Survivor Samoa

[falconfan]

Still even if certain members of the creative team wanted to end the series it's more than possible then network could overrule them and they could just end up leaving the fold a la Amy Sherman and "The Gilmore Girls."

 

[slipintothefog]

Russell sending Shambo to Foa Foa and making her miss out on the reward... haha.

Wow, Shambo is a fucking moron. Sharing the clues to an immunity idol with SIX OTHER PEOPLE? Vote her ass out already.

Uh oh, Liz is onto Russell having the idol. I guess that means she's getting voted out this episode.

 

[falconfan]

Well it comes down to Mick and Jaison at this point. I can see Nat and Ash voting to get rid of Liz in order to save Ashleigh. But it would be tie if Mick and Jaison vote with Liz's likely vote for Ashleigh. Basically this is a tie vote that should out Russel as being with Ashleigh if he tries to protect her and I see no other way she could survive with her weak performance and Liz's strong job.

 

[slipintothefog]

I'm glad Liz survived. If I had to pick, she would be one of my favorite castaways this season, although that's not really saying much. Kind of surprised that even Natalie voted out Ashley after the editors gave us that "We're like sisters!" scene.

I wonder who will get medevaced next week? Looks like it will come out left field, although I'm wondering why they keep focusing on Jaison and how much he hates being out there if nothing is going to come from it. (Speaking of which, his hands looked horrible!)

 

[falconfan]

Well another episode comes and goes and another episode leaves me with little impression. I'm beginning to dislike Galu Russel more and more. I don't feel at all bad for Shambo.

Liz is clearly not the most brilliant one and will be the next to go should Foa Foa lose again... unless of course Jaison walks off, which they've been setting up. Like if he's not telling you don't try to convince him to tell you with evidence just make a note of it and scurry off to the blondies and BD his ass so you three don't end up in the minority... oh wait too late.

The Shambo defect could also be all important as they've been setting that up for some time now and with Galu loosing someone to medvac that'll put them down even further, giving a small glimmer to foa foa to gain numbers. I mean Tocantis showed us that it's more than possible if the other tribe is disfunctional enough.

All and all... Russel. UGH he's gonna be around quite a long time. And considering that's the case they really pushed him WAY to strong in the initial edit. Honestly could you imagine if we had full fledged Coach for the first two episodes for like 80% of the episode.

 

[falconfan]

I'm glad Liz survived. If I had to pick, she would be one of my favorite castaways this season, although that's not really saying much. Kind of surprised that even Natalie voted out Ashley after the editors gave us that "We're like sisters!" scene.

I wonder who will get medevaced next week? Looks like it will come out left field, although I'm wondering why they keep focusing on Jaison and how much he hates being out there if nothing is going to come from it. (Speaking of which, his hands looked horrible!)

Actually two weeks ago I heard a spoiler about a cast away getting medevaced in week six. Spoiler to follow:

Spoiler

Galu Russel

 

[Aratron]

Russell sending Shambo to Foa Foa and making her miss out on the reward... haha.

Wow, Shambo is a fucking moron. Sharing the clues to an immunity idol with SIX OTHER PEOPLE? Vote her ass out already.

Uh oh, Liz is onto Russell having the idol. I guess that means she's getting voted out this episode.

It didn't matter anyway, both idols are already found.

And Russell's decision to send Shambo was stupid... yeah, outcast her even more so she can jump ship at the merge and pagong Galu...


According to ther person that has spoiled the boots until now, the person evacuated is:

Spoiler

Russell S...............................

 

[falconfan]

Sigh.. I want to continue discussing this episode but I have nothing to discuss. I remember old Survivor we'd go for like two pages the night after the episode about so and so could manuever him or herself in what way but there's just none of that this season. In a competition season where the emphasis is on being 'challenge strong' in Foa Foa the men are all but safe until Jaison quits. With crazy ass Shambo as teh obvious target on the other side there's nothign to discuss there either.

UGH this whole season is just BLARGH

 

[joesman]

It is an extremely boring and over Russelled show. Throw in Shambo and you have an RRS show and it stinks.

During the beginning though when Eric was trying to bathe in the ocean and the waves kept hitting him, I kept thinking "OHMiGAwd what if they had been there during the Tsunami? They would all have been dead."

