Archive through October 22, 2002
TV ClubHouse: Archives: Is it Thursday, yet?:
Archive through October 22, 2002
Jkm | Tuesday, October 08, 2002 - 06:34 am     Ok BB spoiled me! I need more! Only once a week. Only the information they show us. No 24/7 live feeds. What is this, some kind of game show? I want more!!!! How are we supposed know everything about their habits? Are we just supposed to be lead in the direction of the editing for our story lines? With BB we had the "TV show" story going on and the "Live Feed Show" story - vastly different. I want more!! <<<going off to pout in a corner now>>> (is it still Monday!!!) |
Marymc | Tuesday, October 08, 2002 - 08:31 am     yes, but now it's tuesday.....just remember to breathe..... |
Catfat | Tuesday, October 08, 2002 - 10:30 am     Sorry jkm, it is now Friday and you missed the whole show. Surprize, just kidding!! (tee hee) |
Chiparock | Tuesday, October 08, 2002 - 11:05 am     Jkm, you posted my exact thoughts! The ONLY reason I didn't start a thread is because I didn't want to seem like an ingrate who doesn't appreciate TVCH and all the great posters here. But I guess the very nature of Survivor makes it vastly different from BB. The only good thing about not having the show on 3 times a week plus 24/7 live feeds and constant new posts on many different threads and summaries is that with Survivor, there's a little down time in which to have a life!! <<< Joining Jkm in the corner and pouting too >>> |
Jkm | Tuesday, October 08, 2002 - 11:21 am     <<<Jkm comes out of the corner, checks the calander, says do'h, >>>> See, I don't even know what day it is. Sigh! You mean I have to work while at work now? I apprieciate everyone at tvclubhouse!!! Guess I just miss the chaos of the BB posting environment.... Bunny? You out there somewhere?? |
Seattlemom | Tuesday, October 08, 2002 - 04:39 pm     LOL Jkm I'm with you i miss the BB too but now that I have gotten into it (Chuckle) I have found tons of great posts (Like yours) too go thru.. and at least on wed. I can watch the amazing race but sigh after Thursday its a long week,,
 |
Spunky | Wednesday, October 09, 2002 - 08:32 am     With BB we didn't need to wait to know what was happening, the live feeds were fueling the boards, but with a 1 hr/wk show like Survivor it's not the same fun as we had with BB, and this is why I can't get into the game either. If I tape the show is to speed it up and avoid commercials and see who's out, then it's sleep time till next thursday.....boring!!! |
Hermione69 | Wednesday, October 09, 2002 - 09:43 am     I'm pretty glad it is not 3 times a week with live feeds. I spent way too much time lurking and posting with BB3 and now I have time for Push, Survivor, the Bachelor, AND I have reads more books recently than I did this summer. There's a big, wide world out there that I missed this summer!! LOL! |
Jagger | Wednesday, October 09, 2002 - 10:30 am     I don't want my real life back, I was enjoying my new stare at the computer life. Now I actually have to go back to cleaning the house, doing laundry, cutting the grass, etc etc. That stuff is no fun, I want Live Cam back. |
Jkm | Wednesday, October 09, 2002 - 11:26 am     One more day!!!! (downside, after one more day-- then SIX more days.....) |
Jkm | Thursday, October 10, 2002 - 07:52 am     Yeah!!! It's Thursday ---Finally!!! |
Silksmoke | Thursday, October 10, 2002 - 08:52 am     I hear the strains of the Survivor theme song getting louder in my head. Tonights the night!! |
Jkm | Thursday, October 10, 2002 - 10:08 am     I love the pictures, silksmoke! |
Jkm | Tuesday, October 15, 2002 - 01:52 pm     Two more days.... Need more ---- |
Mak1 | Tuesday, October 15, 2002 - 02:38 pm     Move over, I'm crawling in the pouting corner, too. I want the WHOLE Survivor story, ALL the action, ALL the boredom, Bunny's and OI's summaries......ok, so I'm spoiled, so what? lol |
Jo_5329 | Tuesday, October 15, 2002 - 03:37 pm     I agree Mak MORE MORE MORE! |
Jkm | Wednesday, October 16, 2002 - 06:47 am     One more day -- Mak1 I am so with you!!! <<<skulking away to wait>>> |
Chiparock | Wednesday, October 16, 2002 - 07:18 am     Mak1, I begged OI to do summaries of Survivor for us. While he hasn't done the BB-type summaries, he wrote a wonderful article for www.realitynewsonline.com after the second week [his nom de plume is O'Sean Aieghlans]: A Tale of Two Thailands by O'Sean Aieghlans -- 09/29/2002 We now have two weeks of Survivor: Thailand that we can use to evaluate the current set-up and to make a critical - and perhaps even philosophical - analysis of the two Thailands now on display on CBS. One Thailand is the Sook Jai tribe put together by Jake; the other is the Chuay Gahn tribe put together by Jan. They are very different tribes with very different sorts of people. We now have two weeks of Survivor: Thailand that we can use to evaluate the current set-up and to make a critical - and perhaps even philosophical - analysis of the two Thailands now on display on CBS. What are these two Thailands? Survivor: Thailand as approached by Jan and Jack - widely divergent approaches to the task at hand - who chose very different teams. What is the approach of these two players with their teams and what does it mean? Viewers know that two teams always open the season and then eventually the teams merge. This year the teams are markedly