CBS won't let a good 'Survivor' go; Specials will keep spotlight on Aussie contestants

You know how it is with some guests - it's a half-hour from the time they start to say their goodbyes until their headlights actually fade from view. "Survivor: The Australian Outback" is kind of like that. On Thursday Tina Wesson was named winner of the show's million-dollar prize. End of story, right? Wrong! CBS has planned at least three more appearances this week by the "Outback" contestants, who no doubt share the network's reluctance to put them in the station wagon and send them back to Obscureville. If you tune in this week at the usual "Survivor" time - 7 p.m. Thursday on CBS (Channel 5) - you'll see "Back to the Outback," a newsmagazine-ish look at what happened to the 16 "Survivor" contestants after they returned from Australia. (Does Debb still find prison work fulfilling? Does Kel sneak off into the woods in real life?) Also look for Wesson on the network's two late-night talkers, "Late Show With David Letterman" at 10:35 tonight and "Late Late Show With Craig Kilborn" (12:37 a.m.) on Tuesday. There will be yet another wedding and yet another "special guest appearance" on "Friends" this week (7 p.m. Thursday, NBC, Channel 41). This time the putative pair are Monica (Courteney Cox Arquette) and Chandler (Matthew Perry), and the celebrity - who always seems to be a little less famous than any of the "Friends" - is Kathleen Turner, pretending to be Chandler's cross-dressing father. I realize that choosing between "Survivor" and "Friends" presents a terrible sweeps-month dilemma to many viewers. But if you decide you'd rather see whether Elisabeth was able to grow back her hair and gain back those six pounds she lost on "Survivor," fear not. Turner will be in drag next week, too. During the 1970s you couldn't turn on the radio without hearing one of the many hit singles that Paul and Linda McCartney's homespun band, Wings, churned out like clockwork. Never one to leave any ex-Beatle's waking moment undocumented, ABC will air "Wingspan," at 8 p.m. Friday (Channel 9). The two-hour film is essentially a conversation between Paul and daughter Mary that works in snippets of Wings hits and a great deal of home movie and old news footage. A companion 40-song CD arrives in stores Tuesday. Although Linda died in 1998 of breast cancer, it is evident from "Wingspan" that she and Paul and their four children lived a charmed life. With her constant support and companionship, the ex-Beatle, who is warm and insightful throughout this film, was able to play for both love and money. We hear Linda in an old interview explain her presence on stage at Wings concerts. "I'm not there 'cause I'm the greatest keyboard player," she says. "I'm there because we love each other." Another musical special this week is just as noteworthy: "Hip Hopera: Carmen," airing at 7 p.m. Tuesday on MTV. Beyonce Knowles of the pop group Destiny's Child stars as the femme fatale of George Bizet's 1875 opera. The soundtrack has been rewritten in hip-hop verse, though strains of the original score can be heard in the background. Also starring are Mekhi Phifer in the Don Jose role (here, he's a Philadelphia cop) and Mos Def (as Phifer's corrupt supervisor) in the Escamillo role. I watched only about 15 minutes of "Carmen" - just long enough to catch Knowles rolling around on the floor in her drop-dead red dress. But I liked every frame I saw. And the concept! Injecting a 19th-century opera with 21st-century verse and bringing it to millions of young viewers. Isn't this what public broadcasting should be doing? You can reach Aaron Barnhart through the TV Barn Web site at www.tvbarn.com. >>>