Survivor Roundtable Part I
By BOP Staff
April 17, 2013
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Jim Van Nest: I'm not a huge fan of judging a season prior to its conclusion, but until last week's episode, this season has been pretty blah. Corinne's blindside last week, though, was one of the best episodes of the show in a while and I'm hopeful that the quality of the season will start to pick up from here.
But, since you mention it, I think casting is very large portion of the problem with Survivor. Several seasons ago, Survivor got away from casting "16 ordinary Americans" to send on the adventure of a lifetime and started sending "16 people that we personally hand picked because their personalities fit a role that we were looking for" to send on a mediocre adventure. As soon as the casts were filled with more recruited players than applicants, the quality of the program started going downhill.
Game play is almost non-existent anymore as the recruits spend most of the time trying to use Survivor as a spring board to something better down the road. It's no coincidence that Malcolm is probably the most popular player to grace the Survivor screen in many years. Some will suggest it's because he's good looking and charismatic. I'd suggest it's because he's a fan of the show and he knows how to play the game.
And these are just my general "what's wrong with Survivor" casting gripes...which doesn't even cover the tip of the iceberg with the casting issues with this season specifically.
Ben Willoughby: I think the casting is a big reason why this season has been disappointing so far, and it's also a part of a larger issue with Survivor.
One challenge facing the producers of Survivor every season is that it's an unscripted drama with only 16 hours of television. When you cut out the credits, commercials, nature footage and the challenges, we really only have about 12 hours to get to know the castaways - or at least the six or eight of them that make a difference to the game. To speed things up, the show casts characters that we're familiar with, even if we haven't met them before. So we get lots of larger than life personalities and stereotypes.
Another challenge is how to maintain viewer interest over the season - especially when you have, say, a dominant alliance and predictable boots over a few weeks. And once people skip a week or two, it's hard to get them interested in the season again. The producers have tried different ways of coping with this - mostly by making the game less predictable with tribe switches, hidden immunity idols and so on. But I think this also affects casting, and they try to cast people who could support a story arc within the show.
I think the casting of this season's favorites is a good example of my point. Brandon, Phillip, Erik, Francesca and probably Cochran were all cast in part because they had no chance of winning in their first season, and had potential for a redemption story arc where they have learned from their past experiences on the show and can do better this time. (Spoiler - most of them haven't). OK, fair enough, bring them back if viewers want to see them again. But compare these favorites against the first Fans vs Favorites season - there was Parvati, Cirie, Amanda, Jonathan Penner, Ami, Yau-Man, Ozzy. None of them had won their first season, but they were all cast because they were good at Survivor (or at least parts of it). You can't say the same for this season's favorites.
And this is where the show needs to look at itself. When this season started, there were a lot of comments (even from Probst) about how there weren't enough compelling castaways - and in particular, compelling women players - who audiences wanted to see again. But the reason we don't have enough compelling castaways that we want to see brought back on future seasons is exactly because of the stereotype/larger than life casting.
Kim Hollis: I would definitely echo Ben's comments that the casting is a huge problem and has been for a couple of seasons now. Last season, I think it managed to get interesting *in spite* of mostly blah and uninteresting casting. They were just lucky enough to have Malcolm (who was awesome) and Denise in an underdog position, which allowed people to root for them all the way to Denise's ultimate victory.
This year, though, they brought back a bunch of "Favorites" that for the most part, no one wanted to see again. Malcolm is great, and I'd even watch him if they cast him again, but he's it. I like Dawn but I don't really enjoy watching her play Survivor because I don't think she enjoys the game at all. The big issue for me is that they keep on bringing back the Hantzes and the Phillips and the Coaches of the game. I never want to see *any* of them again. Ever.
Then again, I'm probably a huge hypocrite because I loved Boston Rob's final season.
Anyway, I think this season has been *terribly* disappointing. None of the fans are memorable at all, other than perhaps Reynold, and that's only because he's such a ginormous doofus that I love reading what Ben has to say about him in the recaps. I didn't even think the Corinne blindside was that great, because it arose from the terrible gameplay that pervades this season. The only really great moment in the show came last week when Malcolm made someone give him their immunity idol. Even if he doesn't win (and he's pretty much doomed barring something weird), that was awesome. One great moment doesn't make the season worthwhile, though.
