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and adventure. But even the locations are all beginning to look alike, with the only variations being the weather and the size of the beach. If the locations are beginning to look alike, then so too are the challenges, rewards, and even the characters. Most of the latest crop of contestants are personalities we have seen before in a manner of speaking. We have the required dose of young studs, hot babes, and a few mature folks thrown in for good measure. Hmmm, sound familiar?

I'm not knocking the formula; all I'm saying is that we are repeating ourselves over and over again and it won't work forever. The contestants are starting to appear and act the same as their predecessors and this shouldn't surprise anyone. We now have eight years of history on what has and hasn't worked on this show in order to stay in the game and win. It's unavoidable that the new players, who invariably are fans of the prior shows themselves, will use the experiences of those that came before them to hone and refine their own survivor skills.

An obvious exception to this was perhaps the most beloved contestant of all time: Rupert Boneham, who was an original in both personality and appearance. If he didn't look the part of a grizzled pirate looking for buried treasure, no one ever will. For me, no one has had that kind of impact on the show since the series started. Who else has there been that so dominated the entertainment dynamics of this game? Oh, I know there were plenty of players along the way that thought they controlled the game, amused us, and even made us think now and then. My point is that the most memorable characters for me were original in personality and charismatic appeal, with very few exceptions.

Think back to that first series. Will we ever forget Rudy and Richard discussing the latter's homosexuality or his prancing down the beach in his birthday suit? Or how about Jenna's reaction when she found out that she didn't receive any news from her family back home like all the others had. And Sue's infamous address to Kelly at the final tribal council set the stage for a few future imitators, but none of them even came close.

Now that I have pounded the first nail in the coffin of this great show, do I have any ideas on how to refresh and rejuvenate its proven formula? Nope. The fact is that like everything else in life, great shows come and go all the time for all kinds of reasons. More often than not though, the show has become tired and so are the actors who eventually decide they want to move on to something new and different. While Survivor enjoys a continuous inflow of new "actors," it is falling victim to the same symptom.

Obviously there is no script, but it has succumbed to some degree of predictability. We have similar personalities employing similar strategies in similar surroundings. Even the verbal battles between players are starting to sound familiar as if they had almost memorized one from a prior series to use when the time seemed right. The personal interactions, while not rehearsed, seem to make me wonder if I haven't seen some of these acts played out before.

While the show has added some twists, turns, and wrinkles along the way, the basic formula remains unchanged. Is it time to follow the lead of other great shows like M*A*S*H and close the curtain while the audience still wants more? I'm beginning to believe that the clock is now ticking.

Learn more about this author, Michael Sanibel.
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