I think I've previously professed a guilty pleasure in the Shows "Big Brother" and "Survivor". I'm neither proud nor ashamed as both are popular, innocent fun enjoyed by millions of others. My friend Thingy is a fan. She publicly denounced me in her blog for getting her into BB but, I know she is in a not-so-secret alliance with me in a shared appreciation for it. A former Topix co-conspirator of mine denounced it as "Topix on TV" and K was pretty fairly correct in that assessment but, I view it as Topix on TV but, with a purpose. 500,000 of them, in fact.
What is it- 14 people start out in a closed set house hoping to spend three months away from loved ones for a chance at half a million dollars? Who does that? They're not all *Type A* personalities that are driven to success. That would be Ultimate Fighting or politics. BB is a blend of those plus cannon fodder. I watched every episode but, on the finale last night, the first few people evicted were kinda foreign to me. Well, it was over two months ago. The show isn't as heavily edited as Survivor is. That show takes place over 32 days real time and has long-since been decided by the time it premieres it's first episode. Both shows are edited and have been accused of staging events, confrontations and conversations for continuity and artistic license. I can live with that as, well, that's showbiz.
I like the group dynamics of both shows. Who steps up? Who steps down to "fly beneath the radar". Survivor tends to be more about leadership and competitions because of that deserted island theme but it, like BB, is heavy on secret alliances and back-stabbing.
Before Topix, I used to equate both shows with work. You'd be shocked at how cutthroat painting is unless you stopped to consider the jerks that you work with. Now you know what I'm talking about. People do the darnedest things at work. Even if there's no immediate financial reward, they try to outwit, outlast, outplay by being duplicitous assholes. Sheesh.
Topix is ultra-duplicitous, filled with false alliances, rumors, innuendo and general skulduggery. It's filled with everything but a season finale. So many people winning but, no closure. No cash either. What is the point? No one knows.
Anyway, It's hard to make it to the final of either show (the TV one's, I mean) without getting a little dirty and a little bloody. AND, you have to answer to the people you very likely dirtied and bloodied. AND they have to decide if you earned the right to the money they had come to win.
Nobody played a more interesting, diabolical game than Dan did. Though he was instantly lauded for his brilliance when he staged his own *funeral*, he lost me when he *turned* on Danielle and brought her to anguished tears. That was cold. We all quickly learned it was a stunt (and *brilliant*) but, it was painful to watch. We didn't want to see her hurt. I'm sure it won him another shot at the game in the near future as the best ever to play the game and, he probably is the best. He's won before. Fuck him. He made the cute, dumb chick cry...a few times...
Ian, the boy genius, was duplicitous himself. He did it without being a Machiavellian jerkface though. To me, that's the game. One goes into it knowing that every other player wants the half-million dollar prize and WILL lie to you to get it. DUH! I'm more offended by someone foolishly believing an obvious liar and then being angry because that person lied to them on a reality show!!!! It's like Louie in Casablanca being shocked- shocked- to find gambling going on. Only it was cute with Louie. It's pathetic without.
My fear last night was that Ian didn't vote out Dan when he had the chance. There had been other chances to get other dangerous contenders this season and I'm certain other fans wonder as I do, why these people cannot see the danger of certain players like we do. They are right there! Are they blind? Maybe it's the armchair quarterbacking like we do in sports. We see the tight end was wide open- why didn't the QB see him?! Well, he didn't see him. It's that simple, in football.
Ian could have beaten either Dan or Danielle but, with Dan in the final two he did run the risk of the jury respecting Dan's play over his. With Danielle up against them there was a risk of a sympathy vote for her down-home likableness. But, no one was going to go so far as to pretend to think she played a better game than Ian. I really thought he might have fucked up evicting her.
If not for Danielle's dumb ass *loyalty* vote for Dan, the vote would have been 7-0 for Ian. Good game, good kid. He's been a fan of the show since he was ten and gave Mike "Boogie" a good comeuppance on the show's opening night by throwing that awe-filled fact out there to the old man, former champ. And better, he orchestrated Boogie's eviction. Better still, Boogie respected his play. it's a game...
One beef I have is that both shows are so dependent on their past relying on giving second and third chances to compete, even to past winners. Yeah, it adds some drama to the show. If I were a player though, I'd concentrate on getting rid of experienced players pretty darn quick. Again, I guess it looks easy to those of us playing along at home but- Boogie- telling you what to do? Think maybe he might have an agenda?
Well, Big Brother won't be back until next summer and Survivor is just getting started. I think I'll go take a look at Topix and see who's winning. I'm a former champion there, ya know...
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