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Survivor S40: Winners at War
- Thread starter PUSH
- Start date
dmw
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- No
Other networks are moving popular shows to online only. Discovery+ is strongly promoting exclusive streaming content including a very significant list of popular series/franchises like Fixer Upper from HGTV, the new Mike Rowe show, and quite a bit from Food Network. I read an article recently that was predicting the end of some of the cable networks that are moving to Discovery+.
And, it's not just the fringe cable networks. CBS put their new Star Trek series only online a couple of years ago. The Paramount+ push (which includes the former CBS All Access streaming service) has been very strong recently, including multiple Super Bowl ads. Disney is going big time into streaming... with less new content on their cable channels. NBC is ending their sports network in 2021
I can see networks intentionally putting top rated shows online to draw viewers away from Cable/Satellite. Seems like every year my cable company drops a local station or even a cable station for a short period of time while they negotiate rates. I'm beginning to wonder if we are seeing the start of a major shift away from cable/satellite to only online content. Kind of like how streaming and on-demand movies led to the demise of video rental stores like Blockbuster and Hollywood Video.
I could see that in the future, but not yet. Not with their headliner on Wednesdays. It's been a staple on their network for years. Star Trek was a new show, so I can see that.
On a somewhat similar note, I wonder how much longer Survivor will last. I think seasons 41 and 42 are going to be big for them. After a milestone season 40, they can't fall flat like they did after Heroes vs Villains. Especially after a long layoff.
I always used to think Survivor was linked to Jeff, and it would end when he quits. But I no longer think that. Yes, Jeff is great at what he does, but I think he's too involved these days. He's losing touch on what makes a Survivor season great. It's not the twists or the themes or the metaphors. Now maybe after a long layoff, they've had time to reflect. At least I hope so. But other international seasons are doing really well without Jeff.
The biggest thing that helps Survivor is that it has been getting good ratings, and it is pretty cheap to produce. You don't have a lot of money going to a cast. They can recycle a lot of sets and props now that they're permanently in Fiji. There are just a lot of plusses.
artvandelay
Well-Known Member
I would love to see extended versions of Survivor on Paramount plus. Take the episode that aired on a Wednesday night and then add more camp life or the reward challenges that have been edited out of the show more and more.
I'd love to see more Ponderosa, too.
artvandelay
Well-Known Member
We’ve never seen pre jury Ponderosa. That would be cool to see.
Just watched Advantagegeddon. It's still heartbreaking. Cirie has had so many things go wrong for her. One win, and she is probably seen as possibly the best player of all time. Without advantages, she could have won Game Changers. She was in the perfect position until Sarah's steal-a-vote debacle. Let's play this out...
Alternate universe (no steal-a-vote, or any idols/advantages at the final 6):
At the final 7, Sarah is voted out.
At the final 6, Cirie, Michaela and Aubry are likely a strong three. Tai is a floater. Brad and Troy are a tight two. Brad wins immunity. Troy is voted out.
At the final 5, Brad wins immunity. Tai is voted out.
At the final 4, Brad wins immunity. Cirie and Michaela liekly vote Aubry. Aubry votes Cirie. Brad is 50/50 between Cirie and Aubry, but probably Cirie. So Cirie and Aubry go to fire. I'm guessing Aubry wins that.
Final three: Brad, Aubry, Michaela. None of them played controlling games, but it likely comes down to Brad and Aubry.
So maybe Cirie doesn't win, but I'd rather her go out in this universe than the actual one.
Alternate universe (no steal-a-vote, or any idols/advantages at the final 6):
At the final 7, Sarah is voted out.
At the final 6, Cirie, Michaela and Aubry are likely a strong three. Tai is a floater. Brad and Troy are a tight two. Brad wins immunity. Troy is voted out.
At the final 5, Brad wins immunity. Tai is voted out.
At the final 4, Brad wins immunity. Cirie and Michaela liekly vote Aubry. Aubry votes Cirie. Brad is 50/50 between Cirie and Aubry, but probably Cirie. So Cirie and Aubry go to fire. I'm guessing Aubry wins that.
Final three: Brad, Aubry, Michaela. None of them played controlling games, but it likely comes down to Brad and Aubry.
