NEW YORK Five nights a week apparently isn’t enough air time for CBS’ “Big Brother.” The network is adding a sixth night.
Starting next week, an hourlong live edition of “Big Brother” will air at 9 p.m. Wednesday. Wednesdays and Sundays were the only two nights when the show wasn’t on the CBS schedule.
The move gives CBS a chance, for five weeks, to pair its summer hit, “Survivor,” with what is usually the climactic event of the “Big Brother” week.
CBS had picked Thursdays for the weekly show in which one of the 10 strangers rooming together in a California house gets booted out. Every other Thursday, the contestants nominate two people to leave. Viewers choose between the two and, on the other Thursday, the votes are tabulated, and the loser leaves.
Wednesday will become banishment day starting next week. CBS will still air a half-hour version of “Big Brother” on Thursdays.
The show has drawn mediocre ratings and, so far, hasn’t captivated nearly as many viewers as “Survivor.” But it has been a winner among the 18- to 34-year-old audience, which CBS normally has trouble reaching.
The highest ratings by far for “Big Brother” came when it debuted July 5 immediately after “Survivor.” CBS obviously hopes that using the plum time slot will help drum up greater interest in “Big Brother.”
“It obviously makes for a better flow,” CBS spokesman Chris Ender says.
One extra edition a week won’t change the length of the series’ run, he says.
“Big Brother” will continue airing until late September, when the audience chooses its favorite contestant to win a $500,000 prize.
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