I have watched Survivor faithfully through all its incarnations, and I never thought I'd say it, but my interest is waning. This season in particular seems like an overcooked batch of bland meh-ness. What do y'all think? Did Survivor "jump the shark" with ASS?

I think that it's been on a downhill slide for a while, but the slope became even more precipitous with ASS (aka "We Have To Give Rupert $1 Million Somehow"). This season has definitely been meh to me - I usually have all the contestants straight by now, but this time around, I haven't even bothered to learn most of their names.

I'd agree. Fridays after an episode of...even as late as Pearl Islands, I'd be racing to the net to look for transcripts of the Early Show and the CBS webchat, looking at preliminary spoilers, etc. Now, it's just kind of like, "eh." I think it's a combination of "here we go again"-ness being that it's the ninth outing, and that, while maybe it gets good further in, this season has had one of the least compelling starts of any of them.

But yeah. It's "eh, I'll get around to it" instead of race-to-the-set TV. I'm just not sure if it's the series as a whole or just a weak season. It's probably a combination of the two.

I was really into Pearl Islands and ASS, and I can't even be bothered to watch this one. I blame that fact that I'm comparing it to TAR, and it's not holding up well.

I would say that Survivor has jumped the shark.

Was the "Rupert's Millions Supershow" the actual JTS momet? I would almost say yes, but I think the shark had been jumped by ASS.

I'm with The Last Dodo, even as late as PI I was über-excited by it. PI was one of the better seasons in a while, IMO. But I think it was like the bright burst of an exploding star.

I feel like everything we're seeing on Survivor we've seen before. The challenges, the twists, the people, the fights - it's like watching reruns, and not in the good "Saturday Night Rebroadcast of The Amazing Race" sort of way.

This is the way the Survivor ends
This is the way the Survivor ends
This is the way the Survivor ends
Not with a bang but a whimper (with all apologies to T S Eliot)

Honestly, the only reason I even bother watching it realtime is for chat. If I didn't have the chat, I don't even know that I'd watch anymore.

Yeah, the dynamics are always the same, which makes me sigh at the unavoidability of it. I'd rather see the concept spin out of control than watch the show wimper and die. They should pick a stereotype and cast the whole show on it. All bimbos/himbos? Maybe not, but it might be fun to see how that society down. All Ethnic Survivor? Psychotherapists? All Mormon? Ooooh, Amish In The Tropics!

I would have agreed about the shark jumping during the ASS season. Definitely a snoozer. One of the more interesting aspects of Survivor has always been watching the dynamics as personalities emerge and people show who they are and how they interact. That did not happen with ASS since they all were known personalities and knew each other in many cases. zzzzzz

The first 2 shows of the new season were not too interesting either. I'm not sure if it was because there were more people than usual or just not much seemed to happen and no one really stood out.

But by the third show it seems to be picking up a bit. I have hopes that it will improve and get back to being something to be sure and stay home for on Thursdays.

But they REALLY need to do something different with the casting. I don't care for many of this group in the Yasue tribe, and there are only a few in the men's tribe that have much promise.

I'll keep my fingers crossed that the end is not upon us for Survivor...

I'm sad to say I have to agree. Survivor has always been my sentimental favorite but this one is so blah that I don't even care if I watch it when it airs or after I tape it. I really hope it picks up. They do need some changes or it's dying a slow painful death. Burnett must be too busy focusing on The Apprentice these days.

You know, I think cast selection is key. (Oh Lord, I sound like I'm channeling Paula Abdul.) Over the weekend I finally got around to watching my Season One DVDs, which I had never seen--I started with Australia. And it completely sucked me in, and I think to a large extent it's because they really did a great job selecting that particular group of people. After three episodes, I'm still not really rooting for anyone yet this season. I mean, I certainly like looking at some of the guys, but that's completely different; hell, you can just find a couple screencaps and not waste the 40-plus minutes if that's all that's drawing you in!

But I think when you get this far into the series, it kind of lives and dies with the group of people you choose. They need to be compelling enough to make you want to follow them every week and actively root for or against them. I don't know; maybe this far into it they're kind of scraping the bottom of the barrel castingwise? But I think they have the potential to come up with a winning group again; I just don't think they've done it this time thus far.

