Wednesday, December 10, 2008

My Take on Survivor Philippines




As the first season of Survivor Philippines comes to a close, let me share my view on how the was show over all.
I love Survivor! Been a loyal viewer for years now. And I was really excited when GMA 7 announced that they got the franchise of the show. However, I was a bit skeptical on how they will they handle the show to suit to the taste of the general viewing public. Yes I was afraid that they would "cheapen" the show but then again I did not want to be a purist fan so I conditioned myself to be open minded because I do believe that GMA would need to adapt the format of the show to fit in to our culture but I was just hoping that their adaptation or changes they would inject won't really stay away from the essence of the show. Over all, it had a very solid season. The casting could have been better since my main complaint about the cast aways is that they are "redundant" meaning to say there is a lack of variety of personalities. But I could live with that because there were standouts that made the show interesting anyway. I enjoyed watching the show but I really dislike the schedule, making it daily made the show so slow plus the tribal council sessions are way too long. Which segues to my other point, the editing of the show is poor, if you watch the US version even though at first you would think you are sure of who would win a challenge or will get the boot but the editing of the show will make you re-think, this was what lacking for our local version especially in the first few weeks, some of the island scenes they air do not really inject a substantial input on the strategies of the castaways for the tribal council and sometimes they don't make any sense at all. Lastly, with the announcement that text votes will now be involved on determining the winner I was really disappointed. Yes, fine, the sole survivor won't be fully determined by votes since the eight jury votes will still matter and the text vote will serve as the 9th jury vote but still the people's choice thing really takes away the show's point. Some could defend the viewers should have a voice but then again we were NOT in the island and how we view the castaways are limited with what were edited on TV so for me it isn't really fair. And I really don't like that this show would become a popularity contest because for me it took away the edge of this show, In Survivor US, there were winners that weren't exactly crowd favorites but that is the edge for me of Survivor.We could whine all day that he or she did not deserve to win but that those were the results and well it could lead to analysis why he won or why the jury members voted that way. If GMA really wanted to have a viewers' involvement, they should have just resorted to voting for the castaway they really like overall and not just final 2, like the one in Survivor All Stars, where Rupert won the viewers' vote and was rewarded a million dollars as well. Oh well, what can I do, the "twist" irreversible. Maybe in succeeding seasons of the show I could live with that jury vote from viewers.
Anyway, despite my complaints I would still not say that our local version is disastrous (like Pinoy Idol haha), it was still an entertaining show but there is a wide room for improvement.
And lastly, I'm 95% sure JC will win, predictable but he deserves it anyway.

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