Oh Jesse. Your optimism is endearing.

I'm ok with the Survivor winner (whitefonted to prevent the "read new" surprise!). Even though Todd was not as good a player as he thinks he is, I admire any player who has a hand in a lot of people being voted out who can still win-- the anti-under-the-radar strategy. Courtney performed surprisingly well at Tribal Council, even if there's a lot of retconning going on about her role in the game. Amanda could have won had she been better at tribal. I had thought that being a beauty queen would have meant she would be better prepared, but clearly she wasn't.

Next year? sounds like it could be good, but it's usually the opposite-- All-Stars sounded like it could be good but sucked, race wars was an awesome season. But ultimately I want a season where people frickin *strategize* and hopefully that happens in Fans v. Favorites.

I don't really like Todd, and I don't think he played the game as well as he thought, but from day 1 he was playing to win and I respect that. I really didn't get Denise playing for 4th, but what Burnett did was really cool.

Oh Jesse. Your optimism is endearing.

Heh. I'm just trying to think out the logistics. Could summer programming actually be WORSE than Big Brother?? And I love Big Brother.

I was in the ABC (anyone but Courtney) camp with this season. I thought Todd deserved to win, ESPECIALLY after the way he handled the jury. Very well-played by him, and he stole it form Amanda, who should not have played the Nice Girl card, after not acting like a nice girl during the game. Better if she had been more honest about her game-playing and mentioned her physicality and dedication during challenges.

I liked this season a lot and thought it was one of the best.

I am the anti-Scrappy. I was bored by this season from the very beginning and it just kept going strong with the boring straight through to Todd FTW. I coulda had a V-8.

Although, of that final three, Todd was my number one choice. And he really worked the jury well. In fact, both Todd and Courtney had great jury performances, some of the better ones I've seen anyway. While Amanda had a crap-tastic jury meltdown. (And now I have to love PG just a little bit for calling her on the doe-eyes!)

The jury wasn't even amusingly bitter and/or crazy. Just bland. When the best you can work up on is Lunch Lady outrage . . . well, it's no "snakes and rats" or even an Edgardo "Don't talk to me when I ask you to talk to me!" And when they brought the whole group back, I swear I didn't remember who half of them where.

Bring on the half-stars, I say. Although, I am a little bit perturbed that Survivor is now stealing ideas from Real World/Road Rules challenges (Fresh Meat, anyone?). I am hoping for some good folks to come back. My dream would be to bring back all of the Aitu 4 + Jonathan(but I don't think anyone but Ozzy would be down), a little Earl, a little Yau Man, a little Ian and yes, even Tom (dirty bird, but that is one fine looking man). Throw in a little Dani, a little Hogeboom(?), a whole lotta Cirie. That would be fun. Of course, we'll probably get Rocky and Candace and a whole lotta other douchebags.

Bored? But this season had the whole Jamie/fake immunity idol deliciousness. And James with no shirt. And Crazy Dave.

Bored. I thought the Jamie/fake immunity idol was dull as dishwater. By the time she made it to tribal, it seemed clear that she was 99.9% convinced that it wasn't an idol and just played it in a "What the hell? Just in case." kinda way. And then Probst, being the he-man, woman-hater that he is, decided to make a big stink about it. Crazy Dave? Swear to bejeebus that I did not even remember who he was when he first came out. And then when they showed the naked thing, I just thought Hatch did it first and did it better. James was very, very pretty. But this was a man who had not one, but two idols and couldn't find a way to make that suspenseful in any way. Aaron? Who? Sherea? Who? WWE girl? Had totally forgotten her until she showed up again. And the end pre-ordained from the time of the merge.

So. painfully. bored.

both Todd and Courtney had great jury performances, some of the better ones I've seen anyway. While Amanda had a crap-tastic jury meltdown. (And now I have to love PG just a little bit for calling her on the doe-eyes!)

I totally agree with this. I'd say I was pro-Amanda before the jury but she really didn't do herself any favors there. And, before the jury, I would have put good money down on Courtney getting zero votes. The minute it ended, my housemate and I knew she had pulled in at least one or two.

I think it was a pretty good season, although I hate the concept of the immunity idols and how they work.

I really would like to see a twist that makes it more about surviving. It just doesn't seem like people have any real incentive to keep the workhorse/survivalist/strongman and you end up with people like Courtney in the finale. For example, I would love to have them know upfront that they weren't merging, or that they had to live with the jury members after being voted off. Anything that would really change the game from the standard "get an alliance of four, vote off the strong people around merge-time" that it has become.