'Big Brother,' 'Amazing Race' Return in July
(Friday, April 02 12:03 PM)
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LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - CBS is pairing up its summer reality-show franchises this year, creating an unscripted block with "Big Brother 5" and "The Amazing Race 5."
The two shows will premiere with 90-minute episodes on Tuesday, July 6. "Big Brother 5" will open the night at 8 p.m. ET, with "The Amazing Race" beginning its fifth global journey at 9:30. The following week, they'll move to their regular time periods, "Big Brother" at 9 p.m. and "Race" at 10.
"Big Brother" will stick to the three-times-a-week schedule that has served CBS well the past four summers. Episodes will also air at 8 p.m. Thursdays -- in which a player will be evicted from the house -- and 9 p.m. Saturdays.
Although there are likely to be twists along the way, both series will adhere to their tried-and-true formats. The winner of "Big Brother" will pocket $500,000, while "The Amazing Race's" victorious two-person team will split $1 million. "Race" has 11 teams this time around, one fewer than in past editions of the show.
CBS also says it will debut the Mike Fleiss-produced series "The Will" sometime during the summer. A premiere date for the show, in which a wealthy head of a family gives part of the family's assets to one of his or her heirs, hasn't been set.
