CBS chief tops magazine's POWER 101

NEW YORK (AP) â€” The man who gave the green light to summer television's guilty pleasure, ``Survivor,'' topped Entertainment Weekly's annual list of the most powerful 101 people in show

Thursday, October 19th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

NEW YORK (AP) â€” The man who gave the green light to summer television's guilty pleasure, ``Survivor,'' topped Entertainment Weekly's annual list of the most powerful 101 people in show biz.

CBS President Leslie Moonves ``outwitted, outlasted and outplayed his network rivals,'' the magazine said.

Mogul Moonves topped two actors, Julia Roberts and Tom Cruise, who finished right behind him.

Fifty-one million people watched the final ``Survivor'' in August. The show was not only enormously profitable, it was the first entertainment program in years to bring a significantly younger audience to CBS.

Producer Mark Burnett, already at work on ``Survivor II'' in Australia, was No. 81 on EW's list.

The magazine's top 10 includes a teen-aged newcomer: Shawn Fanning. The creator of the song-sharing service Napster ``started a music revolution bigger than Elvis and the Beatles combined,'' Entertainment Weekly said.

``Harry Potter' author J.K. Rowling was No. 5, praised for getting children to read.

Others in the top 10 include Dreamworks SKG partners Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen, Universal Music Group CEO Doug Morris, Miramax Films chief Bob Weinstein and actors Bruce Willis and Tom Hanks.

The magazine's closely-watched list ``is like a tech stock,'' said Maggie Murphy, EW assistant managing editor. ``Today, this is how it will be ... in five weeks, it might be different.''

Entertainment Weekly created a separate ``titans list'' this year to separate corporate dealmakers. On top of that list was the executive team of Steve Case and Gerald Levin, who will head AOL Time Warner if that pending merger is approved.

What does a game show craze get you? No. 28, where ``Who Wants to Be a Millionaire'' host Regis Philbin landed on the list for the first time.

``What's important to remember is that he's ahead of the guys who hired him at ABC,'' Murphy said.

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On the Net:

http://www.ew.com