During the first episode, I had the sinking feeling that I was no longer going to be able to enjoy anything on TV except reruns of The Simpsons. All Stars had been the worst for me - sort of like a highly anticipated blind date that turned out to be that boring guy you already knew.

Now, I'm happy to say, for me at least, the thrill is back! I think the casting this year is great - variety, strong personalities, conflict, people I love, people I hate. Yay!

Yep, I'd say it's jumped.

• The challenges are getting extremely repetitive. This may not be the producers' fault, because there's only so many things the contestants can do, but episode after episode of the same thing? Is boring.
• Due to the nature of alliances, unless Peachy and Burnett throw some random twist into the game, sometimes the bootings are way too easy to call. And that's boring.
• Hey, look! It's men vs. women! It's young people vs. old people! It's "normal" folk versus "craaazy" folk! It's the same fights and conflicts we've been seeing forever! It's....boring.
• It's not really a survival show anymore. Give them fire or don't, but the "conditions here are so hard" speeches are getting old. And boring.
• Giving someone who didn't win the game a million dollars just because he's popular means there's no reason to get invested in the outcome of the actual game.
• The game doesn't reward what I'd like it to reward. If you're exceptionally nice, or a hard worker, or smart, or strong, you may as well book your room in the Loser Lodge now. Now it's just a game of who can jump into a strong alliance quickly, personality be damned. That allows people like Idiot Jon to sail much further in the game than they should. Yes, personality should affect ability to get into strong alliances, but I don't see a good track record of that. It's just a personal beef of mine, but I feel like people who are good at Survivor aren't really good at being people, and that sucks.

ITA. My main problem with this season is they automatically went to old/young divisions right away. Maybe selecting from the same age group would be more interesting for me than now, as I pretty much know how the chips are going to fall from the first vote until the first shuffle (if there is one, but I'd guess there is).

Which leads me to - They're antagonizing each other from the start instead of being a team, Very similar to the NOT Chapera ASS teams, both of which I hated. Why not work together and keep the vote out of camp. There's plenty of other dramas than listening to the majority crow. Find something else to focus on, because all alliance-bragging all the time bores me.

Which leads me to - it's the ninth season, morons. What are you getting so cocky about that you are on track for keeping up with the twists? They're last year's twists for Christ's sake. EPMB will throw you different ones just so the whole season isn't a repeat of the seasons before. He's done that since Africa. Stop being so smug you've figured it all out.

And WORD on the repetitive challenges. Maybe it's because they're going for more physically equal than when Immunity Colby ruled the planet, but we've seen the blindfolded puzzle 3 times. Balance beam 4 times in last 4 seasons that I can remember. What ever happened to the old putting a teammate up a tree and bringing them home on a litter?

The game itself has always been repetitive and the editing has always been manipulative but what happened with PI and ASS was that the producers seemed to become disdainful of the audience. PI hid it to an extent because the types they cast also had personalities, so the participants really covered up a lot of sloppy editing and storytelling.

They didn't have that luxury in ASS and the show suffered. We'd already gotten pretty used to seeing Panama so that wasn't exciting, we already knew the players so there wasn't anything to discover, and knowing that Probst came away from the experience with the bitter aftertaste of contempt for virtually everyone involved, only to see him smiling his halfwit grin on every episode just made me think they'd lost interest in us.

Here is my comment on this: I have watched this show going back to Survivor 6. Which I thought was great! You had good looking women in Jenna M. and Shawna.
You had the smart older woman in Deena. You had Rob as the funny good/bad guy. Alex as the cocky guy. And Butch as the crazy oldman and Matt as the crazy young man. So to me this cast was great.

Survivor 7 was also pretty good. I mean Jon was great as the bad guy we saw Rupert turn from somone whom everybody could love to someone whom almost everyone loved. And Lil the crazy scout master was awsome.

All-Star was all right but not great.

And I just bought Season 1 and I have just finished watching the first two eisodes and it has been good.

Which brings us to this season. Now as I have stated previously stated I am somewhat a newbie to this show but I appears that the show is just resting on what it has done before. I do think it can be saved how to do well who knows maybe MB and CBS can figure it out.

So to answer the question yes I do believe that it has hit the wall but it could come back.

My answer to the question is only a wan "yeah," which is also the reason for my answer. Meaning: I can't even get excited enough to compose a long, considered response to th question, which is telling. Granted, maybe it's telling of me more than the show, but I do think the complete lack of buzz, conviction, and passion the show is nowadays inspiring in me is the surest sign that the shark, it is jumped.