So maybe Cirie doesn't win, but I'd rather her go out in this universe than the actual one.
Final Tribal: Ozzy starts bragging about how he knows everything because he had played more days than anybody at that point. Aubry rolls her eyes.
Ozzy really is arrogant. I roll my eyes every time he threatens to stop providing fish if he gets voted out. Winning out to win the game is not "being loyal" or "playing a cleaner game". It's terrible strategy. Terrible social plays. He's not a great player.
Ozzy really is arrogant. I roll my eyes every time he threatens to stop providing fish if he gets voted out. Winning out to win the game is not "being loyal" or "playing a cleaner game". It's terrible strategy. Terrible social plays. He's not a great player.
Last comment for tonight, as I just finished the season. On the initial watch, Sarah was a bit of a drag. I didn't think she deserved to be there. But after watching WaW, I put her as my 7th best player all time. And now rewatching, I thoroughly enjoyed watching her game. Sure, it's not flashy, but it is very dominant.
Game Changers moved from #28 in my all-time rankings to #20. I really enjoyed it once we got to the merge. The premerge is what's keeping it from going higher.
JT took a big drop in my all-time player rankings. From #53 to #81. Each season he showed worse and worse gameplay, and I think his blunder in Game Changers may be the worst "move" (if you can call it that) of all time. And that's saying something.
Game Changers moved from #28 in my all-time rankings to #20. I really enjoyed it once we got to the merge. The premerge is what's keeping it from going higher.
JT took a big drop in my all-time player rankings. From #53 to #81. Each season he showed worse and worse gameplay, and I think his blunder in Game Changers may be the worst "move" (if you can call it that) of all time. And that's saying something.
I just ran a Survivor simulation using the Cook Islands model with the theme as "Winners vs Finalists vs Jurors vs Pre-Jurors". For the record, I do not condone that title. Here is how it turned out. A lot of funny, crazy things.
1. Francesca was voted out 1st for a 3rd time.
2. Tom Westman quit the game.
3. Cirie and Stephanie Johnson mutinied. Immediately after Coach plays the immunity idol after the votes are read to send Cirie home, in classic Cirie fashion.
4. Reem nearly made it to the end.
We desperately need new Survivor seasons. I'm just down to the finale of HvHvH. Thoughts will be coming soon!
1. Francesca was voted out 1st for a 3rd time.
2. Tom Westman quit the game.
3. Cirie and Stephanie Johnson mutinied. Immediately after Coach plays the immunity idol after the votes are read to send Cirie home, in classic Cirie fashion.
4. Reem nearly made it to the end.
We desperately need new Survivor seasons. I'm just down to the finale of HvHvH. Thoughts will be coming soon!
It is rumored that seasons 41 and 42 are not going to be 39 days, but rather shortened. There is no official number, but it is rumored to be up to 10 days fewer than normal. There is not an official reason, or any information on how they will pull this off. They could go from the traditional 3-days per episode structure to a 2-day rotation. Or not even publicly say anything and pretend it's as normal. More info from Martin Holmes:
insidesurvivor.com
Survivor Season 41 To Be A Shortened Season? - Inside Survivor
Is Survivor cutting back on the amount of days for season 41 and beyond?
insidesurvivor.com
artvandelay
Well-Known Member
I don’t have a problem with this. Maybe they go back to 16 players and a final 2?It is rumored that seasons 41 and 42 are not going to be 39 days, but rather shortened. There is no official number, but it is rumored to be up to 10 days fewer than normal. There is not an official reason, or any information on how they will pull this off. They could go from the traditional 3-days per episode structure to a 2-day rotation. Or not even publicly say anything and pretend it's as normal. More info from Martin Holmes:
Survivor Season 41 To Be A Shortened Season? - Inside Survivor
Is Survivor cutting back on the amount of days for season 41 and beyond?
From what's been reported, I'm assuming it will still either be an 18 or 20 person cast. I'm also betting it won't be a final 2 because that would just add another vote to an already shortened season.
My biggest hope is this eliminates the final 4 fire making, as well as twists and gimmicks like IoI or Ghost Island. They take up time, and they may not have time for them in a 29 day season.
