The fact that Time Warner couldn’t get their shit together on THAT night is crazy.  I could almost understand it if the weather sucked last night… but it didn’t.  About half way through the show we got a “We’re Experiencing Technical Difficulties” message.  No shit.  Next we got a message that said, “The season finale of Lost will re-air in its entirety next Saturday…”  Great.  So I get to watch it the way it was intended to be seen a week after it’s original air date.  The only comparison I can make would be if they were having these kinds of issues during the Super Bowl.  “Attention, Super Bowl XLV will be re-aired in its entirety next Sunday…”  Really?

1. Show the damn aliens – At this point the only look we’ve gotten at the V’s that shows us their true nature is when Erika’s partner got killed and when Anna decided to munch on her baby daddy.  Part of what made the original AWESOME was that we as the audience knew what we were up against.  If you had only been exposed to V through this version you don’t even know what they look like.  That’s gotta change.
2. Give the 5th Column a win – So far, their claim to fame is some “John May Lives” message and killing a V soldier that no one knows existed.  In the first incarnation, the 5th Column unmasked the supreme leader on national TV for Christ sakes!
3. Show the V’s as “bad” – during a recent episode, a character said something to the affect of “Tell me something bad that the Visitors have done”.  With the exception of spying on us and the fact that they’re concealing who they are, we don’t REALLY know why they’re so bad at this point.  It was pretty early in the original when we found out that they were here for FOOD.  If the audience is going to care, we need to build the V’s up as a REAL threat.
4. Lose the CGI – I understand that this is TV and not the movies, but just about every shot from the mother ships are just terrible.  This includes interior shots.  We’ve got to do better.

I hate to continue to compare to the original but that’s all I’ve got to go on and that was a hugely successful cult classic.  The fact that after tonight it WON’T be following Lost is actually a good thing.  Lost is a phenomenal show, but as a lead in to another sci-fi I’m not sure it’s all that great.  When Lost is over, people either run to message boards or blogs to chat or they’re too wiped out to try and get into another intense show.  I’m not saying that it should follow a comedy, but Lost isn’t the best choice.

On the reunion show last night, Jeff Probst asked Sandra if since  she was the only person to have won 2 shows, does that make her the best ever.  She responded affirmatively setting Russell off.  In all fairness, I’m sure this question was a complete set up just so Russell would go off.  Russell (correctly) pointed out that the game is flawed.  He stated that America should vote on who the winner is.  While I don’t agree with that I do think that the way the final votes are tallied should be modified.  The votes should be cast AFTER the contestants leave the island and have had some time to reflect.  The way it is now, the jury is so BITTER for being voted off that they can’t see just how brilliant a player like Russell is.  He does whatever it takes to win the game and for two seasons now the jury has given the victory to someone who’s a complete tag along (Sandra this season and Natalie White last season).

A couple of other random thoughts…

1. The title of this post is “Best Survivor Ever” and while I was referring to Russell I could just as easily been referring to this SEASON of Survivor.  Absolutely incredible.  If you’ve never seen the show and would like to find out what all the talk is about, this is a great spot to jump in.
2. On the finale last night, someone was bitching at Russell about how he lied during the game.  What… the… FUCK!!!  This game is all about lying folks.  You do what you need to do to get to the end.  Russell did that and makes no bones about it.  I’ve got MAD respect for the brother and from the results of the “Sprint Player Of The Season” award (two seasons in a row mind you) so does the rest of America.
3. We’re 20 seasons in at this point… when are we going to get some really good locations?  How many hot, sweaty, mosquito infested places can we find?  When are we going to get Survivor: Antarctica?  How about Survivor: Bosnia?  Can you imagine the possibilities of Survivor: New Jersey?  Come on Mark Burnett… you’re missing the boat here brother!

While I have listened to some podcasts during the break I’ve tried to stay away from plot predictions and spoilers for the last season.  Sure I’ve had a discussion or two with some fellow Losties but when it comes to what’s going to happen this season I’m completely… lost. (Sorry, I couldn’t resist at least one pun).

Based on the buzz on the web and in the paper it seems like the long layoff between seasons hasn’t turned anyone else off either.  It’s looking like we’re in for a hell of a last season and I can’t wait.  It’s going to be so awesome to see how they finish off some story lines and which ones they leave dangling cause you just KNOW they’re not going to be able to tell us everything that we want to know.  While I’m sure there are some things that I’ll be disappointed in I’m willing to accept that.  The show is just too good to miss.  And now… finally.  It’s time for Lost!

