Date: 1st March 2001

Philly Can't Get Enough Of Reality TV


Meanwhile, analysts are trying to figure out why virtually all of the network reality series have clicked especially strongly in Philadelphia. Ratings in the nation's fourth-largest market for Big Brother, Survivor, Survivor II The Australian Outback and The Mole are substantially higher than they are in any other major city in the U.S., the Philadelphia Inquirer reported today (Thursday). (Temptation Island is an exception; Philadelphia is tied for sixth.)

Lynne Spiegel Spillman, casting director for Survivor and a native of Philadelphia, told the Inquirer: "It's shocking to me, because Philadelphia had some of the lowest numbers of people that applied to be contestants. ... I just think Philly is a lot of different groups, and people there seem real, down-to-earth, and I guess they relate to ordinary people." Former Inquirer TV critic David Bianculli, who now writes for the New York Daily News, told the newspaper: "I think it's like the Abominable Snowman. There are some mysteries that are just better left unexplained."

Source: Studio Briefing