MAYOR OF TELEVISION BLOG.

Byline: DAVID KRONKE

Controversial times

CBS Entertainment Nina Tassler admits she's openly inviting controversy this season. For example, consider the network's upcoming reality show "Kid Nation," featuring 40 children creating their own society in an abandoned New Mexico town. "We want to change the landscape of TV ... to stir public debate, to create some controversy, so that people will be talking," Tassler told TV critics at the television press tour in Beverly Hills. "But we don't want that to have a negative connotation. It's good we're discussing what these kids have to go through." She also hopes to open viewers' eyes wide with "Swingtown," a midseason drama about '70s-era swingers: "We're going to push the envelope with that show," she vowed.

And all this may be due to "Jericho," the post-apocalyptic drama that CBS had initially canceled in May but brought back after a passionate outcry from fans. Tassler spent time reading message boards and was astounded by the ardor for the show that fans shared with one another. "Maybe it comes out of 'Jericho,' " Tassler said. "What's amazing is to listen and learn and watch our audience connect to a show and to talk to each other (on online message boards). We're finding that audiences are personalizing these shows; they're forming very strong opinions. And we're listening; we're responding."

Stung

The NBC press tour party was going so well. A lot of stars, from shows new and old, were mingling with journalists (even Adrian Pasdar, whose character seemed to have been killed in last season's finale of "Heroes"; though he had to walk a fine tightrope between explaining why he was on hand and not giving away any spoilers). And then, they had to go and spoil it all by doing something stupid like turning the event into a promo for "The Singing Bee," the network's recent summer-reality-competition success featuring awful karaoke singers. Two stars from upcoming NBC series competed against a couple of hapless (or near-hapless) TV journalists. Women who had to have been paid handsomely to wear "Bee" outfits buzzed through the crowd. (Zachary Levi, star of the network's most promising new show, "Chuck," won, though it didn't seem to have been rigged; afterward, he was vaguely sheepish about his participation: "If Jeff Zucker calls and says, 'We want you to do "Singing Bee," ' you do 'Singing Bee.' ") But not everyone was so sanguine. Far from the stage, Keith Olbermann, who anchors MSNBC's highest-rated show "Countdown," and will be a co-host on NBC's "Sunday Night Football" pregame show next season, was appropriately appalled. As these self-styled crooners began bending the aggregate eardrums of those in attendance in strange ways, Olbermann again proved himself a true champion of the people by calling out to a nearby publicist, "Jeremy! Can you stop this"

Around the bend?

We've delighted in using NBC's new creative head as a punching bag since he took the job (and will continue to do so in the future), but would be remiss in pointing out that Ben Silverman, much as his rep would promise, has been making himself very visible and very available to reporters. Now, network heads generally are visible during their portions of press tours, but a lot of them also sort of give off this "unless you're The New York Times" vibe. Silverman, on the other hand, is sidling up to groups of journalists, introducing himself and sticking around to chat. Of course, he's asking a lot of the questions, such as what series they think Michael Richards might be a good fit for. david.kronke(at)dailynews.com, [phone], www.insidesocal.com/tv/

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ADRIAN PASDAR