I don't think so, but that's mostly because I don't agree with the idea that shows jump the shark. They just start sucking. Saying they jump the shark basically implies that some irreversible damage has been done to the show that will continually impair it. And I just don't think that happens. If a show starts to suck, you can just fix it. In the case of scripted TV, just give us better characters, more interesting plots with better writing, etc. I admit, however, that it shows rarely come roaring back once people have started proclaiming their death.

But, I do think Survivor always has the potential to recover. I've been watching since the first season, and I heard a lot of people announcing that the show had run its course throughout Survivor: Thailand. But every season the producers get a clean slate to work with, a luxury that producers of scripted tv rarely have. Survivor Vanuatu may very well turn out to be the suckiest season to date, but that doesn't mean the next season is absolutely forbidden from being a great one.

Provided they do away with America's Tribal Council, of course.

I think the problem with this season is all about casting. They cast way to many of the same types of people. The dumb, annoying girls with fake boobs. The annoying, black guy. The innocent, hot, young girl. The old, "hard work is the only way to get ahead in life" unattracive people. The person with the unique disability. Like, I really want to see some new characters. They always cast the same types of people. I want to see some shit-stirrers and people who are truly dynamic, interesting, and unique. This season looks like, collectively, one of the most attractive casts so far, but no one has shown any real personality or enteraining gameplay. I'd usually have someone who's interviews just cracked me up or offered me some sort of intrigue, but no one seems quite that fun to watch...yet. Hope they come out of the woodwork soon.

Survivor hasn't "jumped the shark" to me. I always need time before I'm truly rivited by this show. The first few episodes are always like "oh, wait who's that?" and "what's the strategy?" I barely remember the names until the 4th or 5th show. I have to admit, Vanautu has been going a little slowly. There really hasn't been anything major happening. And there are no real "stand-out" people. Pearl Islands has Johnny Fairplay, ASS had..err..yeah, Rupert I guess, and so on. All we have are the whiney brats per usual, and the frat-boys, and old people (not to steriotype or anything). There aren't any devious, conniving people, or any wacky, creepy people (Matt, from whatever season), or just someone who's name sticks out to you and you say, "OH! I hate that b*tch!" or "OMG! I LOVE him!" For me, at least. But I going to wait until further in the season to deside whether I will stop watching. Which is highly unlikely. I sat through ASS, nothing can be worse.

Like Tipp said, there will always be a chance for Survivor to recover. New season, new people, new location, hopefully new personallities, but no new Peachy.

I don't think the shark has been jumped, but Fonzie's sitting on the dock strapping on the water skis, life vest and leather jacket. For me, it's just that so far this season, it's like I've seen all these people before. There's the oldskool/playskool dynamic (Africa), boys vs. girls (Amazon)and the workers vs the slackers (every season). Some of the deja vu is the inevitable result of this being the 9th season, but most of it is due to Burnett & Co.'s insistance on casting stereotypes over and over again, and all too often emphasizing pretty over personality.

But the Who Wants to Give Rupert A Million Dollars extravaganza last spring did indeed signal that the ski boat was gassed up and ready to go.

Yea, that jet boat is starting to rev up a bit for me this season as well. My casting problem is that MB hasn't cast a single likeable woman this season, well, that I have seen so far. Seriously, would it kill him to find, say, one successful, intelligent woman who doesn't have fake boobs, a bitchface or a shrieking voice, who plays the game with her mind, not by attempting to use her goddamn sexuality to win?! Argh!! (Ditto these sentiments for The Apprentice). My problem is that TPTB seem to now be equating likeable = cutesy, weakwilled and not too bright, if they do bother to try and cast a likeable woman at all. I just don't think they realise that casting four or five 'hottie bitches' under 30 is not exactly riveting television. Note to Mark Burnett: Dude, we all went to high school already, and know those chicks, and we don't like them.

My other major problem is repetition. Dudes? We've seen the women vs men thing before. Fine, you want to use it again, OK, but don't expect us to be all surprised and outraged by the guys saying 'We got beaten by girls!?' or having Peachy ask them who the guys think is hot. I also refuse to believe they can't come up with some better challenges as well. No more blindfolded puzzles, no more balancing on a pole in an uncomfortable position and no more build a fire to burn through a rope challenges.

