Survivor II difficult to swallow

Cringing at the thought of having to write about Bill Clinton’s string of pardons, which undoubtedly came from the kindness in his heart, or Bush’s latest decision to change the presidential stationary in the Oval Office, I scoured the Internet to find an idea and came up with, and it produced, well ... very little.

So, I decided to give myself an excuse to waste an extra hour in front of the television after the Super Bowl and critique the phenomenon known as “Survivor II.”

First of all, let me make it clear that the only episode I saw last year was the final episode, and I only watched it because several of my friends were gathering to watch it. Though I can honestly say it was about the most boring two hours of television I’d ever seen, I still thought I may have missed out on something the way people talked about it. So I decided to give the new season in the Australian outback a fighting chance to win me over.

Upon watching the season premiere, it quickly became obvious that CBS had gone to great lengths to create a diverse and somewhat stereotypical cast that would create inner turmoil.

There was Colby, the Texan who had to elaborate on his state pride by stating, “There’s two things I’m thankful for when I wake up in the morning: that I’m alive and that I’m a Texan.” I’ve come to love Texas as well, but please save me the nausea. There was Elisabeth, the attractive blonde bimbo, whom I wouldn’t mind being stranded with, and whom I sadly predict will develop a Britney Spears-like cult following of teenage and college-age men.

There was also the New Yorker with the obnoxious accent and loud voice, the obligatory black male and female, the hard-nosed (and extremely annoying) female correctional officer, etc.

If CBS truly wanted to make reality TV, then it would have randomly selected the cast from the reported 50,000 that auditioned for the show. However, we’re left to watch a virtual soap opera cast that was widely chosen for their distinguishing characteristics and physical appearances, which is at least a step up from a fat naked guy. This just further points out that there is nothing real about this show at all; it’s just your basic cheesy game show wrapped up in an elaborate package.

The worst part about the show is that it’s really boring. Does anyone actually enjoy watching the cast hike for the first 15 minutes? Also, the competitive portion was very brief and uninteresting. Then, everyone just sat around and didn’t want to talk to each other. Finally, there was the drawn out and extremely tacky tribal council, where each person had to suck up to the rest of the group so they wouldn’t be voted out. Just vote already!

I kept asking why I’d forced myself to watch this nonsensical trash. I felt like a conformist just from watching one episode. Luckily, I won’t have to do it again.

Reality TV is a fad as annoying as the teen pop that swarmed the pregame and halftime of the preceding football game. Unfortunately, neither seems to be going away. If only Super Bowl MVP Ray Lewis would have sent his friends after Justin Timberlake or Richard from the first “Survivor,” who CBS strategically placed in the stands.

Jordan Blum is a sophomore broadcast journalism major from New Orleans.
He can be reached at (j.d.blum@student.tcu.edu)

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