I'm okay with this for now, but I don't want it to become the normal. 39 days is perfect. It's long enough for players to go through that personal growth due to the physical and mental stress. But it's not like Australia that was 42 days, where everyone was basically too weak to function at the end.
I just finished my HHH rewatch. My overall thoughts are I think this season is much better than what its reputation says. I think with many of this more recent seasons, initial reactions have overtaken how good they actually are. We haven't built up a reverence for them yet, like we have with many of the old school seasons. Yes, there are glaring flaws with this season, which I'll get to. But overall it's pretty solid.
Let's start with the bad.
Obviously the thing that sticks out like a sore thumb is the surprise final four fire making. It's just as hard to watch it on the replay as it was watching it when it first aired. It really still feels like a gimmick that was thrown in last minute to help Ben get to the end. There was no mention of it all season until after Ben had found and played his idol at the final 5. Listening to RHAP's retrospective on the season, they said there was no media knowledge of it until the preseason press, and usually an insider gets some knowledge on that before the season films. It felt a little gross.
Another thing that felt pretty "convenient" for Ben was his final idol find. He was just talking about how he was pretty much giving up on finding an idol. Then he sat down on the raft and it's right there. This one is a little harder for production to force, but it still felt a little off. Whether Ben was able to locate that spot because producers/cameras were heavily focused on it or what, it felt a little forced.
This bad thing wasn't necessarily bad for viewing, but the gameplay was actually pretty poor on most people's ends this season. In a season where "secrets" were pushed, nobody kept any secret. Everybody told everybody everything. And loose lips sink ships, and more often than not, the people who couldn't keep a secret got voted out or suffered repercussions because of it. The only person who could keep a secret was Ben when he found his idols, and unsurprisingly it paid off.
To continue with the bad gameplay, there weren't many people who had good social games. Everybody got in personal fights with everyone. They didn't feel like normal arguments. They felt deeper. Ben had several. Chrissy had several. Ryan had some, with many comments given during confessionals. Devon had some. Joe was the king of it. Lauren had some. I think the best social game goes to Desi who was the first juror. The final three had really weak social games. Chrissy and Ryan never talked to anybody outside of their core two or three. So when it came to the end, nobody had that connection with them to make them want to vote for them. Chrissy was very transparent when she held a grudge, only until she needed something from them.
To piggy back off of that, Chrissy is a really good strategic player. However, she really lacked the social game. I think that gets forgotten because of how Ben won. Yes, I probably would have still voted for her over Ben. But I totally understand how the jury voted for Ben over her. Her answers felt scripted. Her responses and emotions felt scripted. She felt cold. And I know that's just her personality, but it isn't an asset in Survivor.
Joe was also very hard to watch. He claimed to be super strategic, but he was really just a bully. He was arrogant, and I really never want to see him play again.
I also think there was a lot of arrogant honesty in this season. The cast was so open about gloating and bragging when they got the upper hand. Very few people played it subtle. I was surprised with that. I had forgotten how arrogant people like Chrissy, Devon, Lauren, Ben, Ryan, Ashley, Mike, etc. were when they had the power.
Now onto the good.
I really forgot how good Devon was this season. He controlled pretty much the entire game. He always knew who was going home. He had Ryan and Ashley wrapped around his finger for large parts of the season. He was an equal, and maybe even majority owner in his partnership with Chrissy. If he had made it to the final three, he should have won against anybody.
The challenges were really fun this season.
The spaghetti reward with the idol clue was amazing. I forgot how fun that was. Cole covered up the plate with a napkin, thinking that wouldn't be suspicious to eat spaghetti off a napkin when there's a plate underneath.
Desi was fantastic when she was in the game. A great narrator. She got screwed by being with Joe the entire time and being linked with him. She went down because of his poor gameplay, but she really had good reads. I hope to see her again.
I love that women won 8 out of the 9 immunity challenges. Chrissy was great in them, winning 4 total.
Ali was a really good player in the premerge. I hope to see her back, too.
Overall, here's my rankings for who I'd want to see a second time:
My players I have in my top 100 all-time player rankings:
Up next: Ghost Island! I'm not sure if I'll start that soon or take a break.
Let's start with the bad.