Survivor hasn't quite jumped the shark for me, but I am finding this season much more ho-hum than the last few and they had better hope they have a Rob C or Rob M amongst those idiot contestants who will make some interesting strategic moves or this season could be the end for my Survivor love.

I think the producers screwed up badly with the premiere, and this edition has yet to really recover from it. First of all: eighteen players? Why? It worked in All-Stars because we already knew all of the contestants — not so here. We needed at least an hour-and-a-half to get to distinguish the players, but got an hour instead — minus the fifteen minutes to get through that stupid introduction ceremony.

That's forty-five minutes to sort out eighteen contestants — no wonder so few are still anything more than random bodies.

In addition, remember when the first booties were interesting and kooky freaks of nature? Debb? Diane? Peter? I defy any of you to tell me something of interest about Brook from the first episode, aside from that he got the first boot.

ITA that MB and TPTB have lost interest in the viewers. (Didn't The Casino prove that?) And I can't believe I'm typing this. But. One of the reasons PI brought such a comeback to Survivor was because they cast Rupert.

He was colorful. He wasn't pretty. And he devolved into a mass of writhing psychosis that was both entertaining and painful to watch.

I believe we're also looking at a general lack of credibility here from the viewers' point of view, since Rupert lost. Twice. Lost twice and they still butt-smooched him to the tune of a million dollars. So not only are we getting a little bored with the repetitiveness.... Not only are we seeing the same people cast over and over to the point where we don't bother learning their names.... We're also a bit jaded by ASS and America's Tribal Council. The contract was broken.

"Are you not entertained??!?"
"Not really, no."

I definitely have to echo the sentiment that Survivor has gotten rather stale. Honestly, there has to be some form of challenge out there that they haven't done before. If I never see another Survivor where the ability to untie knots is highly valued, I would be a happy woman indeed.

I think that up until America's Tribal Council: The Rupert Boneham/Mark Burnett Mutual Backslapping Hour, ASS was a solid season that I really enjoyed, largely because of Boston Rob. After season after season full of FUTR players, it was refreshing to me to see someone go for a ballsy strategy and damn near win the whole thing. Vanuatu is falling back into the old form - everyone tries hide behind an alliance and float on the tide to the end. Does it work as a game strategy? Sure. Is it interesting television? Not so much.

The casting this season hasn't helped the situation - the factional lines in each tribe were drawn before the game even started. And in a way, I almost wonder if my complaints regarding previous seasons are partially at fault for that. I've often bemoaned the fact that after the first few seasons, older Survivors have had a much harder time making it to the end and they've been far more likely to be among the first sent packing. I've wanted to see an older player win the game for a while. Tina was the last one, and that was back in Australia. Burnett appears to have addressed this by casting fewer young (by which I mean under 30) players this time around, but in doing so he removed a lot of the volatility that comes from stupid young players making dumb choices. I guess I just miss the fact that this show has been a showcase for many, many, brands of dumbass. While I like the older Survivors personally, the ones Burnett tends to cast are boring as hell when it comes to strategy.

I keep going back and forth on whether ASS was a good idea. Part of what made the show interesting was the idea of a bunch of strangers being thrown together and forced to explore each other, form alliances and so forth.

With ASS, nearly everyone had a history with each other; even those who hadn't been on the show together had, by that time, been to gatherings and such, so that it was only Rupert who didn't know a lot about the others on a personal level. So there wound up being some weird-ass personal animus going on as some people were eliminated specifically because of having been wronged in an earlier season (Jerri and Colby), or because they depended on relationships that had been formed before the show started. It made for some oddball dynamics and I wasn't sure I liked it.

But...what if the show were tweaked so that the tribes were groups of people who knew each other on, say, a professional level? A group of teachers, all from the same school or district, or people who all work in the same department of a large corporation, or something like that? Now we have people who have a casual relationship with one another but who aren't media whores (ASS, I'm looking at you) to begin with. In this situation, the factional lines may be in place as the show begins, but I'd be willing to bet that they'd be a lot more tenuous than you'd think.

I recently bought the first season and I just finished watching it ( the funny thing is I saw a lot of Season One and I could have sworn I never saw the show before Season 6 but that is neither here nor there). And I realized that the show should go back to its roots. I mean the whole look of the show has changed.

