Survivor has had a lot of themes in the most recent seasons, but, going forward, should it continue reusing the past or looking toward the future?
Based on what CBS has already made known and what has unofficially become known through the Survivor community, both seasons 35 and 36 have themes. That doesn’t come as a surprise. What does, however, is that neither of them are repeated themes. Of course, that assumes that the spoilers are true. Let’s take them at face value.
Survivor has never shied away from doing things more than once. How many seasons did Exile Island appear? Redemption Island had a hold on the show for three seasons as well. Fans vs. Favorites has appeared twice; so has Brains vs. Brawn vs. Beauty. Blood vs. Water has even appeared twice!
Survivor hasn’t repeated some themes, yet, though: Heroes vs. Villains, Millennials vs. Gen X, Second Chance, Game Changers, and Worlds Apart. The last of these seems most likely for a repeat. Millennials vs. Gen X might have been a good season, but that clunky title doesn’t improve with age. Second Chance 2 also seems a little silly, even if it would presumably have a completely different cast.
Heroes vs. Villains … well, that’s lightning in a bottle and still the best season seven years after it aired. Game Changers might come back if it can get a better cast, a criticism that my colleague leveled at the season by ranking the players by their actual impact on the game ahead of the season airing.
That leaves us with Worlds Apart. Recently, one of the show’s executive producers noted that the season didn’t come off as well as it could have among fans because of its players. That seems to suggest that it might be revisited in the future, to try and redeem the idea. Give it a second chance, if you will excuse the pun.
The thing is, if Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers and season 36 both end up working well, isn’t that proof that Survivor can still build new ideas around its players instead of going back to the same well? And if that’s the case, then shouldn’t the idea be to defer to that first if there has to be a theme?
Next: 5 people we want to play again after Game Changers
Survivor has shown that it’s still willing to experiment with some things. That should continue going forward.