Survivor 48 was one of the low points during Survivor's new era. While it had potential, the editing portrayed a story that was tough to follow and severely overshadowed certain players in favour of others. Although the season's outcome was worthy due to its winner, one shouldn't constantly suffer while watching a season to achieve a satisfactory result.
A few seasons came to mind when thinking about potential similar seasons to that of Survivor 48, but ultimately, they were narrowed down to three. The criteria that I focused on to decide which Survivor seasons are similar to Survivor 48 are the following: entertaining pre-merge, interesting characters voted out early, big alliance steamrolls, seasons filled with strategic/social ups and downs, and a satisfactory outcome. Spoilers ahead!
1. Survivor Samoa
Survivor: Samoa is a tricky season to recommend. It has questionable editing choices and highly annoying or forgettable characters. It has its fair share of drama and entertaining moments, but there are other instances where it's hard to keep watching. In the end, while being unfairly under-edited, the season's winner makes the watch worth it, especially as they pave the way to show Russell Hantz's eventual demise.
Similarities with Survivor 48: Both seasons have uneven editing, where players such as Eva Erickson and Joe Hunter were notoriously overly edited in contrast to players such as Star Toomey and Chrissy Sarnowsky. In Samoa, Russell Hantz was the poster person for the season despite not even winning. Both seasons have interesting characters eliminated early.
In Samoa, Russell Swan, the relentless leader of Galu, had to be medevaced from the game. In Survivor 48, two potential villains were cut too early: Thomas Krottinger and Sai Hughley. Had these people remained in the game, both seasons could have had a different outcome. The winners of each season are a breath of fresh air amid their respective casts, and one can better tolerate the rewatch as the outcome is already known.
2. Survivor: South Pacific
This Survivor season can be recalled for two main factors: the returning players and John Cochran. On the one hand, Ozzy Lusth led his tribe against Cochran throughout most of the game, whereas on the other tribe, Coach Wade led his cult alliance down the "righteous path" towards the endgame. It had its strategic moments and even a few humorous takes in between, but overall, South Pacific isn't for the faint of heart, nor is Survivor 48.
Similarities with Survivor 48: Both seasons had entertaining players who left the game too soon. Survivor 48 had Sai and Thomas, while South Pacific had Christine Shields Markosi, who faced numerous duels in Redemption Island and was such a threat to Ozzy's alliance that he had to fake being voted out by his tribe just so that he could go to Redemption Island and get rid of Christine himself. Had Christine won that final duel against Ozzy, who knows what kind of chaos she could've brought to the game, especially against the Cult alliance?
Both seasons also had a majority alliance that steamrolled the season. Survivor 48 had the "Strong People" alliance, which sought to win the game with the mantra of "honesty, integrity, and loyalty," whereas South Pacific had the Cult alliance. Fortunately, another similarity between the two seasons was that the best person in both alliances won the game.
3. Survivor Caramoan- Fans vs Favorites
Once again, Survivor: Caramoan is a tricky season. While not as bad as other Survivor seasons, it certainly didn't live up to the hype of the first Fans vs Favorites rodeo back in Survivor: Micronesia. This season was plagued with complete basketcases, unredeemable villains, shocking tribal council moments, and a dull post-merge, which led to the most obvious person winning. However, this season also had a fun pre-merge, several Survivor 101 lessons every player should know, and plenty of meme material.
Similarities with Survivor 48: Both seasons had rock-solid alliances that had to get rid of some of their members along the way to the end, and both had promising pre-merges that fizzled out due to the "Strong alliances" sticking together, their villains were voted out early before they could do more damage, and based on their resumes, both seasons had a solid winner.
This is a questionable list of Survivor recommendations, but it is what it is, given that the blueprint is "similar seasons to Survivor 48."