Well, I threw a lot at you yesterday with pix from the upcoming seasons of Survivor, Dancing With the Stars, and The Amazing Race 10... heck, I didn't even have much time to digest it all.
So here are some further thoughts...
Survivor
If the adage that there is "no such thing as bad publicity"... Survivor is already winning with initially splitting the tribes by race. For a show to be in its 13th iteration, especially a reality show, the mere fact that there is so much press and buzz on the upcoming season is saying something.
A TV Guide online poll shows folks are pretty divided on the tribe divisions... 32% find it "shockingly offensive," 26% say "it might be interesting," and 41% chalk it up as a "typical reality show stunt." As I said yesterday, I find it kind of interesting... but certainly lean to the belief that it is a smart "stunt." The way I see it, given that there are only 5 members per tribe, there is going to be some kind of merge fairly early on... remember last season when the tribes were similarly split by age and gender. So the "race vs. race" thing I see as a "hook" with a limited life span.
Now where things can get potentially ugly/uncomfortable is if the Caucasian team dominates and/or if racial stereotypes surface... i.e. African Americans "can't swim." An interesting twist on this concept, I think would have been to have the contestants split across tribes... than see if at a merge or a team "shake-up" they are more loyal to their original tribe or to members of their race.
Dancing With The Stars
Until I see the first episode, I won't make any predictions.... shockingly enough, my picks made the morning after the last season's premiere were pretty darn close. I had the final 3 as Drew/Cheryl, Stacy/Tony... missing out only on Jerry/Anna with the 4th-placed Lisa/Louis.
That said, I will predict who some of the early exits will be. Ok, I am not intending to be sexist here, but I think this show is more difficult for the male "stars"... for two reasons, a) they have to "lead" and b) men generally lack rhythm/can't dance. So, no big surprise, that I see the two weakest links as Tucker Carlson and Jerry Springer. And besides, honestly I am not terribly familiar with any of the female "stars."
But as far as studs for this upcoming season... Mario Lopez is still looking might fine, pro dancer Tony Dovolani will likely continue to retain my attention... but I am guessing first-timer pro Jesse DeSoto may steal some of Tony's spotlight.
The Amazing Race 10
Again, hard to predict success based on pictures alone... but it would not be going out on a limb at all to pencil in the alpha male team for an end run... so that would be modelicious Tyler & James. Likewise, this year's inspiration team of Peter & Sarah appear primed for good run... and Vipul & Arti seem to what it takes to fill the married/parents slot.
For early exit predictions, I will go with the not terribly well-traveled David & Mary (Kentucky parents) and Team Lyn Squared, Lyn & Karlyn... the Alabama Moms.... and one of the girly-girl teams... Kellie/Jamie or Dustin/Kandice. On the gay side, Tom & Terry don't strike me as the next Chip & Reichen... but they should best the first leg exit of TAR9's Scott & John.
tags: survivor, survivor cook islands, dancing with the stars, amazing race, amazing race 10
I haven't had time to digest any of that yet except that I think the race thing on Survivor is both ridiculous and GENIUS (people are interested in that show for the first time in a number of years). I plan to post about all of this at some point. You're just so way ahead of me, I think I'll start redirecting my readers over to you!
Posted by: DeAnn | Sunday, August 27, 2006 at 07:07 PM