CBS (Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, 8 p.m. ET)
Give him a medal. New executive producer Arnold Shapiro has made Big Brother 2 less tedious than last summer's arid observation of a bunch of strangers living in a house filled with cameras and microphones. The sequel is on three times a week; the original had up to six weekly airings. Can you say "addition by subtraction"? Now Big Brother is more like Survivor, with the "houseguests" themselves—not us viewers—determining who stays in the $500,000 competition. There's talk of a "power struggle," as well as the promise of sex (or "hooking up," as the players put it). One male contestant was expelled for holding a knife to a woman's neck while they kissed. Nothing like a touch of kinky violence to pique interest. And don't discount that cocky dude who predicts he'll be one of this magazine's "most beautiful people" in 2002. But the show still has too many blah periods in which the players simply sit around and scheme. That's reality for you.
Bottom Line: Hot-air house
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