Survivor: Cook Islands Wk 3
Maureen Ryan of the Chicago Tribune is an excellent writer and blogger. She blogs a column entitled "The Watcher" which discusses television programming. She writes from a fan's perspective, but also adds a certain insight that is valuable to her readers.
Recently, she wrote about the third week of this year's Survivor. In her article she states "We got played, America."
She goes on to say, "People had a lot of opinions about how the experiment would go down, and whether it was an act of desperation from a network that likes to project an image of steady, nonchalant success."
I am disappointed with Ms. Ryan's violent reaction, and the reaction of others, regarding such a minor episode.
Let's recount what has happened: A) We all know that "Survivor" is going downhill. They jumped the shark with "Survivor - All Stars" and it won't be long before the series is either totally gone, or clinging to life on either E! or Spike TV.
B) Survivor has done gambits before, including pitting men against women and last years weird "Younger Men, Older Men, Younger Women, Older Women" set up at the start of the season. If you remember that set up, it wasn't too many weeks before there was a merge.
C) Survivor is a series that can't exist doing the same thing year after year, so Jeff Probst and company surprised the world by playing the race card. Okay, maybe they didn't surprise the world. Maybe they only surprised the "stuffy". By "stuffy" I mean those people who flinch at anything that gives the appearance of being politically incorrect. Advertisers began pulling advertising without viewing the program at all, because they don't want to appear on the wrong side of a racially charged issue.
What people don't think about is that Survivor has been mostly caucasian through the first twelve or so editions of the program. Has an African-American won a million? Has an Asian-American? Wouldn't you love to see that happen?
D) The program begins. It isn't that facinating. It isn't embarrassing. It doesn't seem that different from other editions of Survivor. If we don't learn anything from this experiment, let's consider that for a moment. It wasn't that different. What does that tell us? That people are not that different. Minor difference in race and culture make us a wee bit different, but we all work the same way. We all get hungry. We all get tired. Some work hard. Others need a break. Some people talk to much. Some people like tatoos. Some are in great shape. Others are out of shape. What we have learned is that everyone is different and everyone has similar needs.
E) Which brings us to Thursday. Ryan is smart enough to know that the whole program is shot completely before it begins to air. Therefore, the network didn't buckle under pressure. The show has been criticised for not including more minorities. The producers did an interesting thing: Instead have having a mostly minority edition, or an all minority edition, they created a "social experiment". It was a bold attempt to avoid further criticism while including more minorities in the program.
F) Failure. The announcement was supposed to increase interest in the program and maybe even a pat on the back for attempting such an experiment. Instead, people have tuned out in favor of a program called "Ugly Betty".
Ryan complains that she felt cheated, using the words of Sex Pistol's Johnny Rotten. What Ryan and others forget is that Survivor is a TV show. It is not a government program. It is not about fairness and doctrine. It's about entertainment.
Remember a couple years back when there were only two tribes? One tribe lost every week until there was only one member left. They left that one member at her tribe's campsite by themselves before they decided to merge. That was a surprise.
This time they surprised us with an early merge. It wasn't a cheat. It wasn't an attempt an "act of despiration". It was a program attempting to entertain.
Can they help it if they are running low on ideas?
By the way, someone we barely saw was voted off by one of the two remaining tribes. I'll be watching to see what happens next week.
Recently, she wrote about the third week of this year's Survivor. In her article she states "We got played, America."
She goes on to say, "People had a lot of opinions about how the experiment would go down, and whether it was an act of desperation from a network that likes to project an image of steady, nonchalant success."
I am disappointed with Ms. Ryan's violent reaction, and the reaction of others, regarding such a minor episode.
Let's recount what has happened: A) We all know that "Survivor" is going downhill. They jumped the shark with "Survivor - All Stars" and it won't be long before the series is either totally gone, or clinging to life on either E! or Spike TV.
B) Survivor has done gambits before, including pitting men against women and last years weird "Younger Men, Older Men, Younger Women, Older Women" set up at the start of the season. If you remember that set up, it wasn't too many weeks before there was a merge.
C) Survivor is a series that can't exist doing the same thing year after year, so Jeff Probst and company surprised the world by playing the race card. Okay, maybe they didn't surprise the world. Maybe they only surprised the "stuffy". By "stuffy" I mean those people who flinch at anything that gives the appearance of being politically incorrect. Advertisers began pulling advertising without viewing the program at all, because they don't want to appear on the wrong side of a racially charged issue.
What people don't think about is that Survivor has been mostly caucasian through the first twelve or so editions of the program. Has an African-American won a million? Has an Asian-American? Wouldn't you love to see that happen?
D) The program begins. It isn't that facinating. It isn't embarrassing. It doesn't seem that different from other editions of Survivor. If we don't learn anything from this experiment, let's consider that for a moment. It wasn't that different. What does that tell us? That people are not that different. Minor difference in race and culture make us a wee bit different, but we all work the same way. We all get hungry. We all get tired. Some work hard. Others need a break. Some people talk to much. Some people like tatoos. Some are in great shape. Others are out of shape. What we have learned is that everyone is different and everyone has similar needs.
E) Which brings us to Thursday. Ryan is smart enough to know that the whole program is shot completely before it begins to air. Therefore, the network didn't buckle under pressure. The show has been criticised for not including more minorities. The producers did an interesting thing: Instead have having a mostly minority edition, or an all minority edition, they created a "social experiment". It was a bold attempt to avoid further criticism while including more minorities in the program.
F) Failure. The announcement was supposed to increase interest in the program and maybe even a pat on the back for attempting such an experiment. Instead, people have tuned out in favor of a program called "Ugly Betty".
Ryan complains that she felt cheated, using the words of Sex Pistol's Johnny Rotten. What Ryan and others forget is that Survivor is a TV show. It is not a government program. It is not about fairness and doctrine. It's about entertainment.
Remember a couple years back when there were only two tribes? One tribe lost every week until there was only one member left. They left that one member at her tribe's campsite by themselves before they decided to merge. That was a surprise.
This time they surprised us with an early merge. It wasn't a cheat. It wasn't an attempt an "act of despiration". It was a program attempting to entertain.
Can they help it if they are running low on ideas?
By the way, someone we barely saw was voted off by one of the two remaining tribes. I'll be watching to see what happens next week.
Labels: Entertainment
posted by Alexander Dimm | 9:13 PM
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