okay, so--

I happened to love the new Survivor. I read a few reviews today (see here and here), with the reviews being decidedly mixed. Whatever. Frankly, I think the gimmick of oranizing tribes by race is a brilliant one, at least from a marketing standpoint. Controversy, for better or worse, will always encourage viewership. As far as "smashing stereotypes" or whatever Burnett says the show will do, I doubt it. People are just people, both in and out of Survivor, which means the Survivors and their viewers each have their own individual beliefs, personalities, etc, and the show's construct will likely have little part in changing them. The show itself, however, will continue to do what it *usually* does, which is entertain.

Favorites so far:

• Cao Boi, the sort of eccentric Vietnamese guy who banished his tribemate's headache with some violent-looking "old world" remedy. I'm nervous that he won't last long on the show because he's kind of weird and not as strong as the others, and therefore is an easy target. However, I love that he walks to the beat of his own drum.
• The way they jumped right into the action, Survivor Old School-style. Immediately we cut to the boat thrashing around on choppy water, and to Jeffy, our faithful narrator.
• That crazy chick with the dreads. I don't particuarly like or dislike "Flicka," but she's interesting, I'll give her that. I can't believe she let those damn chickens go, although they didn't really belong to the whiteys in the first place so...
• Jonathan Penner, the "writer." Oh buddy, if you don't write about being on the show, forget you.
• Exile Island. Even though I'm a little tired of the Exile Island angle, it looks super-scary this time around--scary in that there's nothing to it. It's a really small island, with a couple of trees, a bag of water, a flint, and a pot. I think that's it. What the hell would you do out there for 48 hours. Ugh.
• Jeff Probst, sans dorky hat. Until the reward/immunity challenge. I'm not sure who his stylist out there is, but if he could go ahead and do without the hat? That would be great, thanks. Although I suppose it does help with the sun and all. And I suppose his hat was better than Flicka's, which was, in a word, puzzling. Like she got in a fight with Barney and won?

No predictions just yet for a winner, but so far--dynamic personalities, interesting location, etc. Way, way better than Thailand. And that, at this early point, is all we can really ask for.