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American Morning
America Recovers: New TV Season Off and Running
Aired October 05, 2001 - 09:53 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: In spite of what we tell you about, the new season is off and running. Primetime television is back after a delay following the attacks. And in the mix, several so-called reality shows.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: And CNN's Lauren Hunter tells us, the terrorist attacks could change what we watch every night.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAUREN HUNTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For weeks, Americans have been glued to their TVs, transfixed by the grim reminders of a nation's new reality. The question now is how to transition from this to this.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The object of the game is to be the last one standing.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't got to like you. As long as we can win.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tonight you face your first execution.
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HUNTER: As primetime programming returns, there's a laser-like focus on reality shows, with their singular emphasis on competition and winning.
MARK SCHWED, "TV GUIDE" Do we want to watch reality shows where people are stabbing each other in the back, where we're scaring people to death? You know, everything has changed. We always seem to get back to normal after a horrific event like this, but we have never, never seen anything so horrific. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Today there was a terrorist attack.
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HUNTER: As 12 million viewers watched "Big Brother 2," producers inform its sequestered houseguests of the September 11th attacks, and as the delayed fall season began last week, viewers took a break from news to watch entertainment. "Everybody Loves Raymond" had its highest ratings ever, with an audience of more than 22 million, while "ER" drew 28 million viewers.
Ratings for reality shows, however, weren't nearly as strong. 8.6 million viewers watched "The Amazing Race" on CBS, 7.3 million for Fox's "Love Cruise." 5.5 million tuned in to the premiere of "The Mole 2" on ABC, while 5.9 million people found "Lost" on NBC.
Yet most agree it's too early to predict the demise of the reality genre.
JEFF ZUCKER, PRESIDENT, NBC ENTERTAINMENT: I do think that people still want to escape a little bit and get lost amidst everything that's happened. That's why I still think there will be an audience for those programs.
DR. STUART FISHOFF, MEDIA PSYCHOLOGIST: People are still interested in watching people. We are voyeurs. And we know that watching people in real life somehow is sexier than watching people in totally scripted life.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Richard really didn't know what he was talking about. Anybody could have won the $1 million at that point.
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HUNTER: The latest edition of the reality behemoth "Survivor" aired Thursday in a new, postattack climate.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The rules are, basically no-holds-barred.
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HUNTER: It debuts amid expectations that it will duplicate the ratings phenomenon of its predecessors.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "Survivor" is simple escapist adventure television, and viewers can easily separate between something serious and important and something fun and escapist. "Survivor"'s just fun and escapist, and a little frivolous, and the viewers can accept that.
HUNTER (on camera): Yet as military action remains a possibility, the impact of last month's terrorist attacks on American culture is, for now, a script without an ending.
Lauren Hunter, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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