Honestly I was expecting some huge cliffhanger.  Elizabeth Mitchell’s character Erica dying or pregnant.  A Visitor “unmasked” on national television like in the original.  Hell, even a big fight between the Visitors and the resistance.  Unfortunately we were given none of that.  We were shown the fact that there were a shit ton of ships waiting in orbit.  Um… OK.  Did we honestly think that it was JUST these 29 ships?

I’m not suggesting that this episode wasn’t good because it absolutely was.  In fact it was probably my favorite of the first 4.  But when it ended I had a distinct “That’s it?” feeling.  The wife has actually gotten into this show with me (which rocks cause there’s little on TV that we both like) and she said the same thing.

Like I said.  I’m going to be on board regardless of when it comes back.  I’m really curious as to how many of these new V fans will come back in the new year.  Time will tell.

And for one crackpot theory that I’m hoping desperately comes true…

John May will be played by Marc Singer.

I can only hope.  How damn cool would that be???

• First off… it LOOKS great.  I recently re-watched the original and the special effects were TERRIBLE.  This show isn’t movie quality CGI but I’ve got to say it’s some of the best that I’ve seen on TV.
• The updates to the story are well done – and necessary.  They’ve brought the story into current day scenarios by using references to terrorist cells, universal health care, etc.
• Political stance – I don’t buy it.  The 406 blog has historically been apolitical and I intend on keeping it that way.  There have been many stories that V is social commentary on President Obama.  Quite frankly I don’t buy it and I’ll leave it at that.
• I miss Mike Donovan but I’m thrilled with Elizabeth Mitchell as the choice of the lead and think that she’ll do a GREAT job.
• I LOVE the fact that the V’s have been on Earth for years before the series has started.  A nice update on the original tale.
• Time line – this is a bad thing.  For those that don’t know V is going to have 4 episodes and then take a break until MARCH due to the Olympic games on ABC.  Not sure if this is yet another tactical error on ABC’s part or not.  I hope that the show gains a large following that will indeed return after such a long hiatus.

All of that being said, after one episode I can say that I’m very happy with where the series is going.  There’s some GREAT potential there.  I just hope that they really knock it out for these next 3 episodes to really get people hooked.  Time will tell.

On last night’s episode, Mike Borassi was removed from the game due to injury.  This seems to have been a common occurrence over the past couple of seasons and as a series-long Survivor fan it struck me that this sort of thing didn’t happen in the first couple of seasons.

1. Survivor: Borneo – No medical removals
   
2. Survivor: The Australian Outback – Michael Skupin fainted, fell into a fire and was removed from the game.  I remember this like it was yesterday as it was the first time a player was removed from the game.  Honestly I did not remember this being way back in Season 2.
3. Survivor: Africa – No medical removals
4. Survivor: Marquesas – No medical removals
5. Survivor: Thailand – No medical removals
6. Survivor: The Amazon – No medical removals
7. Survivor: Pearl Islands – No medical removals
8. Survivor: All-Stars – No medical removals
9. Survivor: Vanuatu – No medical removals
10. Survivor: Palau – No medical removals
11. Survivor: Guatemala – No medical removals
12. Survivor: Panama – Bruce Kanegai left game due to illness.  Bruce was having “internal plumbing” problems and after not shitting for 11 days he was forced to leave the game.
13. Survivor: Cook Islands – No medical removals
14. Survivor: Fiji – Gary Stritesky left game due to illness.  Gary suffered from vertigo brought on by an allergic reaction to bug bites.
15. Survivor: China – No medical removals
16. Survivor: Micronesia – Jonathan Penner and James Clement were both removed due to injury.  Jonathan had injured his knee in a previous challenge and it became infected.  James injured his finger and infection was going to spread to his joints and he was removed as well.
17. Survivor: Gabon – No medical removals
18. Survivor: Tocantins – Joe Dowdle removed due to injury.  He got an infection in his leg that doctors said could spread to blood or bones and could potentially lead to amputation or death.
19. Survivor: Samoa – Mike Borassi was removed after shortness of breath and low blood pressure.

After doing the research I see that in the 19 seasons of Survivor we’ve had 7 removals due to injury or illness.  With the exception of Michael in Season 2 there were NO removals until Season 12 and since then there has medical removals in 5 out of the 8 seasons.  So are the players getting weaker or is the game getting harder?