The broadcast networks are doing an about-face when it comes to reality shows.
   Only a few months ago, when the networks were laying out their plans for this season, more than a few executives swore off reality, saying the genre had found its place on the summer schedule. 
  Forget that.
  Reality is all over the primetime schedule, and it’s becoming a fall TV fixture for the simple reason that reality shows are one of the few bright spots in a season when most of the networks are losing viewers.
   CBS’s “Survivor” is the grandfather of the genre, and its seventh version ranks as the third most-watched program for the season through Nov. 30. 
   The series finale next Sunday, which will be followed by an eighth version starting after the Super Bowl in February, will generate enormous ratings if recent numbers are any indication.
   Last Thursday, when “Survivor: Pearl Islands” went head-to-head with a repeat of NBC’s “Friends,” it pulled its biggest audience ever, with 22.2 million people tuning in.
   But reality isn’t only having a positive impact on CBS.       
   The debut of Fox’s “Simple Life” last week became the most-watched reality show premiere this season, with 13 million viewers, and others like NBC’s “Fear Factor” and ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” have ranked No. 1 in their time slots among the adult 18-49 demographic that many advertisers favor.
   “Reality shows for the foreseeable future may be a stopgap measure to get young viewers to the broadcast networks,” says Brad Adgate, senior vice president and corporate research director at Horizon Media.
   “There haven’t been any breakout new shows, and there haven’t been any decent sitcoms in several years, which generally have a younger audience profile than dramas.”   
   Of course, not all reality shows have done well this season, as “The Next Joe Millionaire: An International Affair” proved when almost nobody watched it.
   But each network has at least one show that suggests reality will have a prominent place on next fall’s schedule.
   On ABC the recently completed “Bachelor” improved on its predecessor by an average 1 million viewers and in head-to-head competition beat NBC’s “West Wing” by 30 percent.
   The network’s “Extreme Makeover” hasn’t pulled huge ratings, but in one of TV’s toughest time slots – Thursday at 9 p.m. – it has boosted ABC’s adult 18-49 rating 114 percent.
   More recently, “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” generated the second-largest audience for a reality show premiere this season. Its first episode on Dec. 3 was the first network show to beat NBC’s “Law & Order” in more than three years.
   On NBC, the long-running “Fear Factor” has bumped up its ratings with better prizes and more gimmicks, like a family edition. The show’s adult 18-49 rating is up 12 percent over last year and ranks No. 15 so far this season.
   The network’s first season of “Average Joe,” which aired its finale last night, had its best 18-49 rating last week and marked NBC’s best performance in its time slot since 1998.
   It shouldn’t come as a surprise, then, that network executives have grown quiet about reality being a summer-only genre.
   In fact, more shows are coming.
   A second version of NBC’s “Average Joe” kicks off Jan. 5 while the new Donald Trump show “The Apprentice” premieres Jan. 8.
   ABC has “Celebrity Mole Yucatan” coming on Jan. 7, and the latest version of “The Bachelorette” starts Jan. 14.
   CBS’s “Survivor: All Stars” begins Feb. 1 and Fox’s third “American Idol” premieres Jan. 19.
   Naturally, network executives had reason earlier this year to shy away from reality shows.
   No one, for example, knew at that time that five of the six networks’ adult 18-49 ratings would be down between 5 percent and 19 percent. But also, the shows don’t have much of an afterlife in syndication and many advertisers don’t want to be on the shows, particularly those depicting unsavory acts.
   That, however, is also starting to change.
   “It’s a catch-22 situation,” says Adgate. “Advertisers don’t necessarily like reality shows as much as scripted shows, but they also tend to want younger demos. And it seems younger demos have an appetite for these shows.”