Reality is here to stay

With CBS’ “The Will,” there wasn’t a way.

Richard Branson crashed as “The Rebel Billionaire” on Fox, while Mark Cuban had few takers as “The Benefactor” on ABC.

And The WB’s “Big Man on Campus” turned out to be a 90-pound weakling.

Reality television this season has produced more stinkers than Ben Affleck’s film career and Ashlee Simpson’s music catalog.

Broadcast executives, however, remain staunchly committed to the form.

” ‘American Idol,’ ‘Survivor,’ ‘Apprentice,’ ‘Biggest Loser,’ ‘Fear Factor,’ ‘Home Makeover’ – these are among the biggest shows on television,” says Jeff Zucker, president of the NBC Universal Television Group. “Reality television has had a very good year.”

Fox’s “American Idol” still sits atop the ratings in its fourth edition, while other reality favorites have fallen from pop-culture phenoms to still-welcome successes.

The days when Richard Hatch and Sue Hawk mesmerized the public on “Survivor” are five years in the past – an eternity in television time.

Yet the ninth version, set in Vanuatu, averaged 19.6 million viewers. And CBS is happy to have “Survivor” back for a 10th go-round after another reality series, “Wickedly Perfect,” did perfectly awful in the Thursday night time slot.

Among the 30 most-watched series this season, 18 are hour dramas, eight are reality programs, and two are half-hour comedies. “Monday Night Football” and “60 Minutes” round out the list.

Broadcasters say reality is here to stay, despite the many cancellations and the heavy competition from cable, where everyone from William Shatner to Cameron Diaz has an upcoming reality show.

Viacom Co-President Les Moonves, who oversees CBS and UPN, says the cable glut is no competition for broadcast networks.

“One episode of ‘CSI’ is worth more than 300 ‘Queer Eyes,’ ” Moonves says. ” ‘The Will’ did a great number for cable. If it was on MTV, they’d be dancing down Broadway.”

But it was on CBS, where only 4.2 million people tuned in Jan. 8. After only one broadcast, the network pulled the series about a rancher picking his heir.

Moonves says CBS learned from the blunder.

” ‘Survivor,’ ‘The Amazing Race,’ ‘Big Brother’ are all quality shows,” he says. “I think ‘The Will’ was not very good. … It wasn’t our finest moment.

“So, once again, as we go forward with our reality shows – and there’s still a place for them – we realize what we have to do.”

Fox has offered many reality series that plunged down the Nielsen mountain, from “The Next Great Champ” to “My Big Fat Obnoxious Boss.”

Although the network is concentrating on scripted series, it has enlisted chef Gordon Ramsay to open a Los Angeles restaurant in Hell’s Kitchen. Fox has not announced a premiere date.

“The negative is kind of out right now” in reality, says Gail Berman, president of Fox Entertainment. “Ramsay has his tough style, but for a purpose. It feels different than some of the stuff that’s just playing on the audience or playing with the contestants.”

The show that best exemplifies the feel-good trend is ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” which transforms family dwellings into showcases. The series is averaging 15.7 million viewers, a 41 percent increase from last season.

“We’re just not going to do the mean-spirited stuff,” says Steve McPherson, president of ABC’s prime-time entertainment. “We’re really about wish fulfillment, fantasy and romance.”

That thinking characterizes such other ABC series as “Supernanny” and “Wife Swap.” Both have scored respectable ratings, keeping ABC in business against strong dramas on CBS and NBC.

On cable, the trend is toward greater realism, says Michael Hirschorn, an executive vice president at VH1. The channel is enjoying ratings growth with “The Surreal Life” and “Strange Love,” featuring Brigitte Nielsen and Flavor Flav.

“It’s the fly-on-the-wall approach, and you learn more about personalities as opposed to highly staged elimination shows,” Hirschorn says. “It’s subject matter driving it rather than the format.”

Broadcasters are trying the fly-on-the-wall style with “Wife Swap” and Fox’s “The Simple Life.” But eliminations are central to the most popular series and several upcoming entries, such as “America’s Next Top Model,” which starts its fourth cycle Wednesday on UPN.

The WB has drafted Faye Dunaway as its Donald Trump for an “Apprentice” for actresses called “The Starlet,” starting Sunday. The Oscar-winning star of “Network” tells departing players: “Don’t call us. We’ll call you.”

NBC is betting on “The Contender,” which chronicles the search for a boxing star. One contestant committed suicide, but the network will go ahead with the planned March 7 premiere. The executive producers are Mark Burnett of “Survivor,” Jeffrey Katzenberg and “Rocky” star Sylvester Stallone, who also serves as host.

The reality format continues to dazzle many younger viewers and annoy millions of others, who find it substandard or gross.

“The big hit dramas in the fall showed that, after four years of pigging out on reality, people were ready for something else,” says Tim Brooks, co-author of “The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows.”

But “it is still very viable as long as broadcast keeps reinventing the form,” he says.

Programmers are doing precisely that. “The Apprentice” fell quickly from an event last season to just another well-rated show. But NBC hopes to inject new energy in the franchise next season with a spinoff starring Martha Stewart, whose post-prison life will absorb the celebrity media.

The seventh edition of CBS’ “The Amazing Race,” which starts Tuesday, adds two players from “Survivor: All-Stars”: victor Amber Brkich and her fiancé, Rob Mariano, the first runner-up. CBS has ordered two more installments of the series.

The network jolted its formula for the new “Survivor” by bringing on 20 castaways and sending three packing in the first hour from scenic Palau in the Pacific.