NYC officials want new ‘Survivor’ pulled
August 26th, 2006As 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.
Legitimate concerns here, or a mountain out of a mole hill?
Hat tip: Nick
I think it’s a disgusting idea. You’d have to really get creative to think of a way to scrape the bottom of the barrel any deeper.
I just now posted info on this and came over here and saw this article.
I haven’t decided what I think. At first it seems like an outrageous and revolting idea but it depends on how it’s portrayed.
It will definitely make rooting for a particular tribe at home, very tricky and weird.
I don’t see any true benefits of it in the game other than shock factor. Tribe allegiance and competitiveness is usually high to begin with. That’s really the only part of the game it will impact.
Will the winner be heralded as the best surviving race?
Well, I haven’t watched Survivor for a few years now, but from what I remember of it, I’d say the chances are slim that the teams would stay divided up like this for long. Don’t they usually throw some kind of curve ball and divide up the teams at some point?
Yes, my wife and I were just discussing this. They will most likely not stay that way for very long and most definitely won’t end that way.
If you think about it, Survivor is supposed to be representative and a microcosm of life. After the flood, the world was pretty divided.
I’m not defending it, just saying.
Tim, it took me a few times reading that to see the work “divisiveness” and not “diversivness.” I couldn’t figure out what the problem was…
this has the potential to be a disaster. What if the asians get ripped off? Or the blacks get cheated?
why would anybody want to do something that could easily incite further distrust, anger, bitterness and open old wounds like this?
What’s next, gays vs. straights? Or how about this one. Dark skinned blacks vs. light skinned blacks. Or, how about illegal mexicans aliens vs. legal mexican citizens. How about Jews vs Nazi’s?
This would be cool…next season of Survior…KKK vs Black Muslims vs Jews vs Roman Catholics! No holds barred!
The thing I can’t escape is this:
If race is not supposed to be an issue, then why is it always an issue?
In our Postmodern American culture there is no way that this works. Lose-lose all around.
They break the NHL all star game into geographic teams. Last year the Home Run derby was too. We have the olympics, pitting country against country.
I say no biggie.
Zoner, I agree, if race really is no biggie. Since the only thing different is color - and that doesn’t matter, then thre’s no competitive advantage to doing it this way. So, then, what is the point?
Truly, if we don’t care about someone’s race, why do we care if events are organized that way? I think it’s all stupid and pointless.
I’m saying basically what Michael O’Donnell says above - if race isn’t an issue, why is it always an issue? In fact, even when we don’t care about race, it seems to always be thrust upon us.
Racism is big business. If it were to suddenly go away a lot of folks would be unemployed. Hence, you have people who claim to want to stop racsim doing everything they can to promote it. This show being an excellent example.
I’m totally watching now, and I had quit the show a few years back. Good on ya, CBS!