different in outlook and philosophy, and for that we have to thank the people who chose those teams, the two oldest team members. Jan, a 53-year-old first-grade teacher from Tampa, Florida, and Jake, the 61-year-old land broker from McKinney, Texas, were the two people chosen by the host - based upon their ages - to pick the teams and set the game. At first glance, it seemed that Jan picked all the old people and Jake picked all the young people. It's true that all Jake's team members are young. But Jan's team has younger members too. Jan chose members for Chuay Gahn team. Chuay Gahn team consists (or consisted at the beginning) of Brian, Clay, Ghandia, Helen, Jan, John, Tanya, and Ted. The average age for Chuay Gahn is 39. Tanya is the only member under thirty. There are three members in their thirties and three members in their forties. Jake chose members for Sook Jai team. Sook Jai team consists of Erin, Jake, Jed, Ken, Penny, Robb, Shii Ann, and Stephanie. The average age for Sook Jai is 31. Sook Jai has six members under thirty years of age and no one between the ages of 31 and 60 (Ken is 30 and Jake is 61). This team is overwhelmingly twenty-something. References to high school P.E. class aside, this was a moment of difficulty for almost all of the players. Someone had to be picked last; and even the team 'leaders' wavered on their ability to find the best team member for their purposes. Jan cried later, saying how much she didn't want to do it. Jake seemed to know exactly what he wanted. Their strategies, while perhaps not thought through, are remarkable for their differences. But let's first make an analysis of the two who actually chose the teams. Jan, a woman who may actually be older than her stated age of 53, said that she was not a leader and did not want to pick the teams. But pick her team she did. Jake, a land broker, picked his teams rather decisively and without any apparent hesitation. What, then, were their actual criteria? Jake stated that he wanted young, strong people. Jan didn't make any specific claims for a player-picking strategy. Would it be wrong to generalize and say that Jan, as a first-grade teacher, knows the weaknesses of the young, and didn't want as many young people on her team? Or does she understand people better, as being a teacher perhaps she is used to evaluating future potential? She is definitely a people person. Can she see something that Jack could not? One thing she definitely can't see is how silly her pigtails look. Jake, on the other hand, is a land broker. He is into property and territory. It wouldn't be a stretch to say that he knows that you've got to know your territory and secure it before someone takes it away. Based solely on choice of profession, he is not as much of a people person as Jan is. It doesn't take a genius to know that in a game like this you've got to secure your territory. But perhaps like a general, Jake chose young soldiers who may or may not be able to follow orders - as long as there is someone to give those orders. Looking at how Sook Jai began the game, it's clear that no one is shouting out orders to direct the battalion, because Sook Jai stubbornly paddled their boat backwards across the whole harbor, while Chuay Gahn quickly made headway by understanding the right way the boat was supposed to be facing. But wasn't it strange how, in the first immunity competition, when finally both boats were facing the right way, Chuay Gahn went much, much faster than Sook Jai? What is wrong with the young team? Can't they paddle a boat? In fact, the most remarkable thing about the first two weeks of Survivor: Thailand is how closely the teams have been competing. Sook Jai was cocky and surefooted - until the competitions actually started. In fact, Sook Jai would have lost the first competition if it had not been for a road-block delay caused by the spatial board block puzzle which caused Ghandia to lose the competition for her team. Before that road block, Chuay Gahn had been far ahead, mostly because Sook Jai displayed no evidence of teamwork in paddling their boat. The luxury competition - playing for fish hooks, a large fish net, a lamp, and other essentials - was also extremely close, and Chuay Gahn lost by a matter of seconds. The second immunity competition - based on swimming capability - was quite close as well. Why isn't the young team clearly the leader, winning by large margins? The average viewer might have picked, as did Jack, all the young and strong people. But was this wise? Opinions vary, but what is clear after two weeks of challenges is that the difference between the competitive capabilities of the two teams is extremely small. All the competitions were won by very narrow margins. What can we take this to mean? And what - after all - were the purposes of Jan versus Jake in constructing their teams? It's easy to say that their purpose was simply to win. But was this actually the case? It looks like Jan just wanted people she could be comfortable with and seemed to pick a team of outcasts. She chose intuitively and without reflection. Her team has more variety in age and intelligence, and both African-Americans as well. Jake, on the other hand, pointedly chose all the young and strong people. Survival is sometimes a matter of muscle; but sometime it is simply a matter of perseverance and endurance. In this case, well-muscled