Compared to Big Brother, Survivor’s CBS All Access content is severely lacking. A way to bump up subscribers would be to provide longer episodes online.
As much as I would love to see 90-minute episodes of Survivor each week, knowing the television landscape it does not make sense for CBS to do so. They’re not going to make it impossible for any new shows to premiere afterward with constant long episodes, especially when the show is entering its 20th year just fine at airing hour-long shows.
However, that doesn’t mean that Jeff Probst and production isn’t interested in longer episodes as he’s indicated in the past. Right now, there are Ponderosa videos on YouTube for the jury members after they leave the game, as well as extra confessionals and jury segments (sometimes) on CBS All Access. It just doesn’t compare to what Big Brother has to offer.
When you compare what Survivor does with its online content compared to the other, it’s night and day. Sure, the live feeds are an essential part of Big Brother, but there is a heap of opportunity to get people subscribed for more island content beyond superlative content.
One way to pull that off? Share director’s cut episode edits exclusively on CBS All Access.
Look, editing a show like Survivor is a nightmare. There’s typically at least one cameraman per castaway at all times during the waking hours of the day, meaning there are tens of thousands of hours of footage to pore through to create a 15-16 hour season arc over 39 days of competition. It’s even harder when you have twists like Edge of Extinction that requires screentime, too.
However, by adding 22 minutes of additional footage to the edit for each Survivor episode runtime on CBS All Access, not only do you draw the subscribers necessary to pay the editing team for the extra work but you can better flesh out the cast by giving the audience something for each of the 18-20 players maximum each week.
For example, did you know that Chelsea and Domenick from Ghost Island were throwing the Immunity Challenge that eventually saw Bradley go home? Not only do you get to involve the underrepresented Chelsea more in an edit, but you get a bigger picture about what really went down.
What drove this line of thinking for me was looking back at the older seasons of Survivor. What were some of the most memorable moments from the earliest seasons of the show? The Australian Outback showed us that what happens between strategy talk and challenges sticks in mind.
With as many twists, tribe swaps and modern editing techniques as current Survivor has, you’re not going to get as many Colby vs. Jerri character moments, nor will you have many multi-episode clashes like you would see with Jonny Fairplay in Pearl Islands. What makes David vs. Goliath one of the best modern seasons and a top 10 all-timer is the moments like Angelina negotiating for rice like they did in the classics.
Survivor used to have strong traditions that helped ground the portrayal of the game based on its core tenets; outwit, outplay, outlast. Things like the opening intro, Rites of Passage in the finale and general sentiments that showcase just how hard it is to survive unrelated to reasons for voting someone out can supplement a general episode’s edit, building upon the solid foundation.
Should we ever see a CBS All Access edit of Survivor episodes, the one thing I hope we don’t see is swapping scenes in and out. On Big Brother, the live feeds allow viewers to get the full picture to provide perspective to the edited show. In that spirit, nothing should be subtracted or substituted from an All Access cut, even if certain storylines only work with more footage over weeks of more airtime.
What do you think, Survivor fans? Would you pay for CBS All Access if it meant longer episodes online? Do you think that it would be unfair to segment the viewers in such a way? Let us know!