CBS had a chance to make its strangely bland show, "Big Brother," into something strangely interesting.

Faced with a walkout from its six-night-a-week reality TV offering show, the network could have just followed what reality offered it.

Instead, CBS -- in the form of the TV producers who talk to the residents in the so-called "Red Room" -- went on the offensive. By Sunday evening, some hard sell had fractured a house-guest rebellion 36 hours after it had begun.

The odd story began Saturday morning when George, the Rockford roofer, found a nearly religious way to resolve the stress of anti-George banners that have been flying over the house while not actually sacrificing the prize. He came to the conclusion that the secret point of "Big Brother" was for a house full of contestants to stop competing against each other and all walk out together. "It all fits," he marveled.

He was wrong, and everyone else knew he was wrong. But the idea of revolution appealed to most of his housemates. Curtis, the Stanford-educated lawyer and natural diplomat, said he'd found the competitive aspects of the show increasingly "distasteful." He'd also had a taste of turning down big money in favor of principle on the last live show. (Big Brother had offered the housemates $50,000 to leave; unbeknownst to them, the producers planned to replace the resident who left with a curvaceous, self-described "bitch.") He liked it, and he liked the idea of all going out together.

Josh, the rudderless young jock who has told everyone he just wants to be understood, felt viewers were getting the wrong impression: That they were seeing a group of greedy graspers instead of the great friends they are.

Cassandra, the African-American U.N. worker and the group's other natural diplomat, is always up for something that brings people together and shows them in a dignified light.

Jamie the pageant queen and Eddie the one-legged college athlete -- well, they didn't really want to forsake camera and prize money, respectively. But they didn't choose to go against the group.

The next ten or 12 hours of live feed on the Internet were giddy business. The housemates were excited to have taken their fates into their own hands -- to be doing something. So were their viewers.

Suddenly the show was the talk of the Net again. Suddenly, the show was entertaining -- to those watching from outside, because it looked like it was entertaining to those locked inside.

During all that time, however, the producers bided their time and said little to the houseguests.

At 9:30 last night, the group went into the Red Room en masse to announce their intention to leave.

An hour later, CBS had apparently decided that two and a half weeks of dull "Big Brother" -- that's how long the show is scheduled to run -- was better than half a week of exciting "Big Brother," and Big Brother went into full throttle to quash the rebellion.

A producer who introduced himself as John talked to Jamie alone in the Red Room. She told the group later that she suggested that he talk to everyone together through the microphones in the living room. But John flattered her by talking to her alone and having her pass his "thoughts" on to the others.

Jamie said that John was "intrigued" at the houseguests' making such a large decision on such "limited data."

He said the residents couldn't know what people in the outside world thought from a few airplane banners and some quick words from Brittany. He urged them, as someone from outside the house, to stay.

He told the would-be actress that the show had fans who loved them, and they'd be letting those fans down if they left. And, if they worried about being seen as competitive, why did they think the public thought that was a bad thing? He told the beauty pageant winner that the public can hardly blame anyone for winning a vote by the public.

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