While it's still too early to know which of these series will succeed, EW.com offers you a first look at the upcoming reality lineup:
''The Mole'' (ABC, Jan. 9)
Ten contestants travel to a secret location (it's Paris for the premiere episode -- and somewhere new the next week) where they try to complete various tasks and challenges to win a million bucks. The catch: One player is out to sabotage the game, and the rest of the gang has to guess who it is before being eliminated from the show. It's like a paranoid version of MTV's ''Road Rules.'' But will viewers dig watching people sweating over quizzes about each other? It's hard to say. But then again, 20 million Americans tuned in to watch Gervase and Stacey wolf down a meal of insect larvae.
''Temptation Island'' (Fox, Jan. 10)
It's ''Baywatch'' meets ''Fantasy Island,'' in which four couples in rocky relationships are sent to an island filled with 26 swinging singles. Where do I sign up, you ask? Hang on -- the couples are separated and sent to different islands where they'll be tempted by fun loving, scantily clad members of the opposite sex. After two weeks of lusty adultery or strained monogamy, the contestants must decide between their new love interests and the old ball and chain. Protests by religious groups -- and Fox affiliate boycotts -- have already begun.
''Popstars'' (WB, Jan. 12)
If you loved ABC's ''Making the Band,'' you'll be happy to know that ''Popstars'' is a female variation on that theme. Here's your chance to watch hordes of 18 to 25 year old nubiles strutting their stuff, all for the sake of pop stardom. Could we be witnessing the birth of the next Spice Girls? In episode one, watch the painful band tryouts, with enough off key renditions of ''I Will Always Love You'' to make you BEG for reruns of ''Star Search.''
''Survivor: The Australian Outback'' (CBS, Jan. 28)
If you survive the Super Bowl (and are killing time before the debut of the XFL in February), don't flip the remote. Right after the big game is the premiere of ''Survivor: The Australian Outback,'' where a new set of 16 contestants will vie for the top slot at contrived competitions and melodramatic tribal councils. (Yes, safari shirted host Jeff Probst is back, too.) This time around, there are at least four Machiavellian Richard Hatch wannabes, two female versions of Rudy, and a handful of Colleen style cuties. The show's real challenge, though, will come when it moves to Thursday nights and faces off against another gang of survivors -- the cast of NBC's ''Friends.''
Other Reality Shows in the Works
NBC's ''Destination Mir'' would have had contestants competing for a trip to the rickety Russian space station, but the proposal (from ''Survivor'' producer Mark Burnett) has been grounded now that Mir is scheduled for a self destruct plunge into the Pacific (or a mid- orbit explosion) sometime this spring. Burnett is trying to salvage the TV project and will receive a reported $35 million if he succeeds. Fox's ''Love Cruise,'' a singles at sea game show, and ''Boot Camp,'' a program about, you guessed it, are yet to receive firm airdates. But you can count on one old faithful: MTV's ''The Real World'' (10th season!) will be back this summer with plenty of teen angst and sexual tension in New York City, the site of its very first installment in 1992.
