BUT WILL THEY REALLY GET THE MESSAGE? CBS SLAMS A LID ON 'BIG BROTHER'.

Byline: Valerie Kuklenski Staff Writer

Manipulation. Deceit. Anger. Suspicion.

Those are the flavors of the month inside CBS' ``Big Brother'' compound with less than a month remaining in the psychological contest.

The houseguests and viewers seem to have eliminated the residents who were, frankly, the most interesting - trouble-making Will, conniving Jordan, divorcee-to-be Karen and punky, cuddly, virginal Brittany - leaving the most benign residents inside.

That seems to have prompted Big Brother - personified by a rotating staff of story editors - to turn up the heat on the remaining contestants - and even apparently to throw his weight around on the outside.

In the last two weeks, airplanes have flown over CBS' Studio City lot towing banners reading ``Big Brother is worse than u think. Get out now!'' ``There is dignity in walking out'' and other calls to mutiny.

Jeff Oswald, a 36-year-old videographer and tape editor from Charlotte, N.C., hired the flyovers, saying his immediate goal is ``to get them to walk out'' before the contest ends Sept. 30.

``Our main goal (is) to make sure CBS never lets this happen again,'' Oswald added.

CBS apparently is not happy about the banner campaign. Doug Johnson of Red Baron Air in Pacoima said Mike Skinner, security chief of the Studio City lot, told him to stop flying over the compound or CBS would consider taking legal action against Red Baron, charging it with disrupting business at the lot's 16 soundstages with the single-engine Cessna's noise.

However, Skinner would not comment Friday, and a CBS spokeswoman said no legal action against Red Baron is planned.

Oswald started watching ``Big Brother'' after becoming hooked on ``Survivor,'' CBS' far more popular castaway show that concluded last week. He was so disturbed by what he saw, he decided that voting with his remote control was not enough.

``The more I watched ('Big Brother'), the sicker I felt in my stomach,'' he said. ``It's like watching a car wreck in slow motion and then backing your car up to get a closer look at the carnage.''

He said he is concerned for the mental health of the houseguests who, while they went in as willing volunteers on July 4, have no idea how much they are being toyed with by the producers.

``They call it a game, but the fact that they feel a need to have psychiatric help on call around the clock for these people should tell them something,'' he said.

Jerry Jellison, a psychology professor at the University of Southern California, said he has not watched the series, but there is potential for harm inherent in the scenario of 10 strangers confined to a house and yard for 89 days with no media and no contact with the outside world.

``Yeah, there's reasonable concern,'' Jellison said. ``Let's hope people aren't making life-changing decisions in there.

``We tend to underestimate the power of situations in influencing our behavior,'' he said. ``When we're going through life, we tend to think we're doing what we do because 'That's what I want to do' or 'That's my personality.' We're unaware of the ways all the social institutions around us or the people around us influence us.''

Whenever the other residents aren't shaping an individual's thinking and behavior, Big Brother certainly is.

Many loyal ``Big Brother'' observers, posting updates about the residents' activities on the Web, have noticed the story editors have sounded more angry recently than they used to and have been more demanding.

To a degree, the houseguests are wise to the manipulation. On Aug. 23, the first time Oswald dispatched a plane over the house, Big Brother hurried the houseguests inside and confined them all to one windowless bedroom for more than an hour.

When the conversation lulled, Big Brother piped in bad instrumental surfer music and commanded them to dance. The music cut out for a time, then came back on. ``Stop screwing with us!'' one of the men shouted.

Curtis, the New York lawyer, said he has braced himself for ridicule or maybe unemployment whenever he leaves. He also told the other residents to keep in mind that Big Brother does not have their best interests at heart.

Oswald, a ``media jammer'' who admits he is less polished at it than ``Roger & Me'' director Michael Moore or MTV's Tom Green, said his efforts to inspire revolt may have come too late.

``Now they're two thirds of the way through this thing and they've got their eyes on the prize, and I can't say I would act any differently,'' Oswald said. ``But that doesn't mean we're through with it. We'll just keep throwing egg at ('Big Brother' producer) Endemol (Entertainment) and see if it sticks to their face.''

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A banner flown over Studio City urged the residents of CBS' ``Big Brother'' house to move out.

Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News