Jeff seemed to be much more of a narrator and he seemed to care about these people. Now he is more of a ball busting jerk to the Survivors. The production values were a lot less glossy compared to what we see now. And most of all the cast was a lot better.

And to me that is what it is all about casting. To make these shows you have to cast look at Big Brother 4 it sucked to no extent. This year it was a really good.

I missed season one, but have seen each of the other seasons.

It's done. I'll keep watching this one, but I don't think another one of these is a good idea, unless they really shake things up.

Given the lame firings in 3 out of 5 episodes of The Apprentice, the real question is:

Has Mark Burnett jumped the shark?

tgb, I think you might have hit on something here. Mark Burnett may be the one who has jumped. We've seen it happen before with hitmakers who keep adding and adding to their repitoire, until... it's too late, it's all diluted, and none of it holds up to their previous work.

I'm sad, of course, but I think I agree that the shark has been jumped, but by no individual show. This does mean, I think, that one or more of them can be saved. Will the shark jumper be willing to risk it, though?

As we were watching last night's terribly predictable episode, Mr. Sureshot had an interesting suggestion that could be pretty cool. He proposed that all the Survivors live together from the beginning with no defined teams. Prior to each immunity challenge, teams would be selected by some method (probably random). Losers go to TC as usual. It has potential as an idea, because you can't depend on an alliance to save you. I really like this idea, even though I know it's completely impractical on so many levels and would never happen. But at the same time it would add something fresh to the series - a twist like that would mess with the cast like crazy. Something to ponder, at least.

Is this show still on? Oh.

I used to like this show. Around Season 1. Then afterwards, not so much. I tried to watch this season, but in the middle of the first episode, after the contestants didn't get eaten alive by the non-cannibals, I feel asleep.

The predictability of this season leads me to hope they try a last ditch effort and have a single tribe at the start at some point. Multiple rewards challenge winners per episode, multiple Immunity Challenge (winner gets to hand out two more). Lord of the Flies Survivor! Okay, one glass of wine too many for the Friar.

On another topic thread, someone pointed out that players have just come to expect that the producers will eventually cave in and give them what they need -- matches, food, etc. There's none of the "we need to actually have some survival skills" aspect to this. It's so focused on the game itself, of which there are fewer and fewer interesting or innovative variations, that banality rears its ugly head. Sandra's "my vote is for sale" strategy on S:PI was so foreign to players she ended up winning. And other than the occassional spat, nothing really fun to watch happens. Whither Michael's pig hunt? The chicken stabbing paled by comparison.

I wonder if a clinically insane Promise Keeper like Mike could even pass the interview process anymore. Now they just seem to be getting the contestants from casting agents and slotting them into positions. I don't think they've set aside a slot for "crazy ass Christian guy" since the Outback.

I don't think it has yet. Thailand was just as boring as this season, but the seasons after that were pretty good. Now, if next season is like this one, then I think it will have.

I really like Survivor but this season because of the lack of charismatic cast members there is a problem in Huston. Twila is the only interesting person and thats not saying much. All the elder have voted of the younger so there is no eye candy. In the end though its all about relationships and this season theirs just no real drama.

That's exactly what I was thinking.

Survivor hasn't exactly jumped the shark for me, but I'm definitely less interested in this season than I ever have been. I think what killed it for me was the whole "Rupert" thing. I couldn't stand him in Pearl Islands and although I was initially interested in SAS (which I didn't mind as much as many others -- I thought it was amusing to see some of them make the same mistakes. Lex.), but my interest immediately lowered when I heard the spoiler that Rupert was going to be on it. It was an "aw, hell, again?" moment for me. At the end of the finale when Probst said there was going to be an "Let's just give Rupert a million bucks" episode, I thought that kinda took the whole thing down to a Jerry Springer level. Then they used him in the previews for this one.

Sure, there are lots of folks who like him but there's also plenty who don't. Even though he's not on this one, I kind of feel like that whole scenario stained what used to be a very comfortable sofa or something. It just ain't the same. It feels like Survivor: American Idol. Winning the game doesn't mean as much.

For me, part of the stasis comes not just from the fact that the challenges have been repeated ad nauseum, and from the fact that Burnett keeps casting the same type of people, which also results in overly-familiar dynamics (oldschool vs playschool, oh kill me now), but it's also amazing how these participants never seem to learn from previous seasons. "Omigawd, I can't believe how hard surviving in the wild is, you guys! I wasn't prepared for this!" Why not? Did you not have a TV?