 

[TaggedGalaxy]

Hey Guys

I'm a long time lurker and decided to start posting, I've been watching Survivor since season 1. One things that has been bugging me with later seasons has been Jeff Probst trying to sway the outcome of the game not just at Tribal Council, but also during the challenges. It is obvious who he wants to win.

During the food challenge he made it a point to out that Russel was a real survivor, or something similar when he was slower than most of the other people who competed in that challenge. Seriously? Also during that immunity challenge he again made sure to point out that Ashley was not making any baskets.

 

[Zingerific]

Sigh.. I want to continue discussing this episode but I have nothing to discuss.

Indeed. There's no strategy, no suspense, no intrigue, not even any offensive comments anymore. It's a multidimensional extravaganza of ennui. Even the food challenge managed to be vulgar and dull at the same time.

Had Brett been interviewed before? He came across tonight as much more of a dork than I had expected.

 

[knobby]

Brett may have come across dorky, but he is kinda cute!!!

 

[Ohiospeedo]

Here is a smart/insightful review of this season (and a little bit about the game as a whole) from Slant Magazine's Jonathan Keffe, who is one of my favorite film/television/music reviewers. He perfectly captures all my problems thus far with this season. I'm also somewhat disappointed that Slant is also reporting the rumor that next season as the series finale; they are usually less gossippy about such things, so it makes me wonder if it's seriously true.

If Coach and Russell are the direction this once-great show is going in though, maybe it's better it end now.

That was a great interview. I have to say I am not too disappointed with next season maybe being the final season. The last few seasons have had some major disappointment in regards to editing i.e. Coach, bringing back Fairplay, etc. After 20 seasons, it starts to get repetitive. They should change up the format a little bit, but I couldn't think of how.

 

[slipintothefog]

Survivor's real problem, since probably around All-Stars, is casting. You can put boring castaways through as many twists as you want, but twists will not save a bad cast. Survivor tries to create storylines and, like any other story, good characters can save an average plot way more than a great plot can save boring characters. (And as a sidenote, Samoa doesn't even have twists so far, so there's literally NOTHING to like if you don't care about Russell.)

The editing/casting problems are very apparent now because the last two seasons have been focused solely on Russell H and Coach, but even in (what I consider are) GOOD recent seasons like Gabon, Micronesia and China, there were plenty of casting duds and people who got no screentime, such as almost ALL TEN of the fans in Micronesia.

Back in seasons like Borneo and Outback, every contestant got some screentime and maybe his or her own little storyline, even though there were a couple of UTR edits like Amber and Nick Brown (to be fair, they still got way more focus than somebody like Spencer in Tocantins). The contestants were also real people, which I think was a major factor in the success of Borneo and a reason why even casual offline Survivor fans loved some Cirie, who was a couch potato with whom normal people could relate.

Somewhere around Palau, Survivor increased the cast size and started packing boring models and actors onto the show. Now, we've had an interesting model/actor or two since this trend started (Courtney Yates is a model who was recruited by casting, I'm pretty sure), but I think it leads to bad TV more often than not and is a major reason why most later seasons only have three or four memorable contestants who are surrounded by a bunch of irrelevant chess pieces.

Of course, for the last two seasons we haven't even gotten that much. With all of the camera time going to Coach and Russell, it's basically as if the show is admitting, "Oh, crap, this cast is really boring. Quick, let's compensate by making every scene about the most deluded person out here! The audience will LOVE to hate this guy!" but, unfortunately, they're running a 0-2 average so far.

I think it's going to be very interesting to see how the editors work on Survivor 20. Are they really going to continue to ignore half of the cast when so many big characters are taking part? That would be a true disappointment and, to be honest, I wouldn't mind if Survivor DID die with the next season if they did that.

/end rant

 

[PATMAN]

slipintothefog, GREAT post.... I think that just spoke for us all, and is 100% bang on - hit the nail on the head!

Just wanted to say that, and thank you!

 

[joesman]

Survivor's real problem, since probably around All-Stars, is casting. You can put boring castaways through as many twists as you want, but twists will not save a bad cast. Survivor tries to create storylines and, like any other story, good characters can save an average plot way more than a great plot can save boring characters. (And as a sidenote, Samoa doesn't even have twists so far, so there's literally NOTHING to like if you don't care about Russell.)

