Pat's Fantasy Hotlist: Survivor: Redemption Island

It's true. I admit it. I'm a total Survivor nut.

Since the spring of 2000, when the very first episode aired, I've watched every single second of Survivor. I've tried to audition for the show several times, but Canadians cannot qualify (stupid fucking dumbass rule!). Heck, I've even started watching the French version called Koh-Lanta (because the first season was shot in Thailand). And now I must find sites where I can watch previous seasons in streaming, for the French play the game in a totally different way. Can you imagine Survivor castaways voting based on merit!?! But that's mostly how it goes in France, which is extremely fascinating to me. Used as I am to backstabbing, lying, manipulating, etc; everything that makes strategy in Survivor so much fun to watch.

And now, twenty-one seasons later, coming off the least appealing and often boring season ever, they've added a new twist that will change the face of the game.

And I'm pretty excited!!!

Okay. . . Sorry about that. . . We now return to our scheduled programming. =)

8 commentaires:

Jebus said...: A few of my friends and I watch but we gave up halfway through this season. I'm gonna watch the last two eps and that'll be it, it's just getting bloody boring and stupid far too often these days.

No one will ever be as awesome as Yao Man and Evil Russel (who was robbed by idiotic and pathetic "you hurt me and lied to me I'll hurt you back". It happens every year and is just too predictable.

It used to be a good show, no new twist will save it in my eyes.; 5:09 PM
John Joseph Adams said...: If you find any sites where you can stream the foreign editions, I'd be interested in seeing you post word of them here. I'm a big Survivor fan too, and have been curious what the show is like in other countries ever since I heard they had different shows in foreign markets.

Did you ever read Castaways by Brian Keene? You might dig it as a Survivor fan.; 5:31 PM
Unknown said...: Survivor is indeed great, never watched the French version though, even though I live in France..

You're right this season wasn't great, but the Redemption Island thing seems like it could be interesting.; 6:53 PM
Patrick said...: Jebus: You get Survivor in Oz??? But you guys had your own version, right? I didn't think you'd also get the American version.

John: You can watch Koh-Lanta: Vietnam, the latest season of Koh-Lanta which ended last Friday, on megavideo.com. Most fans opine that it's the worst Koh-Lanta season ever, but it was still better than Survivor.

Simon: Koh-Lanta is very interesting, especially because they play the game so differently. It's fascinating, really, how merit enters the equation while it's non-existent in the US version. Strategists are reviled and usually get voted out ASAP.

How do you watch Survivor, by the way. The CBS clips are no longer available in Canada, which is a real bummer. All the additional footage is off limits to Canucks. =(; 10:10 PM
Kirshy said...: I've been a fan of survivor since the beginning too. About half way through last season I got my girl friend into it too. It's a bit disappointing though since this season was so hard to watch. I think I can say with confidence that this past round of Survivors were the dumbest in the history of the game. Even the supposed 'smart' people, Brenda and Marty, weren't too swift. I think it was just a poorly cast season.

The twists they've had in the past were hit or miss though. So I'm curious to see what this new one will bring.; 6:42 AM
Cecrow said...: I think "Evil Russel" really shed the light on what's wrong with this show's basic premise. He demonstrated that if you employ optimum strategy to get you to the vote, you'll inevitably alienate the jury so badly you'll lose. So you can't really get there and win except by making nice with everyone, possibly riding coattails, and winning the challenges. You literally have to "dumb down" your gameplay. That may win you the game, but it sure lacks for drama when even someone like Fabio can win, given he didn't know what was going on half the time. Hurray for dumb luck! :P I'd rather watch Russel pull the wool over everyone's eyes any day, for exactly the same reason that he'd make a far better lead character in a novel. I think he was on to something when he said America should get the vote at the end, not the jury.; 8:51 AM
Jebus said...: Pat - you've never seen Oz TV - 60% of it is from the US, 20% UK, 10% Australian (not counting news and current affairs shows) and 10% rest of the world. Not necessarily a bad thing, just how it is.

There was an Oz version of Survivor for one season back during proper Survivor season 4 or 5 (not S2 Survivor Australia Outback, I'm talking Oz contestants), it didn't get good ratings so was never attempted again.

Previously Survivor has aired several months after it has in the US so my friends and I would download it and have nights every couple weeks and watch 2 or 3 eps in a row. Now, however, Australian TV networks are catching on that they're constantly losing ratings to downloaded TV shows (Oz has the highest per capita download rate of TV shows in the world despite our horrendous internet speeds, limits and costs) so they're airing them only a few days or a week after they have aired in the US. The main reason they were always behind is that our ratings seasons are opposite to that of the US.

Not sure if it's really worked since I still download all my TV shows and watch them in big chunks rather than week to week, makes episodic TV much more enjoyable (i.e. just watched Dexter S5 over a weekend).

Anyway, this is a whole other discussion.; 6:56 PM
Kirshy said...: *Spoiler Alert*

It seems fitting that Fabio should win this season of Survivor. Arguably the dumbest season won by the most clueless contestant. Somehow that makes sense to me.; 10:17 AM