Did see a post on this one.
90 minute episode premieres tonight at 8 eastern/7 central.
I’m not a huge fan of “X vs. Y” seasons, only because Jeff loves to awkwardly shoehorn the subject back in late in the season when everyone has already forgotten the premise.
I think this season’s concept is too abstract. “Davids” have “overcome adversity in their lives”. “Goliaths” “tend to capitalize on their individual advantages and use it against their opponents.” They’re not even opposite concepts. Lame.
On a more superficial level, I think het guys are going to be complaining about a relative shortage of eye-candy, while there’s a fair number of good-looking guys to ogle.
These themes make no difference or impact. It all works out and the overall quality of the season will be determined by the luck of what interesting people make it deep in the game.
I almost always can’t remember who was on what themed team when we are deep in the game.
Agreed. It might be different if they actually cast based on these themes, but all indications are that they do not.
Holy shit, Mike White is on this season? I am a huge fan of his, going way back to “Chuck and Buck” over twenty years ago. So bizarre to put him on the “David” tribe.
It never ceases to amaze me how, dozens of seasons in, people still act bossy or lazy when it’s shelter-building time. (Or in one case, both at the same time!)
I had to laugh at the two women who claimed they had “nothing in common”. I was like “uh, aren’t you both gay?” Then the one I was less sure about confirmed that she was.
My wife’s gaydar was also working well.
With regard to eye candy…on the first challenge onboard the ship, was it really necessary for the woman to take her shirt off? I’m not complaining …
David & Goliath could have been determined by coin toss, and personal stories were hammered into the hole until they fit.
If I was arriving at camp for the first time, I would speak up and say “Does anyone here have any construction skills?” And then suggest that any volunteers be appointed foreman for a day with no repercussions. Just take orders until the shelter gets built. (Of course my demonstration of team-building skill would then put a target on my back…)
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a tribe gel so well right off the bat as the David tribe did and the unfortunate pre-tribal medical pull lets them hold off on the backstabbing for another day. I think everyone was over Pat being a shouty foreman building the shelter after getting rained on for 36 hours.
I love this metaphor. I think it’s probably about half right. That is, they are able to sort around half of the season’s players into one hat or the other pretty easily. Then the rest of them, they split up based more on traditional pre-theme metrics: age, gender, strength, proclivity to stir the pot and gin up drama for the editors to use. And those people’s stories have to be hammered into that metaphorical hole, as you say.
ETA: I love “Big Bang Theory” (don’t remember his actual name), and that he tore through that slide puzzle and revealed that he had actually written a slide puzzle solving algorithm in college!
FTR, Mike White was on Goliath tribe
Interesting that we saw the 4th wall break a little during the Medical Emergency. Felt sorry for him.
:smack: I knew he was on the Goliath tribe, but brain-farted the wrong word in there. I think it’s bizarre, given his personality and history of depression, not to mention his physical stature, to see him on the Goliath tribe. But he is, as he said, more successful than he ever expected—although his work is generally more popular among critics than mass audiences.
Isn’t the fourth wall always broken when Probst is around?
We seldom see any evidence of production in a Survivor episode. No camera operators in the back ground, no boom mikes, not even shadows of any of the production staff. The editors do a fantastic job of removing
But we saw the “whole Monty” during the emergency.
Was anyone else think that when they called out the strongest and weakest members of the tribes at the start that they were going to swap right there?
That slide puzzle did not look that difficult. I think even if you had the dumbest guy on the slide puzzle and the smartest guy on the block puzzle, the slide puzzle will still be done first.
Mrs. L.A.'s back was injured in the same way as Pat Cusack’s was.
Yes! That’s the first thing I thought of…They’re going to switch.
And to me…all slide puzzles are difficult!!
Yikes. She okay?
This was almost a year ago. She’s pretty much recovered, but she gets nervous about lifting heavy things. I think she might still get the occasional twinge. (I mentioned the injury here).
Unfortunately, Pat was one of the people I decided I liked early on. But there are a few others. This season seems to have been well-cast (in general, I mean; not necessarily according to the rather contrived theme).
There are some interesting characters and the potential for a good, competitive season!
I’m a huge Giants fan, and the entire episode I kept thinking “Pat’s got balls to be wearing a Giants shirt after they went 3-13.” It reminded me of when I wore a Giants hat out in public the day after they got humiliated in a playoff game (something like 23-0) against the Panthers back in 2006. My brother-in-law’s first reaction to me was “Brave to wear that hat today!”
The episode was okay, but I was most interested in the timing of the commercial breaks. The very first break started at 23 minutes, which is usually around the time of the last commercial break for a 30-minute show. I found this so odd I went back and checked after finishing the episode: Five breaks total, starting at 23, 37, 55, 67 and 77 minutes, all 4-5 minutes long. I very much prefer this to having 3-minute breaks every 10 minutes.
I really liked the momentum of that opening commercial free stretch.
Agreed! How soon will they scramble the tribes, anyway.
I think it was interesting that the Davids were able to build a fire the first day (they cooked the octopus…) but it didn’t fit into the “36 hours of NON STOP RAIN!” narrative, so they didn’t show them doing it, and that’s usually a pretty big deal if they can start a fire without flint & steel.