Super Bowl ''Survivor'' falls short of expectations

Maybe it was because Sunday’s Super Bowl didn’t end until nearly 11 p.m. ET and viewers were sleepy, or maybe it was because they had already seen too much nudity at halftime to want to watch Richard Hatch cavorting pantsless. In any case, the post-game premiere of ”Survivor: All-Stars” did not get the ratings bounce CBS had hoped for (and had claimed in early ratings estimates released Monday morning). Even though the game was the most-watched Super Bowl in six years, drawing an average of 89.6 million viewers, nearly two-thirds of them failed to stick around for ”Survivor.” The premiere drew 33.3 million viewers, according to Nielsen, down 27 percent from the 45.4 million who turned in for the post-Super Bowl debut of ”Survivor: The Outback” three years ago.

CBS put a positive spin on the number, noting in a press release that Sunday’s show was the most-watched episode of ”Survivor” since the ”Outback” finale in spring 2001, which drew an audience of 36.4 million. The number was also a marked improvement from ABC’s post-Super Bowl broadcast of ”Alias” last year, which attracted only 17.4 million viewers. (The post-Super Bowl record belongs to NBC, which drew 53 million viewers to an hour-long episode of ”Friends” after the 1996 game.) Still, CBS is offering viewers who missed seeing how ”Outback” champ Tina Wesson became the first one voted off the island another chance to see the ”All-Stars” premiere in a rerun on Tuesday night.