CBS plays the race card with the latest Survivor

[nickel]

NYC Officials Want New 'Survivor' Pulled
Thursday August 24 8:54 PM ET

As CBS prepares to launch a new season of the hit reality show "Survivor," this time featuring teams divided by race, enraged city officials are saying it promotes divisiveness and are calling for the network to reconsider.

"The idea of having a battle of the races is preposterous," City Councilman John Liu said Thursday. "How could anybody be so desperate for ratings?"

For the first portion of the 13th season of "Survivor," which premieres Sept. 14, the contestants competing for the $1 million prize while stranded on the Cook Islands in the South Pacific will be divided into four teams blacks, Asians, Latinos and whites.




Liu, who is Asian-American, said he was launching a campaign urging CBS to pull the show because it could encourage racial division and promote negative typecasts. He and a coalition of officials, including the council's black, Latino and Asian caucus, planned to rally at City Hall on Friday.

In a statement, CBS Entertainment, which is part of New York-based CBS Corp., defended the ethnic twist, saying it follows the show's tradition of introducing new creative elements and casting structures that reflect cultural and social issues.

"CBS fully recognizes the controversial nature of this format but has full confidence in the producers and their ability to produce the program in a responsible manner," the statement said. "'Survivor' is a program that is no stranger to controversy and has always answered its critics on the screen."

Last season, the show divided contestants into groups of older men, younger men, older women and younger women.

The show's host, Jeff Probst, said the network was aware this season's race ploy might offend viewers.

"It's very risky because you're bringing up a topic that is a hot button," he told asap, The Associated Press service for younger readers. "There's a history of segregation you can't ignore. It is part of our history.

"For that, it's much safer to say, 'No, let's just stick with things the way they are. Let's don't be the network to rock the boat. Let's not have "Survivor" try something new,'" he said. "But the biases from home can't affect you. This is an equal opportunity game."

http://tv.yahoo.com/news/ap/20060824...9ebxIM_hKRsVoB

What a desperate way to get people to watch. I don't see good things coming out of it.

[DarkFury]

Heh...

Funny thing is... this probably will be the first and only time they would have more than 2 Black people (or 4 minorities total) on the cast at one time.


I still wanna see "Reverse Surivivor" with 14 Black folks and 2 white folks just to see how long they would stay before getting voted out. (Kinda like Dave Chappelle's "Mad Real World". )

[Freelance Superhero]

i must here quote something one of my good friends said to me just a couple of days ago:

"black people are the closest thing we have to X-men."

[nickel]

Heh...

Funny thing is... this probably will be the first and only time they would have more than 2 Black people (or 4 minorities total) on the cast at one time.


I still wanna see "Reverse Surivivor" with 14 Black folks and 2 white folks just to see how long they would stay before getting voted out. (Kinda like Dave Chappelle's "Mad Real World". )

now dear, do you really think they got voted off b/c they were black or because even if they were purple and had the strong personality or a couple of the guys was just plain lazy asses, that they still would've been voting off early?

i don't know if you watched it, but last season's Survivor found the only black female, Cirie, in the final four, and then she only got the boot because she was tied in the vote off and didn't make the tiebreaking challenge of building a fire as fast as her cohort. she did well. she wasn't overbearing or lazy and was probably the best at playing the game as anyone who has come along.
i don't recall anyone being voted off for just being black actually.

as far as a Survivor with 14 black folks and 2 white folks one would hope they wouldn't vote someone off b/c of the color of their skin. the door swings both ways now doesn't it?

[Maarchk]

Heh...
Funny thing is... this probably will be the first and only time they would have more than 2 Black people (or 4 minorities total) on the cast at one time.

I thought they said that very few minorities who apply and so its just a lopsided ratio of applicants that leads to a lopsided cast... But that could just be talk. I think it will be intersting and i would say it could be a decent idea... BUT as soon as they have a test, i can only imagine that it will either be a physical, or mental challenge, and for sure people will pull out the stereotypes of who is better than who at certain skills saying its not discrmination, its just fact... Thats when ugliness will ensue and my guess is people will stop watching...

Although i for one have stopped watching about 10 years ago.

[DarkFury]

now dear, do you really think they got voted off b/c they were black or because even if they were purple and had the strong personality or a couple of the guys was just plain lazy asses, that they still would've been voting off early?

i don't know if you watched it, but last season's Survivor found the only black female, Cirie, in the final four, and then she only got the boot because she was tied in the vote off and didn't make the tiebreaking challenge of building a fire as fast as her cohort. she did well. she wasn't overbearing or lazy and was probably the best at playing the game as anyone who has come along.
i don't recall anyone being voted off for just being black actually.

as far as a Survivor with 14 black folks and 2 white folks one would hope they wouldn't vote someone off b/c of the color of their skin. the door swings both ways now doesn't it?

Wow... you sure read alot into my statement.

I'm just saying lets reverse the order and see where the chips fall. It would be interesting.

I'm not even gonna try to debate whether or not the color of one's skin can make a determination of a decision... in some cases it would, in others it might not. Just depends on who was making those decisions.

Not everyone is gonna decide the same way. Besides, nobody is gonna admit that they voted off someone simply because they are Black... people are generally too "PC" for that. It just happens. In some cases, if the Blacks on that show play it cool, don't stir up the pot too much, then they go far. If they cause trouble, show that they are a physical threat, or generally draw any negative attention to themselves, then they are surely goners.

However to date, only ONE Black person has won Survivor (Vecepia Towery from Survivor 4 Marqusas) and only ONE other minority has won (Sandra Diaz - Survivor 9 Pearl Islands)... and for both of them it was a great stroke of luck for them to win cause they sure weren't favored to be the winners. Of course nobody has ever heard from either of them again... (I wonder what happened to them.)

Either way, as far as this time is concerned... I'm only saying that it would be interesting to reverse the situation and just see how it turns out. It might be good for a laugh or two.

[MikeD]

What is Survivor? A TV show?

[nickel]

What is Survivor? A TV show?

I believe Survivor was the original reality TV show in the U.S.
From it has spawned all kinds of "reality" TV.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivor_%28TV_series%29

[LPMiller]

Real World predates it by quite a bit, actually.

[Thesifer]

Real World predates it by quite a bit, actually.

Yeah.. It's too bad all Reality TV is utter Garbage anyways.

[DarkFury]

I believe Survivor was the original reality TV show in the U.S.
From it has spawned all kinds of "reality" TV.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivor_%28TV_series%29

I'm in agreement with LP above... however Survivor is the originator of the "Reality Competition Show".

The Real World was never a "competition"... no one got voted out (at least not as a premise of the show, yet several people did get ejected from the show based on conflicts with other cast members), they just volunteered to have their lives filmed for a few months.