TeeVee Talk, Part One
So, last season a bunch of really whiny people complained about SURVIVOR dividing its tribes up by race. I was one of those really whiny people. It just seemed like a reaaaalllly bad idea, one that could create a genuinely unpleasant game or--worse--a boring one with unbreakable alliances.
I was wrong. Cook Islands was one of the best SURVIVOR seasons ever, from beginning to end. It may not have topped Amazon, but it was way up there. That said, you KNOW the producers were chugging Maalox by the quart when it looked like we could have an all-white final four...
Two episodes into Fiji, I'm not feeling the love quite as much. The twist this season--one tribe lives in a luxurious camp, the other gets nothing but a dull machete and a pot--was momentarily intriguing when they initially announced it, but I'm already kinda sick of it. Really, what fun is it to have one team lying around in hammocks, laughing about how they barely feel like they're even playing SURVIVOR, while the other team is half-dead?
This twist in the game does give us automatic underdogs to root for, but the only satisfying outcome will be if they somehow win enough challenges to have the numbers advantage after the merge. Otherwise, the season answers the question: "What happens if we give one team an unfair advantage? They win. Duh."
Of course, my griping assumes that they'll let this Good Camp vs. Bad Camp idea play out until the merge, which is pretty darn unlikely. The last thing the producers want is for the Luxury Camp team to obliterate the Crap Camp team. So whether it's a team swap or a camp swap or whatever, I don't think they'll let the game proceed much longer without some kind of shake-up. But we'll see.
I like the new rule with the hidden immunity idol(s), where you have to play it before the votes are read (but after they're cast). Most likely Mark Burnett said "Dammit, somebody is gonna play one of those %$&@# immunity idols if we have to dump a pile of them outside their shelter!" The new rule does run the risk of giving us an anti-climactic moment where somebody who was in no danger whatsoever plays the idol just because they'd feel like an idiot if they DIDN'T use it and got hit with a blindside vote. But, again, we'll see.
Meanwhile, I tried to cut myself down to one hour of TV a week by giving up on LOST, but my wife vetoed that idea. More later...
I was wrong. Cook Islands was one of the best SURVIVOR seasons ever, from beginning to end. It may not have topped Amazon, but it was way up there. That said, you KNOW the producers were chugging Maalox by the quart when it looked like we could have an all-white final four...
Two episodes into Fiji, I'm not feeling the love quite as much. The twist this season--one tribe lives in a luxurious camp, the other gets nothing but a dull machete and a pot--was momentarily intriguing when they initially announced it, but I'm already kinda sick of it. Really, what fun is it to have one team lying around in hammocks, laughing about how they barely feel like they're even playing SURVIVOR, while the other team is half-dead?
This twist in the game does give us automatic underdogs to root for, but the only satisfying outcome will be if they somehow win enough challenges to have the numbers advantage after the merge. Otherwise, the season answers the question: "What happens if we give one team an unfair advantage? They win. Duh."
Of course, my griping assumes that they'll let this Good Camp vs. Bad Camp idea play out until the merge, which is pretty darn unlikely. The last thing the producers want is for the Luxury Camp team to obliterate the Crap Camp team. So whether it's a team swap or a camp swap or whatever, I don't think they'll let the game proceed much longer without some kind of shake-up. But we'll see.
I like the new rule with the hidden immunity idol(s), where you have to play it before the votes are read (but after they're cast). Most likely Mark Burnett said "Dammit, somebody is gonna play one of those %$&@# immunity idols if we have to dump a pile of them outside their shelter!" The new rule does run the risk of giving us an anti-climactic moment where somebody who was in no danger whatsoever plays the idol just because they'd feel like an idiot if they DIDN'T use it and got hit with a blindside vote. But, again, we'll see.
Meanwhile, I tried to cut myself down to one hour of TV a week by giving up on LOST, but my wife vetoed that idea. More later...
posted by Jeff Strand at 10:11 PM
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