Survivor and its Legacy After 50 Seasons
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How did Survivor change reality TV history?
The only talk show with an introduction that mentions its own introduction. And that's happening right now in this introduction. The Last Show with David Cooper.
Begging for a mention. 50 seasons, 16 or more players, one island, one winner.
The show Survivor. It celebrates its 50th season. It's a program where millions of people watch strangers outwit, outplay, outlast. And we're here with one super fan who loved it so much, He now teaches a university course on the show.
What made the first season of Survivor so captivating?
So let's ask, how did this show change television? And maybe us. I'm here with health sciences professor at McMaster University, Hartley Jaffein. Hartley, what a pleasure it is having you here. Thank you so much for having me, David. So we were young kids when that first fateful season of Survivor dropped. What do you remember of it? Season one, Survivor, I don't know, year 2000? year 2000 in my childhood living room watching, I was channel surfing as we did back then and suddenly across my screen I came across the very first immunity challenge where the two teams, the two tribes were competing to win and that got me hooked right away watching these two teams kind of fight like going through water, lighting these torches, and suddenly one of the players trips and falls and basically makes her trip and completely biff the challenge.
Why do viewers find Survivor's social dynamics intriguing?
And you were hooked from just seeing that? And then what really got me into it was then they went back and the losing tribe basically had to say, okay, who will be voting out tonight? And for me, sitting there going, oh, it's obvious. It's Sonya. She fell. She cost your tribe the challenge. But it wasn't that obvious. It wasn't that easy. And watching the social politicking and thinking about who is going to go home and why are they going to go home, that strategizing really got me hooked on the very core of the show. What is it about watching people backstab each other, connive, strategize, lie?
How has Survivor evolved over its 50 seasons?
What is it about all of that that makes the show so addictive? Part of it is I think we like to use ourselves as kind of players. We imagine ourselves playing the game and we think to ourselves, if I was in this position, what would I do? Now, we as viewers at home have a lot more information than the players do. And I think part of the joy of watching it is trying to imagine what it would be like if you were in those situations, how you would play the game and how you would handle the stresses and the elements of the environment of Survivor. I remember in the year 2000, it was such like a cultural moment. SNL was talking about it. You don't really get that anymore. It was sort of like a narrative that everyone had at the same time, just talking about how amazing this show was.
Why did it hit so differently back then than suppose if a show like that dropped today it would hit?
What cultural impact has Survivor had since its inception?
I feel like as a show, the concept revolutionized television. No one had ever seen a show that had this documentary style, this voyeurism, but also be a competition-based show where players are voting each other out. We had shows like The Real World where it was a reality TV show where watching people live in a house together, but the element of Survivor that really changed TV, that made it such compelling television, was that these are players that have to work together and also simultaneously vote each other out. Is that the way where Survivor got the format in the way other shows didn't? It was the competitive nature of it? It was just the first time it had ever been done. And then after that, shows kind of immediately took that format.
And Big Brother was born. The Amazing Race was born. Other reality shows took that model of having players work together and also have to eliminate each other.
How do modern players prepare for Survivor compared to the past?
But that had never been seen or done on TV before. And I think that's what made it really compelling television. Short of actually going on Survivor Hartley and winning and making that money, which is, you know, hard to do, you have decided to make a career of this, or at least a career in part, Survivor, another way, teach a course on it.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
How did Survivor change reality TV history?
0:04–0:51
2
What made the first season of Survivor so captivating?
0:51–1:41
3
Why do viewers find Survivor's social dynamics intriguing?
1:41–2:12
4
How has Survivor evolved over its 50 seasons?
2:12–2:58
5
What cultural impact has Survivor had since its inception?
2:58–3:43
6
How do modern players prepare for Survivor compared to the past?
3:43–4:37
7
What strategies are essential for winning Survivor?
4:37–5:09
8
How can new viewers get started with watching Survivor?
5:09–10:00
Speakers
3 identifiedMore from The Last Show with David Cooper
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