The stark reality of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks continues to reverberate through our television networks. Low ratings for so-called “reality” shows — or unscripted dramas featuring competition by real people — prompted ABC to bench The Runner.

        Producers Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Michael Davies (Who Wants to be a Millionaire) were planning the TV series and live Internet event in which a lone citizen — the “runner” — would crisscross the country as viewers attempted to track the person down for a potential prize of up to $1 million. The show had been scheduled to debut in January.

        “It is our view that today's environment would not be conducive to this type of television event,” says Lloyd Braun, ABC Entertainment co-chairman. “It is our hope that circumstances will evolve in such a way that we'll eventually be comfortable moving forward.”

        Last week, ABC pulled The Mole II: The Next Betrayal after three broadcasts. NBC shelved three episodes of Lost earlier this month.

        Ratings for CBS' Survivor, last season's runaway No. 1 TV show, have declined for Survivor: Africa. The Oct. 11 premiere was beaten by NBC's Friends nationally, while the Tristate audience matched the ratings level for Survivor 2.

        For the second episode last Thursday, when Survivor participants drank cow blood, national ratings dropped 16 percent — while Tristate ratings dropped 15 percent. Ratings also fell in CBS' other big Survivor markets — by 30 percent in St. Louis; 15 percent in Louisville; 10 percent in Nashville; and 8.5 percent in Pittsburgh.

        Survivor mania has peaked, with ratings falling back to the pack. Now it's just another show.

        Survivor fans need not worry about cancellation — it's still second in the time period — but it's no longer must-see TV.

        Into "Scrubs': Former Hyde Park resident Polly Lucke is working as a hairdresser on NBC's new Scrubs (9:30 p.m. today, Channels 5, 22), which the network has picked up for a full season.

        The daughter of Bill and Sylvia Lucke of Cherry Grove graduated from the School for Creative and Performing Arts (1983) and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (1992).

        “I would never be working in the entertainment industry without SCPA and all those caring teachers. I am one of the lucky few who uses everything I learned in high school and college every day,” says Ms. Lucke, 36, who moved to Los Angeles four years ago.

        “I have a job I love and I work with people I respect. Not many people can say that,” she says.

        She also worked on CBS' Surviving Gilligan's Island: The Incredibly True Story of the Longest Three-Hour Tour in History, and on TV commercials for Pepsi, Apple and other companies.

        "Girlfriends' fans: Cincinnati native Mark Alton Brown, an executive producer of UPN's Girlfriends, says he's heard from lots of old friends since Time Warner Cable picked up UPN affiliate WBQC-TV (Channel 25; Time Warner Channel 20) from 6-11 p.m. last month.

        His biggest fans: His father, retired attorney Allen Brown, and his stepmother. Until the UPN station was added to cable, Mr. Brown mailed tapes of Girlfriends (9:30 p.m. Mondays) to their Mason home.

        “My dad is very pleased. He's a very proud papa and likes to know exactly what he's bragging about on the checkout line at Kroger's,” Mark Brown says.

        Friends here had been “unhooking their cable and getting fuzzy reception through an antenna on Monday night,” he says. “They are watching religiously and critiquing me relentlessly.”

        New York aid: About 600 WGUC-FM (90.9) listeners have donated more than $6,000 in additional funds during the station's fall fund drive for WNYC-FM in New York, which lost its tower and transmitter in the World Trade Center collapse last month.

        WGUC-FM is nearly halfway to its own $225,000 goal. The drive ends Friday.

        More "Guardian': CBS has ordered a full season of The Guardian (9 p.m. today, Channels 12, 7).

        Imus update: MSNBC has signed Don Imus to a multiyear contract to continue simulcasting his popular radio show 6-10 a.m. weekdays. It's the only way to hear Imus in the Morning in the Tristate. WBOB-AM (1160) dropped Imus 18 months ago.

        WKRQ-FM news: Grover Collins, former assistant program director at country music WUBE-FM (105.1), has moved down the dial to Top 40 WKRQ-FM (101.9), a sister Infinity station. When he's not on the air 10 a.m.-2 p.m. weekdays, he's assistant program director to Tommy Frank.

        Leno tally: Jay Leno raised $360,200 for attack victims by auctioning his Harley-Davidson motorcycle autographed by celebrities, and a Ford F-150 pickup truck, on the Internet auction site eBay.

        E-mail jkiesewetter@enquirer.com. Past columns at Enquirer.com/columns/kiese

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