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NEWS > ENTERTAINMENT > SURVIVOR PRODUCERS PLAN TO KILL CONTESTANTS WITH NEW SHOW
SURVIVOR PRODUCERS PLAN TO KILL CONTESTANTS WITH NEW SHOW
October 5 2009
Los Angeles, CA – The medium of television has long been one of the most impactful forms of information distribution. From the beginning television proved itself as the most efficient form of entertainment and news distribution, regardless of how much it
lacked in depth and veracity. The ease and comfort of television quickly caught on allowing the medium to become the most pervasive in human history, in the homes of millions around the world, a modern fire around which stories were told.
By the late 1980’s the medium had been more or less perfected to maximize drama and profits when a new player same on the block. The first airing of ‘COPS’ forever changed television, blending the drama and humour of fiction and the honesty of the news into one package. That birth of reality television would eventually become a dominant in the medium, something confirmed by the arrival of ‘Survivor’ in 2000. Now the producers of the longest running reality game show have started plotting a new entry into the reality genre but this one a kind foil to their biggest success, a show that will pit terminally ill people against one another for cash and prizes.
“It's the best thing I've ever been a part of. It's so inspirational and so positive. I really believe it’s time for the show,” said Jeff Probst, host of ‘Survivor’ and the new show ‘Live for the Moment’. “I think people will see it and it will prompt them to think, 'Am I living? Do I like my job? Should I do something different?' You've got to wake up and start living.”
As yet the show has only filmed a pilot episode which revolves around a man suffering from ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease). The show has not yet been picked up but producers believe the show will be on the air for the 2009-2010 season.
“There is a slight ethical and legal concern that I think CBS will want to work out before going whole hog into production. I mean there is a very good chance that people will be a little squeamish at the idea of dying people competing against each other. There are also the simple show
biz issues like the physical limitations of the contestants and likely a great chance of
ugliness of some sort,” said Scrape TV Entertainment analyst Tracey Temple. “Part of the reason that ‘Survivor’ was such a success is that for the most part they showcased young and nubile people wearing very little clothes. That will be severely limited with the terminally ill. You’ll have to deal with frailty, IV scars, pale skin and other things that just won’t play on TV with a mainstream audience. Most people will likely forgo their ethics because it is on TV but it’s still hard to enjoy watching a dying person trying to build a raft or scale a mountain.”
Officially the show will only feature one dying person being treated to an unfulfilled wish, a format which differs dramatically from the one ‘Survivor’ has utilized so effectively. It is believed the CBS will ask the producers to spice up the content before going into full scale production.
“The mere fact the ‘Survivor’ has lasted as long as it has seems almost miraculous but
the reality is there is something special about the format they used that if effectively replicated could serve to make the new show just as successful. There are a million and one uplifting reality shows on TV right so going in a different direction might be exactly what separates them from the pack,” continued Temple. “While the concept of a group of dying people wandering around on an island and competing for prizes may seem a little morbid, people will most likely be taken up by the drama. After all, what do these people have to lose?”
Producers have not yet commented on their plans for any contestants who don’t make it through the length of the show’s broadcast, something seen as very likely.
Samantha Dryden, Entertainment Correspondent
NEWS > ENTERTAINMENT > SURVIVOR PRODUCERS PLAN TO KILL CONTESTANTS WITH NEW SHOW
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