Thu, May 24, 2007

Around the middle of this Survivor season, I had five episodes stored on my TiVo. I'd only seen two of them, but I usually save them until after I've posted a column about their contents, in case I need to do any last-minute fact-checking. The two I'd seen ended with the eliminations of Lisi and Rocky (if memory serves), so I was actually pretty excited to write about them, but the thought of posting five weeks late was unsettling. Of course, that was nothing compared to the thought of watching three more hours of Survivor to catch up.

I think the reason is that Rocky and Lisi were the only people left I really cared about. Granted, I cared about hating them, as opposed to rooting for them to win, but hoping someone loses is just as strong a motivation to watch Survivor. Once they were gone, I couldn't care a whit about the rest of the game.

It comes down to casting, really. The game is more or less the same each time (with little "twists" of novel awfulness thrown in), so the watchability depends on the personalities. You need some great people, or some awful people; preferably both. Maybe it's the new CBS diversity policy, but it seems like the casting has been pretty lousy lately.

Now that the season is over, and it's ended with another Final Three vote instead of the traditional Final Two, I'm very glad I didn't watch, and I'm nearly positive I won't watch again. A big part of my enjoyment in writing the Survivor columns is strategic speculation, and eliminating the tidy F2 showdown throws a wrench in all that. The hidden immunity idol(s) also aggravate the fuck out of me.

Remember that fresh-faced optimism we had in college? How we knew we'd always be able to adapt to new modes of Survivor strategy and find the game freshly compelling each time the rules changed? Well, now we're pushing thirty, and the fight's gone out of me. I'd rather watch The Amazing Race where the biggest difference season-to-season is that sometimes Phil will neglect to mention the existence of pros and cons.

I'll definitely miss Jeff Probst, though. He was a one-of-a-kind character. A bloviating Will Ferrell type, but played so earnestly you never had a chance to laugh with him – only at him, and hard.

In closing, if you find Survivor at all interesting from a technical, strategic, or interpersonal standpoint, you'll probably enjoy Yau-Man's accounts of his time on the show, which he's been posting extensively to this Something Awful forum. (This was passed along to me by Holly and her network of web-watchers and Anthony-knowers. Thanks to all!) There's great behind-the-scenes information, comments on the editing (Anthony, not as annoying as indicated; Rocky, every bit and more so), and some complaints about Coach Probst's needling and hollering.

Probably my favorite bit is about the challenges. When asked if the complex rules and instructions ever confuse the players, Yau-Man says absolutely:

the instructions are long - especially with people like Rocky and Lisi who has not clue and don't listen attentively. Oh my gawd, sometime Jeff and the challenge producers had to repeat and clarify and repeat the instructions 3 or 4 times or if someone ask a question that highlight a flaw in the fairness of the challenge, they will change the rules and we start explaining all over again

He reiterates again and again that the game is anything but fair, but as long as you work hard and keep a sharp strategic mind, the unfairness can kind of work out in your favor with a little luck. Overall, it's a great insider view. I still have no idea what giant, "evil" betrayal Andre visited upon Yau-Man on the show – it sounds like a broken alliance, but it must be more than that since those are quite common.

Now, I'll just sit back, hate On the Lot for a couple of months, and then wait for some kick-ass Amazing Race in the fall!

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