TCA THE BUZZ FROM THE TV PRESS TOUR CBS' `BB4': VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED.

Byline: David Kronke

TV Critic Fox may have a new series about pornography - ``Skin'' - but it's CBS that's actually making strides in the form: Viewers of ``Big Brother 4's'' Internet feeds were treated this past week to the spectacle of a couple having sex in Studio City's Big Brother house. The event was hinted at but not directly addressed on the TV show.

CBS CEO Les Moonves, appearing at the Television Critics Association's semiannual press tour, appeared untroubled by the incident - ``The show's about real people,'' he said, adding that the Internet feed was available only to paying subscribers (and the act was performed beneath covers). ``It's a social experiment. It's a good summer show.''

Nancy Tellem, president of CBS Entertainment, said, ``I'm surprised this didn't occur earlier,'' adding that not discussing the sexual encounter on the air - even though one of the participants was interviewed by host Julie Chen the day of the incident - was a matter of ``taste,'' marking the first time taste was a consideration on ``Big Brother.''

It was another banner week for ``Big Brother'' - one participant was removed from the house after a violent tantrum. He admitted he had lied to CBS about medication he was taking and that he had a sexually transmitted disease (a previous ``Big Brother'' contestant was ejected from the house for holding a knife to a woman's throat; it was revealed he had an arrest record network of which executives were unaware).

``If we're not doing something controversial, we're not doing our job right,'' Moonves said. Nonetheless, Moonves, fearing a repeat of previous CBS summer press conferences, requested a moratorium on hostile ``Big Brother'' questions, relegating them to after the press conference. He did, however, suggest that if ``Survivor'' and ``American Idol'' were the Rolls Royces of reality television, ```Big Brother' is a Chevy Impala.''

Instead, Moonves admitted that CBS misstepped in its pursuit of Jessica Lynch and fired the first salvo in the network's efforts to bring back ``Everybody Loves Raymond'' after the upcoming season.

``Sometimes you do go over the line,'' Moonves said of CBS sending Lynch's representatives a letter requesting an interview with CBS News that dangled such carrots as a TV movie and a book deal with sister corporation Simon & Schuster. ``If we had to do it all over again, a movie-of-the-week would not be mentioned. That did not respect the sanctity of CBS News.''

As for ``Everybody Loves Raymond,'' creator Phil Rosenthal and star Ray Romano have suggested they would prefer the series end before it loses its creative edge, while Moonves made it clear that he would be happy to ride that horse until it completely collapsed, but acted as though possibly losing the network's top-rated comedy was no big deal.

Moonves said odds were ``50/50'' that this would be ``Raymond's'' final season. ``We're prepared - we have an alternative'' if the show does not return, he added, including a possible spinoff series. ``If 'Raymond' goes, we'll be hurt a lot less than NBC will be when 'Friends' goes.

``Creatively, it's as sound as ever,'' Moonves said. ``The cast is dying to come back.'' Without Rosenthal at the helm, he said, ``it would fall apart,'' but he would still welcome a spinoff: ``The show's an A-plus - if you want to give me a B-plus, I'll take it.''

Moonves said casting James Brolin as Ronald Reagan (opposite Judy Davis as Nancy) in its coming miniseries on the Reagans ``took us a minute to digest,'' but that he was ultimately persuaded after seeing the actor's work on ``The West Wing.'' ``We haven't asked Barbra Streisand (Brolin's famously liberal wife) about what she thinks about James Brolin playing Reagan.''

The flagging ratings of ``The CBS Evening News'' concerned Moonves, but he insisted, ``We don't believe the problem is (anchor) Dan Rather. We don't understand why the show is not doing better.''

David Kronke, [phone]

david.kronke(at)dailynews.com