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What: “Hard Knocks: Training Camp With the Baltimore Ravens”

Where: HBO, tonight, 11

HBO could have called this new six-episode series “Survivor” if that title weren’t already taken. This series will take viewers inside the Ravens’ training camp and provide a look at what it takes to make the grade in the NFL.

Last weekend, an NFL Films crew began taping the Ravens at Westminster, Md. Nothing is off limits.

Why would the Ravens agree to this?

“We welcome the focus HBO will put on us,” Coach Brian Billick said. “We are the team to beat and we’d better learn how to handle the attention that comes with being the defending champs.

“What better way to anesthetize my guys and make them realize they’re going to be scrutinized.”

But Billick, once the San Francisco 49ers’ public relations director, did get one stipulation. “If there’s a comment about a player that we don’t want other teams to be privy to, we can get that cut out,” he said.

Said Rick Bernstein, HBO executive producer: “The Ravens have a lot of characters--Tony Siragusa, Shannon Sharpe, Ray Lewis, Billick--so we have a good foundation to work with.”

Said Steve Sabol, NFL Films president: “This is not a made-for-TV event or manufactured situation. We’ll be documenting real athletes giving everything they have--putting it all on the line for what could be their one or last shot at what they’ve trained for all their lives.”

Among the Raven prospects being featured is Kenny Jackson, a free-agent linebacker from Compton who works in special education at a South Central L.A. high school.

The series, which ends Sept. 5, will air Wednesdays at 11 p.m. and have several replays each week, including Thursdays at 8 p.m.