Survival of the Stupidest

You know, when I first read about the plan for the next Survivor to be a battle of the races in this past week’s Entertainment Weekly, I thought it was pretty ignorant and stupid. I am shocked that CBS signed off on this, but then I remembered that TV is getting more and more stupid with gimmicks to grab ratings. Maybe they think it was safer to try this with one of their top shows rather than some other new or lower rated show.

Now we are starting to see some of the fall out from this decision and I applaud GM for dropping their sponsorship. They may say it is coincidence, but I’m not buying it. The show is too high profile and high rated to pull your sponsorship for it. If CBS and the show’s producers really wanted to bring more diversity to the show, which was already pretty diverse in comparison to regular TV, then they should have just mixed up the teams rather than putting them against each other. With 20 people, it wouldn’t be an even break out with only four races, so why not add Middle-eastern descent to the Asian, Latin, Black and White groups they already have.

If CBS thinks this is going to provide extra publicity and interest in the series, they are right. Unfortunately, it will be for the wrong reasons. I hope this signals the end of reality TV, but I doubt it.