This is shaping up to be a great season of the world's favorite ongoing simulacrum of what happens when real people are thrown against the elements (and each other!) without the support of the 21st century. Survivor used to be all about hoping the one cute girl wasn't about to get voted out, and wondering about whether pee on a jellyfish sting was actually a remedy, and cheering for the old man. Ten years later the show is about: watching the cameramen oggle the women (of whom 3/4s are HOT and/or CUTE), debating whether or not the 'social game' is tricky editing, and knowing the old men tend to look older than they are and are not likely to make it far, regardless their competitive spirit or ability. Most long time viewers have a reasonable chance of predicting how each episode will end, and the sneak peeks are not likely to throw them off.
This change in emphasis has not detracted (much) from the appeal of the show. Now that most of the competitors are actors, bartenders, or other service industry lackeys the show looks great – and the realest people don't even complain that they're outnumbered (if they are, in fact, real people). The most used objection to Survivor is that it's stupid, meaningless, empty, misleading, over-edited, false, scripted, and something only consumerist nincompoops would watch. So, basically, this is exactly the sort of elite-and-artiste-bait that should be widely employed for the detection of snobs, fobs, and hob-nobs.
But background be damned (the Survivor motto), let's talk about this new fancy season with the new feature (new only if you have watched only American Survivor). Redemption Island. Sounds pretty exciting, and includes duel systems for epic showdowns and promises to return a castaway to the game, hopefully to shake up the rather predictable slide into 'end-game' that keeps happening. This gives the scriptwriters all kinds of options for narratives, but since the island is likely to return only one player to the game, it will result in one narrative that will end in failure.
There's at least 6 beautiful women, and there's no Jane from Last Season (or even a Shambo), there's a hillbilly style dude who runs around, and Russell and Boston Rob have returned. Russell was voted out tonight, and was last shown residing on Redemption Island. Boston Rob, of course, is ensconced in his very trusting and safe tribe. Plenty of drama, slick editing, and skulduggery are likely to take place this year and are already occurring.
I'm impressed that Russell was voted off so quickly, though his team was very passive-aggressive about admitting they (quite openly) failed a challenge on purpose to vote him out. Julie, the swing vote, played a wicked double-play and has definitely shewn herself a contender. Stephanie, his brunette lackey and Sarah Silverman's little sister, was too confident and is next week's most obvious target. This is when the purple tribe will likely enter a multi-challenge slide into obscurity. So Sarah Silverman's little sister is probably going to be voted out next.
The irony is, this slide is when Russell is at his best, and you know he'll be annoyed to miss it – unless he loses next week's duel and finally stops haunting this series like a portly, hatted, scheming, rather confident ghost. He might lose, because the narrative of the betrayed, white-bread, surfer Christian coming back to win is more compelling than the narrative of the schemer returning to exact revenge on his passive-aggressive enemies.
Assuming you can stand watching 'reality crap that's shoveled down our throats by the entertainment complex in a vain attempt to distract us from pressing issues', Survivor is going to be the best reality show option for the next few months. If TV is a social barometer, Survivor is the TV barometer.
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