Is CBS's Survivor Show Going to be a Battle of the Races/Ethnicities?

Reports out this morning by the Associated Press [here] and The New York Times [here] on negative publicity CBS is receiving after it announced a change in the format of its popular show Survivor. AP says CBS has "defended the ethnic twist."

AP reports, "For the first portion of the 13th season of "Survivor," which premieres Sept. 14, the contestants competing for the $1 million prize while stranded on the Cook Islands in the South Pacific will be divided into four teams - blacks, Asians, Latinos and whites."

New York City Councilman "[John] Liu, who is Asian-American, said he was launching a campaign urging CBS to pull the show because it could encourage racial division and promote negative typecasts. He and a coalition of officials, including the council's black, Latino and Asian caucus, planned to rally at City Hall on Friday," AP reports.

My sense is that CBS, which has seen a decline in viewership of this program, one of its most successful ever, sought to develop a national debate on the issue of race and ethnicity while attracting more viewers to its program.

Bill Carter's story in the Times includes this quote from the show's long-time producer and developer:

“In America today,” Mr. Burnett said, “I really don’t believe there are many people who hate each other because of their race. But even though people may work together, they do tend in their private lives to divide along social and ethnic lines.”

The critically acclaimed film Crash is an example of an entertainment effort that was able to turn prejudice and racial or ethnic hatred on its head. And I bet the show's development team sought to benefit from the praise this film and others received for causing audiences to think about the issue in our country.

According to Carter that casting for this season required an outreach effort into minority communities:

"For the new contest, Mr. Burnett said, the show reached out to social and church groups to bring in more applicants of different backgrounds. He said the results had been gratifying."

- Adam