“Mama Said There’d Be Days Like This” February 26th, 2009 Winners find a way to win, losers find a way to lose. Coach might be one of the most delusional and irrational players in recent memory on Survivor, but of his various cliched idioms this one is actually quite apt for the ga...

“The Poison Apple Needs to Go” February 19th, 2009 I wrote all sorts of notes during last night’s second episode of Survivor’s eighteenth season, but I got a little sidetracked by some impromptu Rock Band once the episode was over, and I return to it now wondering to myself w...

Filed under: OpEd, Survivor, Episode Reviews (S18E02) Why do I get the idea that Jeff Probst thinks the ultimate Survivor show includes a blindside ouster of a castaway? Now, I like a good blindside as much as any show fan, but that's not what the show is all about to me. For me, the element of surp...

Filed under: Survivor Possible spoiler follows, though I don't think so. But I'll still use the word "they" instead of "he" or "she." It must be hard to go on a reality show. Besides the insults you're bound to get from viewers, critics, family, and friends (unless you win a bunch of money, of cours...

“Let’s Get Rid of the Weak Players Before We Even Start” February 12th, 2009 Every year of Survivor is in search of two things: a gimmick and a character. These are the two things that have made seasons that could have been weak into something very fascinating, whether it was the i...

Emmy nomination morning is kind of like Christmas morning - you’re all excited about it as it approaches, wary of the potential surprises and the like, etc. But, unlike Christmas that ends in the complete elimination of suspense, the Emmy Awards are the start of a whole new game. In this case,...

When I started my Emmys coverage for this year’s ceremony a while ago, I (as always) had a lot of plans: previews of every category (Got through a lot), reviews of every submitted episode (Almost got through those), and all sorts of other grand schemes that never come to fruition. This is the ...

Filed under: OpEd, Survivor, Episode Reviews (S16E11) "Oh, it's going to be awkward." - James Okay, we might be having a rather lackluster season of Big Brother , but Survivor Micronesia is kicking strategical butt. These castaways aren't messing around. They're not fickle and, once they've made up ...

Filed under: OpEd, Survivor, Episode Reviews (S16E05) "Chickens have a pecking order. They peck at the weakest until they kill them. It's just like Survivor ." - Chet The promos this week made this seem like a show not to miss and they didn't steer us wrong. As promised, the tribes were mixed up and...

Scott Schoeneweis is absolutely right. Schoeneweis had met with people from the Commissioner's Office in December to discuss an ESPN report alleging he had violated the collective bargaining agreement by using steroids. The office determined it had insufficient evidence of a violation to warrant dis...