'Survivor' Teams to be divided based on race

[AspenRose]

Bad, bad BAD idea

"It is day one of what could end up being the biggest mistake of Mark Burnett's career, but the Survivor executive producer is downright giddy. Sitting in a trailer next to the crew catering tent on the remote Polynesian island of Aitutaki, Burnett is reveling in the just-filmed opening sequence for Survivor: Cook Islands (debuting Sept. 14 on CBS). ''This is a really likable group,'' he says of the 20 new contestants. Likable? Perhaps. Controversial? Definitely. That's because Survivor has turned the quest for a $1 million into a war of the races — segregating whites, blacks, Asians, and Hispanics into four separate tribes.

Where did such an idea come from? Hey, don't look at us! Or, on second thought... ''Oddly enough, a lot of it started in the offices of Entertainment Weekly,'' says host Jeff Probst, either generously giving credit or coyly assigning blame. ''I would come in and always get asked, 'Why aren't there more black people on the show? Where are all the Asians?' So the idea to take on something we are criticized for. We decided, let's try to have the most ethnically diverse cast in the history of TV.''

http://www.ew.com/ew/report/0,6115,1279451_3_0_,00.html?cid=recirc-peopleRecirc

[rug]

1. The first team to light the cross wins immunity.

[Blue-Jay]

2. Nothing good will come of this.

[LynneSin]

3. Survivor 'Jumped the Shark' with All-stars

This is pretty much the nail in the coffin for the show. It's had it's run and time for it to pack up and go away.

I was a dedicated viewer of Survivor for ages but I barely watched the next to last one and didn't watch any of the last one.

[Blue-Jay]

4. I don't remember paying attention since about Season 3.

It was a fun show at first, I guess.

[LynneSin]

5. I was a faithful viewer, they still have gotten great ratings

I mean they weren't getting the mega ratings but they were still making the top 20 even with the more recent seasons.

But this is nothing more than polorizing crap by dividing teams by race. CBS should have the balls and reject it

[ForrestGump]

6. I never watched it because I hated the concept from the start

When I first heard of it I thought it'd be about actual survival -- you know, wilderness skills and the like (I've got background in that and thought it'd be a cool premise for a show). But when I discovered it was essentially about who was the best backstabber or manipulator -- i.e., shifting a corporate American culture to a rustic environment and letting them go for it in some yuppified version of Lord of the Flies -- I lost all interest.

In reality, I suspect that the winners of these contests would actually have lower surivival probability than their peers in an actual survival situation. Group dynamics change quite markedly in response to stressors of different magnitude and nature, and you can't mollify or con Mother Nature with good command of Machiavellian games, deception and misdirection, or other fakery. You get voted off the planet if that's all you've got up your sleeve.

[LynneSin]

9. I think when they first created it that's what they expected

Toss people out there with a minimal amount of resources and test their skills to see who could last the longest on the island. However thanks to Richard Hatch, he turned it into a scheming, backstabbing popularity contest that just happens to be filmed in a deserted part of the world with minimal supplies

[ForrestGump]

10. If so, that would have been worthwhile

Though my personal bent would have had all the contestants alone, on different parts of an island or on several islands, to totally avoid the benefits and pitfalls of having others in the same boat.

As it turned out, they should have had the remaining contestants eat the ones who got kicked out of the game.

Maybe that'll be a twist for the next season...

[idgiehkt]

13. I don't understand the concept of 'voting off' anyway

it doesn't really have anything to do with survival...you need everybody.

maybe it would be truer to have them pull straws and the loser gets thrown into a volcano or has their heart removed while they are alive, or crucified, or some other ancient kind of human sacrifice. But to constantly chuck out your people leaving you with fewer and fewer bodies...that doesn't make any sense really. You are right, it's totally corporate culture. That's why people like Richard Hatch and that used car salesman won. But the thing is Lynne Sin is right, they were stunned when Hatch started his scheming on the first season, because they had not expected that. Personally I'd like it alot more if they didn't agree on who to vote off, that would be a crap shoot. This way is so 'mean girls' or something.

[ForrestGump]

14. Yeah

If they're going to be in groups, at least have them get rid of the dead wood the old fashioned way: by chasing them, screaming, through the jungles while brandishing knives and axes made of stone or sharks' teeth. :D

I bet Richard Hatch would have been among the first to go, not least because a true survivor doesn't tolerate a conniving backstabber. And he'd probably have been good eating.

[Radical Activist]

12. I bet ratings go up though.

A lot of people will tune in thinking a team has something to prove for their own race.

[jdadd]

7. My Rebel flag flying

Mule riding, coon hunting, redneck, ex sister in law really loves this show...
That's the reason I never watched it!!!:puke:

[Midlodemocrat]

8. Survivor jumped the shark several seasons ago.

I stopped watching after the guy got burned. It was just one outrageous stunt after another designed to humiliate people.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

11. File this one under...

REALLY FUCKING STUPID IDEA!