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Maturing 'Mole' gains in elegance
Monday, February 26, 2001
"THE MOLE" STARTED ugly. More pretentious than a TV pundit and more confusing than my sock drawer, it was a tough thing to watch when it premiered Jan. 9.
Seven weeks later, as we verge upon its two-night climax tomorrow and Wednesday (8 p.m., KOMO/4), the game show ABC calls an "international mystery adventure series" is proving far more seductive than anything coming from the mean-spirited, bikini-strewn Outback on the second spasm of "Survivor." Even better: It's "reality" that doesn't bite back. Already assured another go at it, this time with 13 episodes instead of nine, "The Mole" could well become the thinking person's reality-game show.
Of course, that sort of compliment means it'll never pull down the big numbers network executives covet more lustily than good seats at a Lakers game. This season, "The Mole" is hovering just inside the Nielsen top 50, neck and neck with NBC's "Ed." But just as "Ed" has become a darling of well-educated (demographic translation: young and free-spending) viewers, "The Mole" will make ABC some nice scratch even if it never cracks the top 20. It's already the network's No. 1 entertainment series among adults 18-34 and the No. 1 series overall among women in the same group.
Advertisers lap up this kind of data and convert it to hard currency to buy commercial time, so if ABC and the producers of "The Mole" are smart (and there's no guarantee of that), the next version will smooth out the rough spots and present something that gives "reality" a good name from the get-go.
Already, despite its rocky start, the show has become an elegant example of a strategy-based game show that doesn't try to reduce its players to pettiness, even as they chase a jackpot worth up to a million dollars. True, some contestants in "The Mole" haven't been fond of others and there's been some ugly name-calling. But the spirit of the game, whether by design or by accident, is relentlessly upbeat, and the three finalists -- the quiet Steven, the irreverent Jim and the mysterious Kathryn -- actually like each other.
Not so "Survivor II." As we predicted last summer, this latest version of Day Camp for Adults With Ego Issues has degenerated into high school revisited. The low point was last week's catfight between Kimmi the Kleavage Kween and Alicia the Finger Pointer, which had everything but the hair-pulling and Twinkie-tossing. Producer Mark Burnett has correctly gauged the American television audience's appetite for conflict, and no doubt we can expect more over the ensuing weeks even with Kimmi now banished from Australia.
But there also is an audience, most likely smaller, that enjoys observing human behavior while shying from surly, in-your-face confrontation. As the too-crowded, too-tightly edited early episodes gave way to the more relaxed pace of recent ones, "The Mole" seems to have provided just such an opportunity with a knowing wink. Now down to three contestants -- actually two plus the unknown saboteur who has been working to thwart the other players' progress -- the show's first season will end this week with a big question looming: Will ABC keep intact the good parts of the show, such as the sense of collegiality among the players and the emphasis on trust even in the face of betrayal, or will it go for more conflict a la "Survivor" and the shameless "Temptation Island?"
In announcing the show's renewal last week, ABC executive Andrea Wong said, "The first season only hinted at the potential of this show and we look forward to watching the series grow to a whole new level."
Me too. I just hope it doesn't grow like "Survivor."
John Levesque is the P-I's television critic. Call him at 206-448-8330 or send e-mail to tvguy@seattle-pi.com.
By JOHN LEVESQUE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER TELEVISION CRITIC
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