I’m not a big consumer of television so I admit to being a terrible judge when it comes to the latest fads. Game of Thrones, for example, looks like a daytime soap mixed with Lord of the Rings. But, it is wildly popular. When I heard about this new Fox show I expected it to do well. Stick a bunch of people out in the woods and see how long it takes for human nature, good and bad, to take its course. I tuned in for a few minutes, but it looked a little too contrived for my tastes, but again, I’m not their target audience.

Al Gore’s Contrivance brings word that the show may be  flop. Maybe I’m more in tune with modern TV viewers than I thought. Having a bunch of 20-something piss and moan on an island somewhere is not very interesting. Throwing in some 30-somethings and a few middle-aged people is not going to help. Frankly, people in a survival situation are not going to get naked and frolic. From my few minutes of viewing, that seems like what most of the cast did right out of the chute.

Again, I watched for maybe ten minutes. Five at the beginning and then I got bored and watched the football game. I came back at some point to see everyone naked, rolled my eyes and went back to the game. I can see all the naked people I want on-line. There will also be doing more interesting things than complain about the other naked people. I was reminded of something similar they did years ago called Survivor. I thought that was pretty stupid for the same reason.

Anyway, it got me thinking about what would work. Maybe sticking people on an island is just too limited. I know nothing about how TV is done, but insurance, budgets, rules, etc., may constrain what they do with these things. Maybe leaving them to fend for themselves is too risky. Maybe TV people just can’t let things play out on their own or maybe people are just too boring without a script. I have no idea and I don’t know anyone who does.

That said, instead of building utopia, maybe have them survive a hunting party. Take 20 people, put them in the woods and then put a group of hunters in there to try and kill them. Not really kill them. Use paint ball guns. The hunters will not know where the campers are setup so they have to find them. The prey has to work together to avoid or defeat the hunters. That would be fun. The winners split a million bucks or something.