I'm sad to say that I am over Survivor. I used to love this show, and schedule my Thursdays around it. Now I don't even watch every episode and just let them sit on my TiVo.

I honestly think CBS has overscheduled the show like ABC did to Millionaire. If there was only one season a year, I would probably be more excited about it.

I remember a Thursday evening earlier this year, in the waning weeks of All Stars. The inimitable voice of Boston Rob began that night's episode by intoning something like "This is so boring...the people are horrible... it's just a real drag." And one of those metaphorical shafts of light penetrated my muddled mind. He's absolutely right, I thought. I've been a faithful viewer since Episode 5 of the first season but it's really no fun anymore.

And so, like lila, I'm pretty apathetic about the new season. Sometimes I watch the show, sometimes I just catch the TC segement, sometimes I tape the whole thing but don't get around to watching all of it. As the Yogi Berra Hartland plastics figure on my shelf tells me, everything's "deja vu all over again." A new crop of hopefuls isn't enough to engage my interest in what's become a wheezy vehicle.

Having said that, I'll admit I can't quite stop following the torch -snuffing altogether. I like Leann, and will probably maintain my half-involvment with the show as long as she's on.

Wow, so this season has gotten boring. Like, switching tribes isn't all that exciting. It was actually about damn time because the voting got too predictable (with the men anyway). I think the problem is, they haven't come up with any good twists. Like in Big Brother, they can always come up with something insane. (Plus, Big Brother is only one once a year so it keeps it fresh.) I don't know what they can do to fix it. But I used to be totally into it and now, meh. The Amazing Race keeps me on the edge of my seat like no other show... I miss it.

I'm not sure that the show has jumped the shark, but my love for it has definitely faded into lukewarm like. To be fair, how many shows---scripted or otherwise---can remain fresh and exciting after so many seasons? That said, ITA with those who say that a show like this is only as good (or, in this case, as meh) as its cast.

I also think a big problem for me is that so many of the supposed surprise 'twists' are revealed in the trailers and promos before the episode airs. (For example, we all knew going into last night's episode that the tribes were going to merge). Not that my heart would have exactly started racing at the words "drop your buffs" even if I hadn't known it was going to happen, but knowing in advance did make a blah episode even less interesting.

Finally, and this is speaking only for myself, I think that as I rekindle a love for the network's less formulaic and increasingly interesting scripted shows like Veronica Mars, Desperate Housewives, Lost, etc., a reality show going into its umpteenth season has really started to lose its allure. I know there's room in my TV-loving heart for both reality AND scripted shows, but I think that seeing new scripted shows that are actually, you know, GOOD, reminds me of what I used to love about TV---something that most reality shows, maybe even Survivor, just can't always deliver.

For me, the show really has jumped the shark. As someone said upthread, the challenges are just repetitive; and they are so boring: typical Probst narrative, "And Twila's untying the knot; now Bubba's untying the knot; now Brady's untying the knot." Ten minutes of the people doing the same thing over and over is just not that riveting. I just TiVo past the entire challenge to the last second to see who wins.

Also, not to sound shallow, but the people who are left right now are such unattractive hicks, it's not much fun to watch. Dumpy dumb highway worker Chris with his straggly ponytail; big bossy gross Sarge; Twila [who looks about 70 years old in her bathing suit]; Scout. Ugh! I hate to admit I need some eye candy, but I yearn for Boston Rob; Alex; and other hotties from seasons past.

Heh.

Anyway, I was sitting at my computer just now pondering why it was I was no longer interested in Survivor. So far this season has literally bored me to tears. And yes, unlike 95% of reality show contestants, I know what "literally" means. And yes, I cried. Of boredom. I personally am not a fan of the whole "jump the shark" concept, especially with reality shows because each new season brings a cast of new characters and essentially, a "clean slate". But for the first time ever in Survivor Land, I've grown incresingly apathetic to the point of idily wondering how Joey's doin'. And the kicker: I don't know why. (Cue creepy twilight zone music).
All the JTS reasons above are completely true IMO, but this is the way it's been for the past two or three seasons at least. It's never bothered me until now. The mere fact that this thread was created this season tells me I'm not alone. My question, to those who wish to opine: Is Miss Alli right? Did Rupert's completely unearned million cause the show to JTS? And if so, how? And why? What, do Twila, Brady, Chad, and many many others I can't name or even picture their faces, have to do with Rupert? Anyone? Anyone? I'm literally dying to know. Literally.

