Billy Garcia Answers the Ultimate Survivor Question [Guest Post]

by Lynn on June 20th, 2008

I first met Billy Garcia from Survivor: Cook Islands at last year’s Reality TV Convention in Nashville, Tennessee. Instantly, it was obvious that this New Yorker is warm, friendly and has a fantastic sense of humor. I enjoyed talking with him several times at that event, at the Survivor Dodgeball event last year, online and through emails ever since. He’s a great guy and has a big heart. He plays guitars in a heavy metal rock band called Forsakken and a MySpace site.

I get asked a lot of different Survivor-related questions by fans all of the time. But one question that I am hearing more and more frequently is “will the next season of Survivor be the last?”

I feel I owe it to both Survivor and Survivor fans to give the best answer I can to this very serious question. Especially since the answer is not a simple yes or no.

Firstly, we have to understand were Survivor is today. We hear all the time that the ratings are dropping and that it’s not the phenomenon that it once was pre-all-stars. That the main stream media doesn’t cover it like it once did. And, that the cast members are not instantly rock stars like before either.

But on the other hand we hear that Survivor has a very loyal core of fans that tune in for every episode regardless of how good or bad the season is, purchase tons of merchandise and memorabilia, hold conventions all over the United States and beyond where past cast members are flown in for autograph and photo sessions and that this legion of fans are millions strong. Well, the numbers don’t lie so both things we hear are true.

This reminds me of another entertainment franchise, Star Trek.

Survivor has become the Star Trek of Reality TV. The fan base is that loyal. Just like Trekkies, Survivor fans are as excited to see and meet that one cast member that was there for only one episode several years ago as they are for any movie star with a blockbuster currently in theaters. They can tell me details about my time on Survivor that I didn’t even notice though I was there. They spend absurd amounts of money for Survivor-related memorabilia. They dedicate a massive amount of websites, forums, myspace and Facebook profiles and groups to Survivor just like Trekkies do with Star Trek. These fans dedicate their lives to Survivor. It’s a subculture to them.

While I was on Survivor I was fond of saying that my culture was Heavy Metal. Little did I know that as I was saying this, I was in the process of diving head first into the Survivor culture.

In 1969, CBS canceled Star Trek and it’s safe to say nearly 40 years later that it was the biggest blunder in the network’s history. Now here we are again, CBS is in the same position again. Will they cancel Survivor? I’d like to think they’ve learned from their past mistake but let’s examine for a moment the possibility of what would happen if Survivor did get canceled. Would Survivor disappear? Would the fans abandon ship? It’s hard to believe that millions of people that have invested that much time and money into something would just let that something go. Here’s what I think would and should happen:

My idea is for Survivor to go into a once a year production with that season being aired as triple episodes once a month, for five straight months in the movie theaters. Each episode is 50 minutes long. So a triple episode would be 2:30 hours long. Survivor’s worst ratings were 12 million viewers. With the average movie ticket in the U.S. being $11, at Survivor’s worst they would gross $132million per triple episode domestically. So with five triple episodes per “season” Survivor would gross $660 million per year in the U.S. alone.

There would be no competition from The Amazing Race or Big Brother or American Idol. Their merchandise sales would increase as movie merchandise always out sells TV merchandise. And with only one season in production per year, filming would not be so taxing on Jeff Probst, Mark Burnett and the others.

They would find out what Star Trek found out. That getting canceled is not the end; it’s only a transition to bigger and better things. Even if Survivor only retains their core fans, their hardcore fans, that’s more than enough to easily make Survivor the greatest movie serial in cinematic history, far better than the Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon serials of the 1930s. That’s one hell of a selling point to the main steam media. They would also become one of the highest grossing entertainment franchises since Star Trek and Marvel Comics.

Like a lot of the former Survivor-turned-bloggers out there, no matter how much I rant and rip my fellow former castaways, Reality Media, and even a member of production from time to time, I’m just stirring things up because I find controversy on Survivor fun. I love Survivor and am proud to be part of the greatest reality franchise ever. So all of you long time fans, former cast members, and hardcore loyalists can join me in answering the very big and serious question, will the next season of Survivor be the last? OVER MY DEAD BODY!

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