Like football fans on Monday nights, Probst thinks that there are on Thursday nights viewers who "think, 'I want a little of something that comforts me and that I've seen before and that I like.' And that's 'Survivor.' "

As always, casting is of paramount importance to "Survivor." And, from the looks of the first episode, this will be a good group — a couple of whom have surprises for both viewers and their fellow contestants.

After the start-to-end nastiness of the last go-round, "Survivor: All-Stars," Probst said this group is "refreshing."

"It was new for them, and they were excited to be there and there was a vitality that was fun. . . . It was the best time I've had in terms of interacting with them," he said. "Even when it was catty and the ugliness started coming, there was still a bit of an attitude that this is a great experience."

But you never quite know where any group is going to go. For the second time, the groups are divided into a tribe of men and a tribe of women. The latter "come out strong saying, 'We're going to do what's never been done before. We're going to stick together until the end.' That's easy to say, and really interesting to see them try to pull it off."

And, while there were no contestants "who came into the game determined to be a villain," some turned out that way. "And what was kind of interesting is that the people who emerged as villains, I'm not sure to this day if they realized they were a villain. I don't think they're going to know until they see the show and realize what was being said about them, how people viewed them. Because everybody seemed to be working together and, suddenly, you saw patterns emerging.

"And that's what made the last half of the (season) so interesting, is that it really was anybody's game. There were all the hardcore alliances that just splintered."

Sounds like fun.

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E-mail: pierce@desnews.com