brainee

All this talking about what the show did wrong, what it can do differently, etc. I hate to say it, but maybe Survivor has just played itself out for us long-time viewers. It's going to be 25 seasons (13th year). How many new variations in the game, strategies, and character types are there left? How many other shows are still fresh after that long?

That said, anything would be improvement over this season. Yeah, previous seasons have had "Pagonging". But at least in those season there was still doubt about the power structure in the core alliance (except for the Boston Rob win year) or intriguing personalities in the final tribal council. This season, after Colton left everything pointed to Kim being the obvious winner. And then it was just a slow boring march to that outcome. Maybe Jeff is right and the switch to 3 tribes will help spur some strategies that haven't been used in a while. It's worth a shot.

Timber

They've done 3 tribes before, they've done 4 tribes before. Anything they do gets erased after a couple of episodes and they merge making it all pointless. I think they need to bring back the racial tribes but keep it up longer than they did last time around, or maybe do a Black vs White (though it would limit the water competitions)

I actually took several seasons off with the Russell stuff and Redemption Island, which I thought both ruined the show so this season being back to normal was good for me.

TimeandTide

Timber

I mean it was too easy...

Red Dog

I've thought of that too. And I bet it would do boffo ratings. They've done young vs. old, male vs. female, so why not?

It'll never happen though.

windom

Maybe start with no tribes and have it be an individual competition from the start?

I think changing the prize structure would help the most. No matter if you are the first person out or the last person to be in the jury, you would get the same amount of money. Only the final three (or two) would get any significant prize money. Too many players have been content to just be carried along to the jury. This would pretty much make it an all or nothing scenario that would hopefully give us some better strategies from the players.

Timber

They did White vs Black vs Asia vs Latino but again they merged so fast that there was no point to it.

Red Dog

Really? It must have been fast because I don't recall that at all.

madcougar

Hence my point that Survivor will last forever.

Timber

I want to say it was Ozzy's original season but I don't feel like researching it.

edit:

madcougar

The fact that they don't take a break between the fall and spring has probably hurt the show a little.

I don't know how you convince real celebrities to do the show, but a celebrity survivor would probably do pretty well. I'm not talking about the C and D list losers who permeate reality television, but legit TV stars and athletes. They could up the ante to $1,000,000 for you and $1,000,000 for your fav charity. Maybe you guarantee everyone at least $100,000 for their favorite charity?

dvdjunkie32

As a diehard Survivor fan, I can honestly say this season was the worst. I really hated RI, but Phillip Sheppard managed to keep my interest, and at least there was some uncertainly towards the end how it would all go down.

This season was so boring and predictable. The idols didn't shake anything up, no bitter jury and it was an estrogen fest at the end. I also get bored and annoyed when one single player just wins everything like Kim. She got all the great rewards and all the money with no hard feelings.


Survivor has just lost its appeal by recruiting and casting crazy personalities hoping to find the next Russell. If you go back and watch Bornea, every freaking player was interesting in their own way because Survivor gave us time to get to know these people and their backgrounds. Survivor was hugely popular because everyone could find a player that they could relate to. The show was most about the camp life which is still interesting to see. Apparently Jonas was a huge asset and created some amazing meals. That would have been interesting to see. Tarzan was the tribe doctor and diagnosed and treated his other tribemates. We saw none of that.

Survivor needs to get back to showing more camp life and recruiting more next door neighbor type players.

madcougar

Cook Islands, fall 2006.

leeta

They need to go back to normal, everyday people and make it a true Survivor. It seems like every week this season there was a food reward. I don't know if they do this, but they should make sure the cast (they would have to train them individually before the season) has basic survival skills. Then start them out with the bare minimum of food, but put them in a place where food is accessible if they know what they're doing. When they have food rewards they should be few and far between. Bring back the car challenge and make the last challenge one of physical endurance. Have a final 2, not a final 3. In other words.. go back to how it was to begin with!

One thing I do think should be available though is clean water. I think it was in the first Africa season that they had to get water out of what amounted to a mud hole full of animal dung.. that was just wrong.

madcougar

It's fine if you can imagine it's Yoohoo.

dfmaverick2

As a twist, I'd try a season of giving everyone a secret immunity idol from the get go and see how long it takes for the idiots to blab it to everyone that they have an idol. It would make for some interesting tribals since everyone could possibly play an idol.

davidh777

Right, Cook Islands, so that would have been Yul, Ozzy, Becky, and Penner. Parvati too, I think. Actually a number of good players that season (I'm not counting Becky).

DJariya

You mean shooting seasons back to back in the same location? They have done it for a few seasons now. It was done to save money and time scouting a new location.

The Fall 2012 and Spring 2013 cycles were being shot back to back this Spring because Probst is hosting a syndicated talk show in the Fall and he can't be on location this summer. So don't expect alot of creativity in the next 2 editions.

madcougar

I mean that they air a season in the spring and then one in the fall. This basically gives you the summer to "miss" Survivor before it hits you over the head for the next eight months.

cdollaz

Interesting. So everyone gets an "extra life" and they then have to determine how to use it. I like it.

DJariya

So your saying that 2 cycles per year is too much now?

windom

I'm wondering what the ratings would look like if they went back to it being a summer only show. Big Brother has actually been going up in the past few years and they started the same summer as Survivor. People would probably get worn out on it if they had two seasons a year. (And yeah, I know they have one year where they did two seasons.)

If they could bring in some of the people behind MTV's The Challenge, they might be able to improve the show. They are able to come up with better overall challenges on The Challenge and actually do stuff like take them to cold weather environment. Maybe the overall Survivor format doesn't allow for such innovations though.

joliom

Colton doesn't deserve to be rewarded for his behavior (or Alicia either, for that matter). It sickens me that good ratings and money are all that count in the end. Somebody at CBS or Mark Burnett Productions should show a little integrity and see that he's never invited back for anything ever again. As a society we really need to stop enabling low-class, obnoxious, and vile behavior from people. Instead we just make them all famous millionaires.

TomOpus

This is what Jeff said about Colton:

joliom

I like that idea too, but I don't think 2nd and 3rd place should get anything either. It should literally be an all-or-nothing game. Look at this season. Everyone in the final 7 thought they were Kim's number 2 or 3. None of them made any effort to knock out Kim and try to win the whole thing; they were all content to get 2nd or 3rd place and the prize money that comes along with it ($100,000). If you changed it where only the winner gets any money (beyond a basic appearance fee that all of the contestants would receive), then nobody would be content with anything other than 1st place. It would force everyone to play the game and make big moves. That, more than anything else they could do, would make the show more exciting to watch. Second would be to cease all the ridiculous stunt casting looking for the latest cartoon character weirdos and uber villains. Enough with that already. Even the most ordinary people can be interesting to watch if you actually give them enough time to tell their story and share their opinions. Survivor just wants instant, ready-made characters for the viewers to form instant, ready-made opinions of. All that does is trigger reactions from the viewer, not interest. Audiences always prefer dynamic, complex characters to one-dimensional stereotypes.