Big Brother 12 will conclude after Survivor Nicaragua debuts

Usually, Big Brother concludes before Survivor returns, but not this year: Survivor Nicaragua debuts Sept. 15 at 8, in its new Wednesday timeslot, and that will be followed by a two-hour Big Brother 12 finale.

That seems a little awkward, because my brain rather likes the mental break and cleansing the previous schedule allowed. It’s like eating rice cakes and astronaut ice cream all summer long, and then transitioning to a diet of finely crafted sushi and hand-churned ice cream. Eating dehydrated ice cream after the real thing? No thanks.

Anyway, between Jeff Probst and company’s move to Wednesdays, and now using Survivor as a lead-in, it seems like CBS has faith in its oldest unscripted series to carry its viewers not just to a new night, but also to serve as a strong lead-in to a finale of a show that usually gets about half its audience. Let’s hope it works, and doesn’t diminish Survivor in the process.