The amazing american survivor idol race

November 6, 2007 · Filed Under popmedia

Just a couple of quick bullet point observations & news…

Some changes are afoot for AI7. There’s nothing earth shattering about letting the contestants who can play an instrument do so to accompany themselves, or about not having so many guest mentors, but it’s still good to see that they’re at least willing to tweak things a little bit…
TAR:12 kicked off with its highest 1st episode ratings ever. That’s good to see, as it’s sad that CBS so often treats the classiest of all realitytv shows (and the one that actually brings home Emmys) a bit shabbily. Mayhaps now they won’t…
I’m still getting a bead on all the teams. It’s both easy and hard to do so, given the formula that TAR producers follow in selecting stock characters (e.g., “best friends,” “siblings,” “gay couple,” “parent & child,” etc…). It’s easy because teams can be easily identified, but hard because individual personalities can change within the given types (e.g., TAR:12’s “blondes” are nowhere near as good as “my blondes” — Dustin & Kandace — from TAR:10 & TAR:AllStars).
That said, after the first episode, I’m surprised that I’m favorably disposed towards the Goths (they have a good attitude and seem like nice people — should this surprise me? Probably not, but it still did…).
I’m not surprised (at all) that I want the lesbian “clergy” to be off of my TV as quickly as possible (if not sooner). They offend me theologically, which shouldn’t be surprising. But even setting aside the theological baggage, they need to go if only because they uttered the horrific phrase, “TAR is a love letter to the world.” Gag.
Survivor — S:15 is plugging along nicely. It’s not been the best season ever, but neither has it been the worst. It is, however, pretty obvious that either Todd or Amanda will win, unless one/both of them has a strategic meltdown of epic proportions.
Most interesting, though, is the news that S:16 will be another all-star edition!
And it looks as though they’ve learned from the mistakes of the first all-star edition, as the rumored participant list is limited to seasons 9-15 (i.e., no one who could’ve been in the first all-star edition, and includes no first or second place finishers. Both of these are very good decisions, IMO.