The editing/casting problems are very apparent now because the last two seasons have been focused solely on Russell H and Coach, but even in (what I consider are) GOOD recent seasons like Gabon, Micronesia and China, there were plenty of casting duds and people who got no screentime, such as almost ALL TEN of the fans in Micronesia.

Back in seasons like Borneo and Outback, every contestant got some screentime and maybe his or her own little storyline, even though there were a couple of UTR edits like Amber and Nick Brown (to be fair, they still got way more focus than somebody like Spencer in Tocantins). The contestants were also real people, which I think was a major factor in the success of Borneo and a reason why even casual offline Survivor fans loved some Cirie, who was a couch potato with whom normal people could relate.

Somewhere around Palau, Survivor increased the cast size and started packing boring models and actors onto the show. Now, we've had an interesting model/actor or two since this trend started (Courtney Yates is a model who was recruited by casting, I'm pretty sure), but I think it leads to bad TV more often than not and is a major reason why most later seasons only have three or four memorable contestants who are surrounded by a bunch of irrelevant chess pieces.

Of course, for the last two seasons we haven't even gotten that much. With all of the camera time going to Coach and Russell, it's basically as if the show is admitting, "Oh, crap, this cast is really boring. Quick, let's compensate by making every scene about the most deluded person out here! The audience will LOVE to hate this guy!" but, unfortunately, they're running a 0-2 average so far.

I think it's going to be very interesting to see how the editors work on Survivor 20. Are they really going to continue to ignore half of the cast when so many big characters are taking part? That would be a true disappointment and, to be honest, I wouldn't mind if Survivor DID die with the next season if they did that.

/end rant

Oh wow did you ever hit everything about this show right in the solar plexis. You are spot on about it all and I feel exactly the same way. If Survivor thinks that having a villian take the show then they are sadly mistaken. I got so tired of Coach I wanted to scream and Tyson, too. When they got the boot was the only great moments in that show.

Here we are treated to Russel and Shambo and their ignorant boring rants and plot devices. It sucks big time and I am just about to tune out.

If the next Survivor is Heroes and Villians I fear we are in for the same edit and I may skip it altogether since Coach, Russell and Shambo are there. Why in hell would I want more of the same thing that has made me watch the show with regret?

 

[Zingerific]

Brett may have come across dorky, but he is kinda cute!!!

Sure. I don't think being a dork and being cute are exclusive at all -- quite the opposite, in fact. Maybe it's their earnest enthusiasm, or even naïveté, but dorks definitely have appeal.

 

[TaggedGalaxy]

I completely agree with you slipintothefog. Most of the people they cast have never even watched the show before and have no idea how to play or what they are getting themselves into. And because of that we get people who don't even care about winning and are only there for exposure like Sugar.

 

[Zingerific]

Most of the people they cast have never even watched the show before and have no idea how to play or what they are getting themselves into.

A very strange phenomena -- certainly not unique to Survivor -- that deserves book-length treatment somewhere. How can someone fail to do the basic research, especially when such a huge prize is at stake? They just make fools of themselves. It takes the old maxim "all news is good news" to ridiculous lengths.

 

[slipintothefog]

And because of that we get people who don't even care about winning and are only there for exposure like Sugar.

See, I'm a little easier on Sugar because she went into Survivor wanting to make good TV and it was that attitude that led Randy to be eliminated in the most humiliating way possible, which I enjoyed. I don't have a problem with the pseudo-celebrity/model/actress/etc. castaways if they're interesting like Courtney, Taj, Penner, etc. But nine times out of ten on Survivor, we have total duds like a lot of early boots in Palau, at least half of the Cook/Fiji casts and much of the Samoa cast. People going into Survivor without having a clue what to do was only magical one time and that was in Borneo, IMO.

Survivor 20's editing is going to make or break the series for me. If you could have a cast with HUGE past characters like Colby, Jerri, Cirie, Rupert, Boston Rob, Stephenie, Courtney, Sandra and others and STILL manage to make it all about Coach and Russell, then that would be a pretty definitive sign of the show needing to end because it would mean that the editors clearly lack two brain cells to rub together.

Thanks for complimenting my post, all.

Also, in honor of my apathy for this season and its dull cast, my new avatar pays tribute to somebody who should be allowed to play this game over and over until she wins. (And she'd still be entertaining each time. )