Survivor

Yep. The best players are able to take Jeff's shit and throw it back out there w/o pissing anyone (especially Jeff) off, and without revealing anything.

Abefroman_sl said:

I don't think they rig anything. I do have a lot of respect for the show but I hate the idea of "special powers". Could be way to powerful. If there is anything to really complain about as a contestant is how Jeff can blow up someones game at tribal council with his questions sometimes. You can be calm and collected and he will get someone to turn on your ass. That's what makes the show so good though and you have to plan for it.

Click to expand...

Tribals last forever though, Jeff asks everyone everything. We only see what's applicable to the 'story' for that episode.

The first two Russel Hantz seasons, without a doubt.

I would do All-Stars, Heroes vs Villains, and the first Redemption Island. Maybe do the first Russell season before HvV so she has a good baseline for both him and Boston Rob before Redemption. I marathoned through so many seasons a few years ago that I forget who was on what season now, but those would be good for someone just getting into it.

Your first thought was the right one. Season 19 leading into 20 are the best seasons, imo. Season 20 is better but you need 19 to introduce Russell. S19 has one of the best comeback stories, and s20 is just wild start to finish. Both have amazing tribal councils and HII play.

If you want to go older, Pearl Islands (s7), All-Stars (s8) and Amazon (s6) are all great, but all have disappointing winners. Palau (s10) has what is the most dominant physical/strategic/social first-time player of all time, and is fun to watch, too. Aside from those seasons, most of the first 10 seasons are kinda hard to watch. Slower paced and silly (it's interesting to see how much our culture has changed since 2000), and some seasons are just boring as shit.

If she gets hooked and wants to keep going, the only seasons I'd flat out avoid are: Africa (s3), Guatemala (s11), Fiji (s14), One World (24). Since I've already done half of the work, maybe I'll rank the seasons later.

.

Intrinsic sort of mentioned them since they both involve Parvati, but I'd definitely throw in Cook Islands (Penner, Yul, Ozzy, Candice, Becky) and the first Fans vs. Favorites. Tocatins would probably be a good one as well, just because Coach needs to be seen to be believed (plus that's one of few seasons where the person you are rooting for actually makes it to the end and wins).

I think the only thing I'd disagree with so far would be with Adam12 on Fiji. It has a lame twist and an even lamer ending, but that's one season I'd love to go back and watch not knowing how it turns out purely to be able to watch Yau-Man again. He's still one of my favorite players of all time.

Really, excluding seasons 3-6 (the seasons I never watched), the ones I'd skip would be: 2, 9, 11, 15, 17, 21, and 24.

I'm sort of iffy on 22, 23, 25, and 26. Redemption Island was a little too predictable, though it was fun to see Boston Rob dominate as well as he did. South Pacific was an attempt to recapture that, but didn't have interesting enough returning players, though it did have Cochran. Philippines, I only really liked because of Malcolm and getting to see Penner again. And while Caramoan had a good beginning and a really good ending, it felt like it dragged towards the middle.

Tocantins is actually my 3rd favorite season behind HvV and Samoa. Great cast, great game play, unique location and it's in HD.

I just can't stand Fiji, it's a frustrating season and Yau Man is the only redeeming quality. Since you disagreed with me though, I'll disagree with you!

2 isn't bad at all, you get to watch Colby dominate and then pull one of the worst moves ever to lose a million dollars. That shit's gold! 9 is good because it has a very likable winner who went up against insane odds to pull it out. 15 had a good winner, James being retarded and Courtney (a lot of people hate her but I think she's great). 21 had good characters but a terrible twist and a shitty finale, but overall it's not terrible. 11 and 24 are pure shit, you're right.

Adam12_sl said:

...
2 isn't bad at all, you get to watch Colby dominate and then pull one of the worst moves ever to lose a million dollars. That shit's gold! ...

Click to expand...

Yea, I liked 2 as well (Australia). The Colby fuck up was legendary, plus watching Jerri go into full psycho stalker mode over Colby was entertaining. Aside from that, it was one of the seasons where the tribes had it the roughest. Between Mike falling into the fire and the entire camp (and their rice) being washed away during a flash flood while away at an immunity challenge. Shit was so drastic that hair was falling out of (a before TV fame) Elisabeth Hasselbeck's head. It got to the point that Probst had to actually fly in and hand them food rations. I never remember food being as scarce since then but it was probably more to do with legal liabilities for the show.

Adam12_sl said:

2 isn't bad at all, you get to watch Colby dominate and then pull one of the worst moves ever to lose a million dollars. That shit's gold!

Click to expand...

For some reason I was confusing 2 with 3 (which I guess I did see some of). Not being on a beach was something the producers quickly realized was a mistake.

9 is good because it has a very likable winner who went up against insane odds to pull it out. 15 had a good winner, James being retarded and Courtney (a lot of people hate her but I think she's great). 21 had good characters but a terrible twist and a shitty finale, but overall it's not terrible. 11 and 24 are pure shit, you're right.

Click to expand...

I wouldn't say 9 and 15 are horrible seasons, just ones I wouldn't go out of my way to watch again. 9, I wasn't much of a fan of because I've really never liked the men vs. women seasons. I'd agree that 15 had a good winner and I almost left it off of my list because of Courtney (who I also really liked), but that was just another one of those seasons like 24 where you had someone completely run the game and barely anyone else play.

21 was just a really forgettable season for me. Plus, I think I'd be doing someone a favor if I spared them from having to watch NaOnka.

19 and 20 for sure.

The first 15 seasons are pretty much a blur at this point, but you can call it right now, Survivor 21 was the worst of all time. Survivor 24 was pretty terrible as well. 27 was bad, but Ciera's big plays down the stretch saved the season in my opinion.

The best are:

• 8- All Stars #1 Modern game strategies are developed that are still being used today.
• 19- Shatters the mold on strategies to reach the end of the game and the use of HII's.
• 20- Some of the most insane blindsides and improbable turns of events ever.
• 26- The most perfect example of a dominant social game, and one that actually felt deserving of the win at the end. Some great Special Agent comedy as well.

*22: Does not deserve to be on the "best of" list, but a fascinating season none the less. It is the most dominant performance in the history of the game. Start to finish, not a single miss-step.

Jonathan Penner always gave great confessionals. Richard Hatch was pretty good. Cochrane in his second year, when he grew a pair was hilarious. Boston Rob is probably the GOAT when it comes to confessionals.

lanx_sl said:

anyone know of a competitor that gave good confessionals?(i'm blanking right now) where like they were known for good confessionals, like how ozzy is known as a competition monster and penner is known for giving good speeches.

Click to expand...

I think the ones that give good confessionals tend to coincide with the ones that had a solid social game: Cochran, Cirie, Penner, Yau-Man, Malcolm, Parvati, Boston Rob, etc. The exceptions to this would be someone like Russell who was more of a psychological player, but still had good insight. Then there were ones like Courtney (China, HvV), Randy (Gabon, HvV), Johnny Fairplay, and Tyson who had fun confessionals purely because they didn't censor themselves.