Eye to keep reality in check, prexy sez
Moonves touts balance, collaboration at TCA
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Speaking to reporters during CBS' portion of the summer Television Critics Assn. press tour over the weekend, Eye topper Leslie Moonves said that, despite the monster economic and ratings success of "Survivor" and the more modest boost from "Big Brother," the web won't be turning into Real TV.
"We are a mixture of great dramas, great comedies and, hopefully now, great reality shows that will help our lineup," Moonves said. "Do I envision a schedule that has four hours of reality programming on it? No, I don't.
"I think our bread and butter is still the 'Judging Amys' and 'JAGs' and '60 Minutes' of the world."
CBS Entertainment prexy Nancy Tellem echoed Moonves, telling reporters that despite the reality boom, "Our strategy remains the same.
Many-colored rainbow
"We have 'Survivor,' and we have a lot of other shows," she said. "We have our minis. We have our movies. We have our series programming, and we believe in all those forms of programming."
Moonves and Tellem spent most of their hourlong sesh with journos fielding queries about "Big Brother." Critics repeatedly pressed the execs to defend the moral, creative and ratings status of the six-days-a-week skein, but Moonves and Tellem refused to offer any mea culpas.
"I'm not going to apologize for this show," Moonves said. "It is an experiment."
While conceding that "Brother" is "controversial," the Eye exec said that if he had it to do over again, he'd order the show again "in a second" -- despite the daily risks involved in the production.
"We are in uncharted territories. I'm glad we are. But right now, we're on the high wire without a net. It's very scary ... but I'm very proud of our record."
Proud of 'Brother'
Moonves said he's "very happy" with how "Brother" has performed in the ratings during its first few weeks on the air. "Yeah, it's not doing what 'Survivor' is, but in demographics, it's up like 89% from what our regular season was in those time periods. So we are extremely pleased with it."
He also argued that networks need to take more risks like "Brother."
"It's better to try these things than to come back to you with 'Diagnosis Murder' reruns," he told the journos.
As for "Survivor," Moonves said CBS is getting as much as $600,000 for 30-second spots during the skein's Aug. 23 finale -- a rate on par with what NBC usually gets for ads on "ER." To take full advantage of the economic bonanza, the Eye will follow the two-hour "Survivor" finale with an hourlong live town hall meeting featuring all 16 cast members from the show.
CBS also officially confirmed that "Survivor 2: The Australian Outback" will premiere right after the net's broadcast of Super Bowl XXXV on Jan. 28.
Future looks good
With a second "Survivor," the Super Bowl and a crop of new fall skeins Moonves called "far better than our competitors," CBS should make ratings gains and demo strides next season, the Eye topper said.
"If I was a betting man, I'd still go with ABC with four 'Millionaires,' " Moonves said. "But we're going to be competitive. We'll be better than last season and we'll be younger than last season, that's for sure."
Helping open the Eye to a hipper crowd will be a stronger relationship with new Viacom siblings such as Nickelodeon, MTV, VH1 and Showtime.
CBS announced two new examples of synergy. TV Land will air a weeklong marathon of classic segs of "The Fugitive," to be hosted by Tim Daly, star of CBS' upcoming revival of the chase drama. And VH1 will promote the Eye's new Bette Midler laffer with a week of Midler-themed programming.
Previously announced partnerships include an MTV-produced Super Bowl halftime show; a Nick Jr.-branded Saturday ayem block; and several telepic co-productions with Showtime.
"Within our company, through all sorts of different tentacles, we are all working together in a splendid way," Moonves said.
No partnership seen
One Viacom sibling with which CBS won't be partnering (at least anytime soon) is UPN.
"Obviously, their fall schedule is set. Ours is set," Moonves said. We've had some preliminary meetings about what we could do together with them. They're across town ... but it's really very preliminary, so there's really nothing to talk about. I'd say Pax and NBC (are) a little bit further down the road than we are with UPN."
As for whether Moonves will be moving up the Viacom corporate chain anytime soon, the Eye exec said simply: "None of your business."
In other news, CBS said former "Roseanne" regular Sara Gilbert has joined the cast of the net's new fall comedy "Welcome to New York."