Survivor definitely jumped with SAS and the gift to Rupert.

Does seem like Burnett is out of fresh ideas. Prior to SAS every season had a new twist: Australia - letting them starve; Africa - switching tribes; Amazon - boys against the girls; Panama - the clothes on their backs. Unless Burnett as some big surprises in store later this season, the series appears to be heading south quickly.

It might be, but this could be another Thailand or Marquesas. Neither had any exciting new twist, and both had naysayers calling "Shark". This season could be the beginning of the end, or could just be a lame season prior to a better one. Time should tell.

I guess the big "twist" in this season is 18 contestants. Wow, what's next, 19?

Ugh, this season is killing me. Brady's ouster was the icing on the cake (in a bad way).

For me, part of the problem is the "men vs. women" tribe split. It limits the number of physical challenges they can do, which gives them (the producers) fewer options. Also, I would like to see some Fear Factor-like challenges (minus the gross eating) - some of their psychological stuff can be interesting and it would add some variety to Survivor. It would be great to have some of these challenges play more on their fears instead of their ability to balance or hold their breath under water.

Or mix up the tribes even more. Have them switch around every few days - it would screw up alliances and maybe stop the boring old vs. young, man vs. woman dynamic that I find so dull.

I have been a faithful viewer since episode 1, season 1. This is not the first time that Survivor has slipped into lameness for me, but it is the first time I think it won't be able to get out of its rut.
This season had the first episode I missed on purpose. The problem here is that there are too many people, and they all seem to be the same person. There are three women who I really couldnt tell you who they were if they were lined up in front of me> I think their names are Lisa, Leann and Julie(?). But i could not tell you which was which. Oftentimes I only remember two of them, then I see the third and I ask myself "who the hell is that". On the mens side you had two guys named John, who for all intents and purposes, may as well have been the same person. And Brady looked like their big brother. Also the only reason Brady was memorable was because of the information on the official website. In his bio i learned he was a marine and and an FBI Agent who was training for counterterrorism. If I hadn't read his bio I would have never learned anything about Brady, except that he really didn't like Rory.
This is the most poorly cast season of Survivor ever. And as a result, the fact that the show itself, with the challenges and the views of tribal life, is being exposed more and more as being dull and repetitive.
I don't think the show will recover and has most definately jumped the shark. I will continue to watch because I still think it is a good show compared to everything else on, it just isn't one of the best anymore.
Just for fun, I have a suggestion that might give a little life to the show. In tribal council, the losing team of the immunity challenge still goes to tribal council, however, the winning team should be allowed to vote someone out. This might curb all the tendencies to form alliances that make the show predictable. Also ditch the merge. Keep two tribes going until it is no longer feasible, until the final four. Even out the teams at certain points, just like on The Apprentice. It will keep everyone on their toes. At least that is my opinion.

It's been a week since the last epi, and there's only 15 pages of discussion on the episode thread.

I don't think SURVIVOR has jumped the shark by any means. But if Mark Burnett and Jeff Probst want to keep Mr. Great White at bay, I have a suggestion: they should toss the extra two competitors who increased the participant pool from 16 to 18 in and hope the shark just eats them and swims away.

With 18 people around, it means an extra week or two until the most interesting part of the game, the single-tribe merge. That might not sound like a lot, but in TV terms with that many people all lingering and blotting out the landscape of focus, trust me that it's a problem. Mark Burnett's genius is in creating reality shows that really take the viewers down to the wire--any factor that makes the journey to that point more prolonged isn't going to be good for the show.

The whole cast is the sideshow, frankly. Getting to the main event is where SURVIVOR has always been superb and I doubt it'll be different this year. Vanuatu, like the 2nd season of MB's THE APPRENTICE, hasn't been pared down to the people we most want to see succeed or fail because it's STILL too early to decide who we most want to see do those things! Next time, they should have 16 people and if that means a clip show in the middle, so be it.

Actually, I think that having 18 contestants isn't necessarily terrible, if they were used correctly, namely, having three tribes rather than two. If they went straight from three tribes to a single one in a merge, that might help to stop Pagonging, which can make much of the endgame so predictable.