young men, with their high metabolisms and ravenous appetites, are not necessarily the best choice. Their wasting muscle will affect both their brains and their bodies sooner than someone who has less puffed-up muscle to maintain. But for now it seems like the young muscle strategy is working. Now that Chuay Gahn has lost two weeks of immunity challenges to young Sook Jai, its ranks are shrinking. Let's take a look at who the team chose to evict and how it might be because of the 'philosophy' of the team. John, the 40-year-old pastor, was the first person evicted because, according to Jan, 'we want a stress-free experience.' John seemed like a strong player with some good ideas and some bad ones. Clearly it was a bad idea to go searching for water by himself and then once he found it, to play a joke on the rest of the exhausted, dehydrated team. This is probably what got him the boot. Tanya, the dehydrated and thin female, was easily ousted for a good reason. It's funny how both of these first two evictions had a water connection. But based on the supposition (made by some viewers) that younger and stronger is better, both these evictions contradict this wisdom. Tanya was the youngest team member. John was one of the strongest physically. On top of that, Helen narrowly missed being voted out -- a physically strong woman who works in the U.S. Navy. Just what game is this team playing? Taking a look at Jan, floating on her back by the flooding canoe while Helen lugs a heavy water jug over the mosquito-infested jungle beach, you have to ask yourself what planet she is living on. Is she there for fun or there to win? Maybe she chose people who would do the work for her! Sook Jai, on the other hand, has virtually no team work. It took them four days to built a shelter which - according to your own view - was either flimsy and filled with leaks, or overbuilt. They seem to have over-built the floor and under-built the roof. In any case, they didn't even all help, and they don't all use it. Stephanie chose to sleep in the rain along with Jed. Eventually Jed chose to sleep under the floor of the hut which he proudly said 'didn't sprout a leak.' Conflicts between individuals for the moment have no effect since this group has avoided evictions so far; but these folks are all over the place. One moment Shii Ann is crouching forlornly in a wet tree like a disgusted jungle cat, and another moment Robb is proudly displaying his hand wounds like an orangutan in the primate house. This is a team of individuals. Chuay Gahn came together as a team to celebrate the anniversary of Helen. And they have music as well - a powerful team-making tool. Can they turn this team feeling into more victories? It seems unimaginable that Sook Jai would do any of these more enjoyable activities - and have everyone take part. Teamwork is the name of the game in the first half of Survivor; the second half is individualism. Everybody knows that if you can't even make it to the team merge, you're not good as an individual player. But there are lots of individual players who make it to the merge because they have been saved by their team winning more immunity challenges. It's a joy to see these people voted out on their lazy butts in due time. As much as anyone over 35 would love to see the older Chuay Gahn team get ahead, it is unlikely to happen. Not only have they lost two immunity challenges in a row, but Survivor challenges are overwhelmingly physical and they are unlikely to prevail in strictly physical challenges. In endurance challenges, this team could go far; unfortunately endurance challenges are primarily for the last half of the game. A tale of two Thailands. One Thailand is young and disorganized. Maybe this young Thailand is having fun and going places, but looking at the show, they seem miserable and discordant. The other Thailand is older and cohesive. Maybe this older Thailand is not going places any time soon - but at least it seems like they are having more fun doing it. Afer all, everybody knows that if you have to wait in line for something - even if you're waiting in line for something unpleasant like being evicted - it's much better if you can have a little fun while you're doing it, especially if you can sing a song or two by the firelight and keep dry in a cave. This article was written by O'Sean Aieghlans, a critic-at-large of the overall reality television scene. He can be reached at ocean_islands@yahoo.com. OI, we look forward to more! Thanks. |
Jkm | Thursday, October 17, 2002 - 10:48 am     It's Thursday!!!!! Thanks, Chiparock!!! |
Back2reality | Thursday, October 17, 2002 - 11:35 am     Now wouldn't that be something if they had cameras hidden in the trees at both camp sites with 24 hour feeds? |
Chiparock | Thursday, October 17, 2002 - 11:41 am     You're very welcome, Jkm! Now I'm counting the HOURS until showtime. The suspense is killing me! |
Mak1 | Thursday, October 17, 2002 - 02:12 pm     Thank you so much, Chiparock! This will kill a few more minutes of waiting, lol.......just 2.75 hours to go! |
Chiparock | Thursday, October 17, 2002 - 04:03 pm     You're welcome, Mak1. I have 57 minutes to go. Woo, hoo! |
Jkm | Tuesday, October 22, 2002 - 06:43 am     Two more days!!! |
Chiparock | Tuesday, October 22, 2002 - 08:49 am     A sneak preview of Thursday's Immunity Challenge: Robb and Clay get into it. |
|