Obviously the thing that sticks out like a sore thumb is the surprise final four fire making. It's just as hard to watch it on the replay as it was watching it when it first aired. It really still feels like a gimmick that was thrown in last minute to help Ben get to the end. There was no mention of it all season until after Ben had found and played his idol at the final 5. Listening to RHAP's retrospective on the season, they said there was no media knowledge of it until the preseason press, and usually an insider gets some knowledge on that before the season films. It felt a little gross.
Another thing that felt pretty "convenient" for Ben was his final idol find. He was just talking about how he was pretty much giving up on finding an idol. Then he sat down on the raft and it's right there. This one is a little harder for production to force, but it still felt a little off. Whether Ben was able to locate that spot because producers/cameras were heavily focused on it or what, it felt a little forced.
This bad thing wasn't necessarily bad for viewing, but the gameplay was actually pretty poor on most people's ends this season. In a season where "secrets" were pushed, nobody kept any secret. Everybody told everybody everything. And loose lips sink ships, and more often than not, the people who couldn't keep a secret got voted out or suffered repercussions because of it. The only person who could keep a secret was Ben when he found his idols, and unsurprisingly it paid off.
To continue with the bad gameplay, there weren't many people who had good social games. Everybody got in personal fights with everyone. They didn't feel like normal arguments. They felt deeper. Ben had several. Chrissy had several. Ryan had some, with many comments given during confessionals. Devon had some. Joe was the king of it. Lauren had some. I think the best social game goes to Desi who was the first juror. The final three had really weak social games. Chrissy and Ryan never talked to anybody outside of their core two or three. So when it came to the end, nobody had that connection with them to make them want to vote for them. Chrissy was very transparent when she held a grudge, only until she needed something from them.
To piggy back off of that, Chrissy is a really good strategic player. However, she really lacked the social game. I think that gets forgotten because of how Ben won. Yes, I probably would have still voted for her over Ben. But I totally understand how the jury voted for Ben over her. Her answers felt scripted. Her responses and emotions felt scripted. She felt cold. And I know that's just her personality, but it isn't an asset in Survivor.
Joe was also very hard to watch. He claimed to be super strategic, but he was really just a bully. He was arrogant, and I really never want to see him play again.
I also think there was a lot of arrogant honesty in this season. The cast was so open about gloating and bragging when they got the upper hand. Very few people played it subtle. I was surprised with that. I had forgotten how arrogant people like Chrissy, Devon, Lauren, Ben, Ryan, Ashley, Mike, etc. were when they had the power.
Now onto the good.
I really forgot how good Devon was this season. He controlled pretty much the entire game. He always knew who was going home. He had Ryan and Ashley wrapped around his finger for large parts of the season. He was an equal, and maybe even majority owner in his partnership with Chrissy. If he had made it to the final three, he should have won against anybody.
The challenges were really fun this season.
The spaghetti reward with the idol clue was amazing. I forgot how fun that was. Cole covered up the plate with a napkin, thinking that wouldn't be suspicious to eat spaghetti off a napkin when there's a plate underneath.
Desi was fantastic when she was in the game. A great narrator. She got screwed by being with Joe the entire time and being linked with him. She went down because of his poor gameplay, but she really had good reads. I hope to see her again.
I love that women won 8 out of the 9 immunity challenges. Chrissy was great in them, winning 4 total.
Ali was a really good player in the premerge. I hope to see her back, too.
Overall, here's my rankings for who I'd want to see a second time:
- Devon
- Chrissy
- Desi
- Ali
- Lauren
- Ashley
My players I have in my top 100 all-time player rankings:
- Devon at 50
- Chrissy at 52
- Ben at 78
Up next: Ghost Island! I'm not sure if I'll start that soon or take a break.
artvandelay
Well-Known Member
The next Fall season usually has just finished right before the Spring finale (eg. Season Y has just finished taping right before season X’s reunion).
After the Spring finale, the next season is filmed. So, it would make sense that we would find out the theme in May.
artvandelay
Well-Known Member
I agree 100% with your list of who should get a second chance, but I’d throw Dr Mike in too.
I liked Dr. Mike, but I felt like I saw all I needed to see of him in HHH. He would have been my next pick, though. Really beyond Ali on my list are people I felt like probably gave us all they were going to give us in HHH.