“Survivor”
Wednesday night at 8 on WCBS/Ch. 2
1/2
THE cheeky comparisons to a certain 1960s sitcom stop now: “Survivor” is no “Gilligan’s Island.”
In fact, I’m not really sure what “Survivor” is. I just know I liked it – a lot.
I never thought I’d write that sentence about this odd summer series adapted from a show that was a hit in Europe, since I’ve been trained by experience to expect the worst when a TV network shifts its hype machine into overdrive, as CBS did for “Survivor” in the weeks leading up to last night’s premiere.
To my amazement, the worst didn’t happen. For once, a TV show billed as “unique” and “different” – two of the most overused words in the promotional vocabulary of network television – actually turned out to be both.
And how often has that happened in your TV-viewing life? How about never.
There’s no way you’ve ever seen this before: a TV show featuring 16 people marooned without matches on a deserted island (except for a couple of omnipresent camera crews, a producer and an enthusiastic host, Jeff Probst, whose hale and hearty attitude will undoubtedly make him the enemy of the starving, suffering castaways in the weeks ahead).
In Episode 1 (the series is scheduled to air Wednesday nights at 8 all summer long), we were introduced to the castaways, who were divided into two “tribes” of eight – the Tagi and the Pagong.
The way the contest works is this: Each week at tribal councils, a castaway will be voted off the island by the rest. The remaining survivor at the end of the series wins $1 million.
As hokey as it all is, it works, although – and I don’t know how to put this delicately, so I’ll be blunt – I think the participants are idiots, frankly, for agreeing to suffer the hardships of life on a not-so-bountiful island far from home and civilization for the sake of some television show, million dollars or no million dollars.
If you saw last night’s episode, you know what I mean. Without the ability to make fire, one of the tribes literally hadn’t eaten in what seemed like two days. In that short a time, castaways were bug-bitten and sunburned, and slapping away rats who crept up and sniffed at their ears as they slept.
They were also arguing with each other, forming cliques to vote various members out and generally getting little work done. No huts were built and no latrines dug. By the end of the episode, the oldest female in the group – Sonja from San Francisco – became the first castaway voted out following her inability to keep up during a crucial contest between the tribes, causing her side to lose in its quest for fire.
Life with a group of strangers on an island in the China Sea wouldn’t suit me at all, but from the vantage point of my La-Z-Boy, I have to admit that watching others in that situation made for fascinating entertainment, the kind that people will be talking about the next morning all summer long.