. And we had a national tragedy. I consider ourselves fortunate when you consider what could have happened.”

But despite its hit status, Shapiro said it is too soon to talk about another edition of “Big Brother.”

“Yes, the network has told us they’re very pleased with the ratings and the look of the show,” he said. “But no one has officially talked to us about ‘Big Brother 3.’ We’re still dealing with the current ‘Big Brother.’ We’re tired and exhausted. We’ve lived this with everyone. This is no time to talk about it.”

Tonight’s episode of “Big Brother” can be seen at 9 p.m. with the finale scheduled for Thursday at 8 p.m. on CBS. The network has rated it TV-PG-DL (may be unsuitable for children younger than 14 with special advisories for suggestive dialogue and coarse language.)