When 'Survivor' host Jeff Probst renews his contract, it's usually for two years (which comes out to be four seasons of the show). But when he renewed his contract with CBS and the show last week, he only renewed it for one year (two seasons). I'm not sure if this is because he doesn't want to commit to several seasons of the show or if it's a negotiating/contract thing. Could 'Survivor' continue without Probst as host? Or is he too big a part of the show?
Whetting our appetites for next week's 'Survivor: Heroes Vs. Villains' season premiere, this evening's 'Surviving Survivor' was definitely an hour worth watching for any true fan of the show. So often clips shows tend to tread the trodden path, but not so much with this one. The focus wasn't merely on the castaways we'll see in the upcoming season, but a look back at the show's history and a peek at what's happening in the lives of some of our favorite 'Survivors' over the years.
I've watched since the first season, and it brought back memories of the phenomenon that was 'Survivor: Borneo.' Fifty-two million viewers, extreme watercooler chat, and the start of the reality competition genre.
I watched that very first show. In fact, the night of the finale my power went out just when they were going to announce the winner so my roommate and I had to get his portable Sony TV and watch it on that.
They should have a giant, super-sized Survivor where all 250 compete for "The Ultimate Survivor" trophy. Give the winner $100 million. Sure, it would probably take three years for the show to end, but I bet people would watch. Set it on the moon.
More of our best of the decade coverage, which started on Tuesday. You can read the other posts at the link above. Here, we talk about a major category that came of age in the aughts: Reality shows.
While I would never call myself a reality TV junkie, it really bugs me when people make blanket statements like, "I hate reality TV," or, "Reality TV is the bane of my existence." The genre has grown so much in the past decade that it has become just like scripted television, in that there's good and there's bad. Even though we're splitting this up into two lists, "Reality," and "Trashy Reality," you won't see a single show that starts with, "Who Wants to Marry" on either list.
This list is dedicated not to the guilty pleasures, but to the shows that you wouldn't be embarrassed for your neighbors to know you watch: the classy reality, if you will. So without further ado, here is TV Squad's list of the best reality shows of the decade.
More of our best of the decade coverage, which started earlier today. You can read the other posts at the link above. Here, we talk about our favorite reality contestants and participants.
Whether we like it or not, the '00s introduced us to a new form of celebrity: the reality star. In previous decades, the closest we got to this were especially entrancing personalities from MTV's Real World. These people gained fame for acting like well-crafted exaggerations of their real selves.
Faster than you can say, "I didn't come here to make friends," networks picked up on the public's fascination with reality TV like Survivor and they pushed it to the popularity that it has reached today. Now, reality shows barely reflect what happens in normal people's lives but are generally more like high-concept game shows or extremely scripted improvs. But people keep watching, because the personalities are big and captivating.
Yup. Strategic footage editing does wonders. Here are some of our personal favorites from the genre, but feel free to comment with your own worthy additions!
If you watched the season finale of Survivor the other night, you probably noticed that, unlike a lot of runner-ups in the past, Russell Hantz was openly bitter and angry about not winning. He didn't try to hide it, which probably proved to the jury that they were right in voting for Natalie in the first place.
But Russell still thinks he should have won and he has just launched a new web site called RussellGotScrewed.com, where he asks you to vote for him if you think he's "America's Top Survivor." You can also make donations or buy shirts and other things in his store. Proceeds go to St. Jude's Hospital, which is a great thing, though I'm not sure exactly what he wants to accomplish with the whole "vote for me" thing. Maybe he wants a recount.
He even told Natalie on the finale that if she asked Jeff to proclaim him the best player (though not the official winner) he would give her $10,000. She didn't take the offer.
So you read Jackie's review of last night's Survivor finale, and the show had their usual preview of the next season of the show (which starts February 11 so there's hardly any wait at all) which will be a "Heroes & Villains" edition, former players coming back for another try at the $1 million.
Not sure if we can make out who is on the show from the clip below. For the villains, I'm sure we'll see Johnny Fairplay, but Richard Hatch was probably in jail when they started to film it. For Heroes, maybe Tina and Colby?
(S19E14) I suppose it's only fitting and par for Sunday evening programming that the big three-hour Survivor season finale and live reunion show was delayed by football here in the NYC viewing area. No, I won't dwell on it. But, really. CBS, can't you get this scheduling thing down?
What I should dwell on are these skinny legs in the image above. It's a wonder the three guys were able to walk out of there at all. Tonight we went down from five to four to three and then onto the sole survivor in the live voting reveal. Am I pleased about it all? Read on.
A year has passed and there has been a lot of best and worst lists here at TV Squad. I know tons of reality television shows have grazed my TV so I've compiled a list of the best and worst reality shows of 2009.
Finding the best shows are easy, but it's hard to pare down the worst list. I define "worst" as shows that had potential and never did anything with it. While shows like I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here and anything involving the words "Real Housewives" aren't mentioned, they aren't the worst because they started at rock bottom and had nowhere to go. Several of the worst shows I've mentioned could just go through some tweaking and it could have been amazing.
(S19E13) Mark your calendars now, folks. The big three-hour finale night for Survivor is this Sunday, December 20, starting at 8 PM ET. The night will start off with the two-hour finale followed by the reunion hour. But we still have a few bodies to cast off the island before they face the jury. Will the original Foa Foa Four make it intact to the final four? Will Russell manage to sell his snake oil all the way to the jury and win the million?
Festivus is upon us once again here at TV Squad and regardless of whether or not I've been naughty or nice, all my wishes had better come true because I've already sat through all ten crappy episodes of FlashForward -- I deserve all this.
First off, as you can probably tell by the picture above, I've got high hopes for David Simon's upcoming HBO drama Treme. Set in a post-Katrina New Orleans, I am in no way asking for this show to be The Wire meets the bayou, but I do want it to be good. Judging by the cast (Wire alums Wendell Pierce and Clarke Peters, Steve Zahn, and Khandi Alexander to name a few), I'd say Simon already has another hit on his hands.
Whetting our appetites for next week's 
Jeff Probst is on Twitter now, and today he had some breaking news. 
More of our 
At 7, CBS has a new 60 Minutes, followed by the season finale of Survivor.
At 7, G4 has a new Attack of the Show, then a new X-Play.
Travel Channel has a Man vs. Food marathon all night.
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