Reality-TV Trend Rides Wave Across Atlantic.

U.S. viewers experiencing "Schadenfreude"

When it comes to primetime television, what once was old is new again. In the wake of the unexpected success of Survivor and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, reality television (which in this case includes gameshows) has become the hottest genre in programming. It's also one of the oldest, rooted in such series as Queen for a Day, An American Family and Candid Camera as well as the gameshows of the 1950s. Of course, the genre has undergone an extreme gentrification in order to compete in today's entertainment climate.

"What's new," noted Robert Thompson, director of the Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University, "is there are so many more places to put this kind of programming. There's a desperate attempt for cheaper programming. The social mores and technology have changed to the extent that the merging between television and voyeurism has finally come to fruition." The Germans have a word for the appeal of these shows: "Schadenfreude." It means taking delight in the misfortunes of others, what many would consider a guilty pleasure.

In developing new reality series for primetime audiences, the guilty-pleasure factor has become widely tapped. "What the past year has taught us is that there are no rules anymore, observed CBS' president and CEO Les Moonves.

For once however, the format for success did not originate in the U.S. Both Survivor and Millionaire are based on hit European series, so in that respect, the networks aren't taking as big a gamble.

As Kelly Kahl, CBS's head of Planning and Scheduling, explained, "Survivor was a hit [overseas], so people couldn't dismiss it as some crackpot show." The same could be said of CBS's other summer reality series, Big Brother -- based on the hit Dutch show of the same name -- in which 10 volunteers are sequestered in a house for three months while monitored around the clock by a gauntlet of cameras. The show comes attached to an Internet component as every week, viewers vote one of the housemates off the show. The last person remaining wins $500,000 (up from $125,000 in the original Dutch version).

In fact, Europe is so bullish on this type of programming, Zone Vision launched a Reality TV channel late last year. Such a channel may be another European idea exported to American cable in the not too distant future.

Back on the U.S. front, networks are racing to come up with the next big ratings winners and several reality shows are already in the works. Like their predecessors, many are European imports. ABC announced its purchase of the U.S. broadcast rights to The Mole, a Belgian series about a group of people sent on a cross-country scavenger hunt. However, one of the group members is a mole and must secretly sabotage the group's efforts.

Other shows vying for a primetime spot include Fox's Wanted in which three teams try to avoid being captured by ex-bounty hunters, and the British import Mastergame, a trivia show with a twist.

Because of the high failure rate of the slew of traditional game shows rushed to air in the wake of Millionaire, the trend in reality TV, at least for the next season or so, will be to somehow merge the gameshow concept of winning money with the voyeuristic aspect of people in (perceived) peril.

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon have joined the reality chase in The Runner for ABC. The pair of Academy Award-winning writers are putting together a Fugitive-like race where contestants have to cross the country without being spotted. CBS greenlighted a second installment of its Survivor series with Survivor 2: The Australian Outback. Shooting has been slated for this month or next. The Australian Popstars, which covers the making of an all-girl band, and another Dutch reality show titled The Bus are being shopped to the nets.

NBC stood back from all the reality fuss until just last month; the network picked up 16 episodes of Chains of Love from Endemol. This reality series chains four men to one woman (literally) for one week and challenges the men to a Darwinian struggle for the woman's heart. NBC has also given a nod to Sweet Revenge, a show that couples Candid Camera and Jerry Springer. Contestants are offered the chance to get back at friends or loved ones by setting them up for some embarrassment on a hidden camera.

Other reality shows under consideration include Barbershop, where down-to-earth folks chit-chat over snip-snips; The Flat, in which a male maid serves five women in any way they desire; and Since You've Been Gone, where a group is isolated from the world for one week and then asked to recount what has happened during that time.

As TV executives play reality ruses with primetime, daytime syndication has been cycling from celebrity-driven talk shows to celebrity-driven court TV. With Martin Short, Donny and Marie, Leeza Gibbons and Roseanne no longer in the syndication picture, producers have developed a slate of legal shows that they are hoping will ride on the coattails of Judge Judy's legal robes. Of the new shows debuting this year, the two with the most buzz are Power of Attorney, in which eight prominent lawyers (including F. Lee Bailey; Christopher Darden and Gloria Allred) take turns arguing for citizens in civil disputes, and Judge Hatchett, featuring Glenda Hatchett, a former Fulton County, Georgia juvenile court judge.

Also appearing on daytime's docket is Moral Court, where Los Angeles radio talk show host Larry Elder referees two people clashing over moral issues, and Arrest & Trial, producer Dick Wolf's contribution that offers a nonfiction version of his primetime drama, Law & Order.