David Mumpower: I disagree with Jim that it's unfair to judge a season before it's over. No matter what happens next, the current season of Survivor has been a disaster. I can demonstrate my point statistically. The average episode of Survivor: Caramoan has received 9.41 million viewers. There was only one episode last season that managed fewer than 9.82 million viewers. Survivor: Philippines averaged 10.35 million viewers. We are down almost a million viewers in a single season. Yes, television ratings are in decline but they certainly are not falling that fast. Even the most ardent of Survivor fans tuned out from the start this season. The only logical explanation is the cast.
Survivor has been dancing too close to the fire for a while now. A lot of the problem is Boston Rob's fault even though it's a credit to him rather than an insult. He became to a large extent the face of Survivor. In the process, the producers of the show appreciated the value that name recognition added to the ratings as well as the publicity. "Here are a bunch of strangers" is less appealing than "Here are a few strangers and a few people you know." In adhering to this philosophy, the show has gone horribly awry. And yes, the breaking point was a Hantz.
Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains is the high water mark of the 26 seasons. It was a prototypical demonstration that truth is stranger than fiction. It was also an engrossing sociological experiment. The people presumed (or at least arbitrarily defined) to be good guys turned upon one another while the bad guys largely hunted as a pack. Hantz the usurper was jealous of Rob's popularity (there was an immunity challenge Rob won where Parvati looked at him afterward with the type of hunger that could have led to carnal knowledge right there on the beach in front of everyone). In addition to being jealous of Rob's status as Island King, Hantz wanted Parvati as well so the desire to back-stab was intense. Rob of course saw this play almost before Hantz called it, but the mathematical failings and sheer stupidity of Tyson still set everyone. In the process, Hantz became a bona fide villain as well as a great television character, if only for a moment.
If Survivor had stopped there, everything would be great. Alas, this dynamic duel of egos between a superior man and the inferior competition driven crazy with jealousy was considered imitable. Common sense should have dictated otherwise yet here we are. The end result is that genuinely terrible players such as Coach and (*gulp*) Brandon Hantz have wound up earning additional appearances in order to give them this sort of name recognition cachet. The problem is that not only are none of them in possession of even an ounce of Rob's charisma, people such as Phillip, Coach, Cochran and (*gulp again*) Brandon have been given in-season focus that their personalities do not deserve. This production decision has reduced the screen time available to other potentially worthier new players.
Worst of all, these suckers such as Phillip, Coach and Cochran have begun to believe their own hype. Watching Phillip recite the specifics of Survivor: Redemption Island (I -believe- it was season 22, right Phillip?) was a brutal experience. The way he clings to it as something worthy he has done in life breaks my heart. Cochran is the same way. His pleasure at winning an immunity challenge was like a small child running the bases at a baseball game. Grown-ups shouldn't attain that sort of satisfaction from achieving victory once in about 15 tries. These Survivor characters being cast for "redemptive story arcs" are emotionally crippled, and I don't want to visit their particular psych ward.
Frankly, I have no idea what the source of Probst's obsession with the Hantz family is. They're immature jerks who are chaos incarnate to the point that the more emotionally evolved of them (seriously) leaked contest results for the competition. The fact that Probst keeps bringing them back makes me wonder if his favorite movie sex scene occurred in Deliverance.
How does this effect the season and its casting? Look at how much I discussed Heroes vs. Villains above. Compare that to Caramoan. I would be hard-pressed to name five moments from the first nine episodes that I enjoyed. I certainly would not include Lil Hantz's meltdown in that group for the reason mentioned above. I had huge concerns about this season before it began, and they weren't helped any when Probst did an interview where he was quoted as saying, "the returning Favorites aren't as awful players as it seems." Maybe our favorite reality host shouldn't be placed in charge of the promotional department.
Survivor's 26th season has been catastrophic thus far. A decent ending would only save it from being the worst season ever. Even then, it's still likely to finish in the bottom five if we vote next month. I would strongly suggest that Survivor producers shave with Occam's Razor next time. If you are naming a season "Fans vs. Favorites", pick some Favorites. With Cochran, Phillip, Corinne and Hantz, this fight was lost before anyone ever set foot on the island.