NYC Officials Want New 'Survivor' Pulled
source: Yahoo news
As CBS prepares to launch a new season of the hit reality show "Survivor," this time featuring teams divided by race, enraged city officials are saying it promotes divisiveness and are calling for the network to reconsider.
"The idea of having a battle of the races is preposterous," City Councilman John Liu said Thursday. "How could anybody be so desperate for ratings?"
For the first portion of the 13th season of "Survivor," which premieres Sept. 14, the contestants competing for the $1 million prize while stranded on the Cook Islands in the South Pacific will be divided into four teams blacks, Asians, Latinos and whites.
Liu, who is Asian-American, said he was launching a campaign urging CBS to pull the show because it could encourage racial division and promote negative typecasts. He and a coalition of officials, including the council's black, Latino and Asian caucus, planned to rally at City Hall on Friday.
In a statement, CBS Entertainment, which is part of New York-based CBS Corp., defended the ethnic twist, saying it follows the show's tradition of introducing new creative elements and casting structures that reflect cultural and social issues.
"CBS fully recognizes the controversial nature of this format but has full confidence in the producers and their ability to produce the program in a responsible manner," the statement said. "'Survivor' is a program that is no stranger to controversy and has always answered its critics on the screen."
Last season, the show divided contestants into groups of older men, younger men, older women and younger women.
The show's host, Jeff Probst, said the network was aware this season's race ploy might offend viewers.
"It's very risky because you're bringing up a topic that is a hot button," he told asap, The Associated Press service for younger readers. "There's a history of segregation you can't ignore. It is part of our history.
"For that, it's much safer to say, 'No, let's just stick with things the way they are. Let's don't be the network to rock the boat. Let's not have "Survivor" try something new,'" he said. "But the biases from home can't affect you. This is an equal opportunity game."
Haha, wow, this is totally ridiculous. But I'm not really offended by it, I don't really think it would promote racial division, I really just wish we could all start acting normal and stop being afraid of stepping on each other's toes all the time.
^^ I don't think the contestants knew that they would be split into tribes based on their race until they got on the island.
I read a statement by Probst (? Survivor host?) where he said that the show has a very small number of minority applicants, so splitting up the tribes based on race was just a way to scout really interesting people of all racial backgrounds.
Pffft! Biggest load of horse **** I've ever heard.
It's obviously a ratings ploy. It's getting people to talk, and it's getting people angry. Awesome publicity don't you think? Survivor has been going down hill really fast. It's passe, it's boring, the ratings aren't the same. They've just run out of ideas.
I also think this is a ridiculous idea. What are they trying to prove? I mean, if a white person wins, is that supposed to prove that they are superior to African Americans, Asians, etc.? Great lessons they are teaching the younger viewers. Keep it up. Their thinking will be just as antiquated as my 89 year old grandma's.
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It's such a blatent publicity stunt to get people talking about the show again, It's 13 seasons in so clearly they were running out of tasteful ways to generate publicity.
I hope that the ratings will be mediocre to show them what a ridiculous and distasteful idea this is. I think it is going to send out the wrong message to some people, that different races should be segregated, they should be using their outreach to promote inclusion and tolerance instead but sadly it seems that things like that don't generate press.
Quite frankly, as a minority, this does not offend me. I also find it strange that people are sensitive about having them separate people by race but didn't care when they were separated by sex. Are people not aware that in society women are still seen as minorities?
Last edited by CelineChic : 26-08-2006 at 02:51 PM.
I think the sex thing didn't create such a stir because it's not as sensitive an issue as race is these days.
Oh well....considering all the hoopla surrounding this season, I wouldn't be surprised if it got high ratings...people will probably tune in either out of curiosity or out of disgust. Personally, I've hated Survivor since day one so either way I won't be watching it.
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I stopped watching after Hasselb*tch's Outback season. They're just trying to get attention, ebcause apparently Sony had a lot of publicity after using racism.
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I also think this is a ridiculous idea. What are they trying to prove? I mean, if a white person wins, is that supposed to prove that they are superior to African Americans, Asians, etc.? Great lessons they are teaching the younger viewers. Keep it up. Their thinking will be just as antiquated as my 89 year old grandma's.
Assuming they´re trying to prove anything, perhaps they are simply trying to prove that all races are equal. Perhaps the 4 tribes will perform so equally in the challenges that it will become an example of racial equality.
But I'm not really offended by it, I don't really think it would promote racial division, I really just wish we could all start acting normal and stop being afraid of stepping on each other's toes all the time. 
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