'Survivor: All-Stars' Finale: Twist and Pout

"Survivor" finales continue to hover around the 20-million-viewer mark, with about 24 million catching Amber Brkich winning a million bucks on Sunday's "Survivor: All-Stars."

The two-hour finale on CBS, in which Brkich edged out runner-up/boyfriend Rob Mariano, borrowed a great deal from other reality series finales.

In a nod to ABC's "The Bachelor," seconds before host Jeff Probst announced the winner, Mariano, sensing things weren't going to go his way, proposed marriage to Brkich. The silly girl accepted, cutting her winnings in half -- not to mention whacking all the excitement out of the final vote.

This, naturally, irked Probst, who, while the camera was trained on Brkich and Mariano's parents out in the audience slapping one another on the back, could be heard telling Mariano to sit down.

"First, let me answer the question that's on everyone's mind," Probst told the Madison Square Garden crowd. "The big twist we've been promoting was going to be revealed tonight -- that was not it. That was Rob's twist.

"We still have this little thing called the vote to get to," Probst continued.

"Interesting dynamic that adds to this -- suddenly Amber wins a million no matter who you voted for," he added, a tad peevishly we think.

And so interesting he said "Amber" instead of "Rob."

After the vote, Probst revealed the show's intended "twist." In another reality-show homage, this one to Fox's "American Idol," he announced that viewers would be able to vote via phone over the next few days for the other "Survivor: All Stars" competitor they would most like to see receive a second $1 million prize.

It's the first time this has been done on the long-running reality series created by Mark Burnett, who obviously has a sense of humor, because the very next morning he was quoted in the New York Times crying how unfair it is that Fox is trying to copy his upcoming boxing reality series for NBC.

The early estimate of 24.1 million viewers for the "All-Stars" finale is expected to adjust upward when final stats arrive today because the really good stuff -- Mariano's marriage proposal and the jury picking Brkich -- happened between 10 and 10:15, but the early stats are for 8 to 10 p.m. only.

The early viewer estimate is a smaller crowd than the 25.2 million who watched the finale of the seventh edition, "Survivor: Pearl Islands," on Dec. 14, 2003.

On the other hand, it's a bigger audience than "Survivor: Amazon," the least watched finale of the franchise, which garnered an audience of 22.3 million in May '03.

The audience estimate for Sunday comes nowhere near the most watched finale: 51.7 million caught the final broadcast of the very first "Survivor" in August 2000. The second edition, "Survivor: Australian Outback," posted 36.4 million in its final episode; all remaining "Survivor" finales have scored about 20 million. Interestingly, Brkich was the 11th person tossed in that Australian competition.

Sundance Channel will produce a three-episode sequel to "Tanner '88," reuniting creators Robert Altman and Garry Trudeau as well as some of the cast members.

The original 11-episode mock documentary followed faux presidential candidate Jack Tanner, played by Michael Murphy, through the '88 Democratic primaries, in which he "lost" the nomination to Michael Dukakis. In the original series, real politicians played themselves and interacted with the actors -- just like "K Street," only interesting.

Murphy will be back, as will Cynthia Nixon, who will play his now-grown daughter, a documentary filmmaker seeking funding for a project on what it takes to run for president, Sundance said in yesterday's announcement.

The very short sequel, which ends with the Democratic convention in Boston, will debut in October.

In February, Sundance Channel began rerunning "Tanner '88" on Tuesday nights.