This week Lycos users demonstrated the intense attraction of reality-based television across the globe, but even Survivor (#3) was upstaged by continued interest in a new star from the most reality-based television of all: the news.
Unlike last summer, the finale of Survivor could not make it to the pinnacle of the Lycos 50. It was surpassed not only by the Dragonball (#1) juggernaut but also by the unexpected wave of curiosity spawned by naked photos of new CNN Headline News anchorwoman Andrea Thompson (#2).
What we thought would be one week of fleeting interest became a groundswell of voyeuristic glee, putting a 42 year-old mom in the rare position of being the most popular female on the Internet. That's right: for the time being, the ex-NYPD Blue star has pulled ahead of Britney Spears. How's that for a Mother's Day (#9) present?
WHO WATCHES THE WATCHMEN: Meanwhile, across both ponds, the world continued to show its fascination with 24-hour online feeds of good-looking young people locked together in a house.
Across the Pacific, Big Brother Australia (#29) saw interest fade a bit with the ejection of dominatrix Andy from the house. Across the Atlantic, the French version of the program, Loft Story, debuts at an astonishing #7.
That's right -- a reality show from another country broke the top ten this week. Loft Story finishes higher in the United States than it does in Quebec, where people at least speak French.
The show has been quite controversial in France, despite the fact that only cameras in the living room can be viewed on free television. For the racier all-access view, including bedrooms and swimming pool, viewers must purchase a special satellite television package or visit the show's website.
The French government has told the show it cannot broadcast any footage which "could undermine the respect of human dignity." As my friend Andy Dehnart points out, of course, this is the whole point of Big Brother. Maybe the authorities are just upset because the breakout star of the show is a stripper named Loana Piscine, who last week received more searches than any Survivor cast member other than Elisabeth Filarski.
Big Brother is returning to American television this summer with a lot of changes: everything from new non-Ikea furniture to a new logo to new voting rules. If they can jettison the middle-aged family types and get a cast full of twenty-something sex workers and musicians like those in Europe and Australia, the American version may match the success of its worldwide counterparts. It would also lower the median age of CBS' summer viewership by about thirty years.
CRASH INTO ME: Model Niki Taylor (#15) has never been one of the most popular supermodels online, but there's nothing like a car crash to fix that. Taylor suffered serious liver injuries and remains in critical condition more than a week later. Tragedy runs in the Taylor family; her younger sister Krissy, also a model, died of a heart ailment at the age of 17.
THE PEOPLE'S CHAMPION: The Mummy Returns (#40) becomes the first blockbuster of the 2001 summer to make the Lycos 50. The big-screen debut of wrestler The Rock annihilated the competition to rake in more than $70 million this weekend, leaving second-place Driven in the dust with only $6 million.
Building search traffic definitely pointed to Mummy-mania, and we're expecting similar results in three weeks when Pearl Harbor debuts. This week the World War II film and the battle that inspires it received more searches than the Backstreet Boys.
SHORT SUBJECTS: Lycos users struggled with their Spanish spelling as Cinco de Mayo finishes the week at #8? The May 1 release of their album Survivor gave a boost to R&B starlets Destiny's Child (#21)? The Kentucky Derby (#23) was hot, but winning steed Monarchos received fewer searches than brine shrimp? The Bob Kerrey controversy nearly puts the Vietnam War on the Lycos 50? Kyle Bradford, the gay porn star who claims to have had an affair with Tom Cruise, gets more searches this week than Michael Jordan or prom dresses? Look out next week for the rising Brande Roderick, who will front the next issue of Playboy as Playmate of the Year.
NEW THIS WEEK: Loft Story, Cinco de Mayo, Niki Taylor, Kentucky Derby, The Mummy Returns.
DROPOUTS: NFL, 'N Sync, The Beatles, Limp Bizkit, mortgage rates.
BIGGEST RISE: Mother's Day, up 32 places to #9.
BIGGEST DROP: Big Brother, down 16 places to #29.
ONE YEAR AGO: The I Love You Virus freaked out enough people to place at #3.
TOMORROW: The hot rock band currently at #56.
