The latest season debuted this evening and I have to say as a long-time 'Survivor' viewer I was very disappointed. Here are some reasons why:
1. Instead of the earlier seasons which focused more on the people versus nature it has now become nothing more than a verbal contest of personalities. Not very interesting especially when you know the survivors are only three days into the game and cannot possibly have their mates and opponents solved.
2. The average age of the contestants this year seems much older than in past seasons and that will not bode well for continued viewership of the younger demos. Being an old fart myself I don't mind but the show was clearly designed to have mostly 20-something hot-bodies running around in bikinis and that isn't likely to happen in the colder rain forests of the Philippines with wrinkled veterans.
3. The first immunity challenge tonight was yet another run-and-fetch-it then put-the-puzzle-together. The last few seasons have been all about this same type of challenge with only minor twists.
4. We learned virtually nothing about any of the participants except the former child TV star, the former baseball player and the former Survivor participants (3 of them). The show did not generate any interest on my part because I knew so little about each person.
5. The show was an unusual 90 minutes but there was nothing but filler in that additional half-hour. Just the usual standing around the fire and discussing what failed and who was going to get the boot. We had all witnessed the challenge just a few minutes prior. We knew who was going to get tossed.
I'll probably give it another one or two shots but it is definitely off my "must see" list. Nothing lasts forever but it doesn't appear the producers are even trying any longer.
1. Instead of the earlier seasons which focused more on the people versus nature it has now become nothing more than a verbal contest of personalities. Not very interesting especially when you know the survivors are only three days into the game and cannot possibly have their mates and opponents solved.
2. The average age of the contestants this year seems much older than in past seasons and that will not bode well for continued viewership of the younger demos. Being an old fart myself I don't mind but the show was clearly designed to have mostly 20-something hot-bodies running around in bikinis and that isn't likely to happen in the colder rain forests of the Philippines with wrinkled veterans.
3. The first immunity challenge tonight was yet another run-and-fetch-it then put-the-puzzle-together. The last few seasons have been all about this same type of challenge with only minor twists.
4. We learned virtually nothing about any of the participants except the former child TV star, the former baseball player and the former Survivor participants (3 of them). The show did not generate any interest on my part because I knew so little about each person.
5. The show was an unusual 90 minutes but there was nothing but filler in that additional half-hour. Just the usual standing around the fire and discussing what failed and who was going to get the boot. We had all witnessed the challenge just a few minutes prior. We knew who was going to get tossed.
I'll probably give it another one or two shots but it is definitely off my "must see" list. Nothing lasts forever but it doesn't appear the producers are even trying any longer.
