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By Lynette Rice

Opposing 'Camp'

Why does CBS think it has a snowball's chance in the outback of winning its suit against Fox's Boot Camp, which the net claims has ripped off Survivor? According to one Eye insider, it's not that Camp has pilfered the premise of dropping contestants into unfamiliar surroundings and then voting each other off. ''Everybody is free to steal an idea. But no one is free to plagiarize expression.'' Translation: CBS is peeved that Boot Camp is using many of Survivor's trappings. Case in point: Camp marches its recruits to a separate location called Dismissal Hill (a la Tribal Council), which is ringed by torches, where the host/drill instructor tallies the votes and dismisses a contestant. ''What [Camp] did was take what the audience loves about Survivor -- writing down names, putting them in an isolated spot, having the [host] talk,'' the source said. ''They've copied a lot of that expression.'' Fox insiders write off the lawsuit as frivolous. ''I Love Lucy was the original sitcom to use three cameras,'' says our source. ''Does that mean that no one else can use them?''

'Public' Outcry

At long last, David E. Kelley and Vince McMahon have something in common: Both guys have TV shows that the conservative Parents Television Council wants advertisers to boycott. Pulling a page out of its anti-World Wrestling Federation playbook, the L.A.-based group has successfully discouraged 12 companies -- including Kmart and Wendy's -- from running ads during Kelley's Boston Public on Fox. PTC is taking issue with the high school drama's racy content, which has included seminude shower scenes and a student considering using the abortion drug RU-486. ''Some of my clients have been concerned about it because it's so darn realistic,'' says media buyer Paul Schulman. ''It's not for every advertiser.'' Star Chi McBride disagrees. ''Grow up,'' he says of the critics. ''It's really happening.'' But McBride is getting the last laugh. Public dominates its 8-9 p.m. Monday time slot among adults 18-34, which is why Fox has already picked it up for next season.

'Bye and Large

Although the final weeks of Survivor 2 have been giving NBC fits (original episodes of Friends and The Weber Show on April 19 were among the lowest-rated ever), the Peacock will still air mostly must-see originals opposite S2's three-hour finale May 3. (It'll only run a Friends repeat in place of the struggling Weber.) Two weeks later, look for NBC to be living large with hour-long season finales of Friends and Will & Grace on May 17. CBS will also supersize, running extended season-enders of The King of Queens and Everybody Loves Raymond on May 21; and ABC will do likewise with The Drew Carey Show and Spin City on May 23. As for Fox, The WB, and UPN, their May sweeps will be strictly business as usual. ''We're not gimmicky here at The WB,'' says one suit. Ouch!

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