Wild about Survival Shows
Bear Grylls vs. Les Stroud – Who is the true Survivorman?
In a land of TV show copycats, The Bachelor and Joe Millionaire, The Singing Bee and Don’t Forget the Lyrics, there emerges (last year) yet another face off in TV show creatorship history: Man vs. Wild and Survivorman. As with other copycat shows, there are a plethora of opinions on both shows but unlike other shows, these two don’t seem to divide people as much as bring them together, at least until July of 2007. Perhaps it is the fact that they are carried by the same channel (Discovery – Science Channel is an offshoot of Discovery) or the fact that neither really beat the other in becoming a routinely viewed show by a majority of people (that is probably due to the difficulties in producing an episode). It is true that Survivorman lists its premiere date a year ahead of Man vs. Wild but when Bear Grylls hit the airwaves he hit like a ton of bricks including guest appearances on late night TV and the eerily influential Oprah Winfrey Show. When comparing the two shows we must consider a variety of ideas from the production of each show to the recent controversy surrounding one of the shows to the hosts themselves.
Man vs. Wild Controversy
We cannot proceed further without first tackling an apropos issue, the controversy behind the show Man vs. Wild. The problem occurred in July when a British TV network discovered that the host and several crew members stayed in motels when they were depicting themselves (I assume in the final cuts of the respective episodes) as roughing it in the wild. As a result, there has been a feeding frenzy of sorts both in the form of late night TV hosts jabbing at the shows authenticity to Web forums lighting up with webloggers who, I suspect take more liberty in the anonymity of the Internet, to wring out Bear Grylls and his show with derisive commentary and typical media mob mentality. What boggles my mind and several other people I have shared this issue with is how TV viewers still don’t understand that what is broadcast on major networks is entertainment first. Doesn’t it make sense that a survival enthusiast would be overly-cautious? Would viewers have preferred to have heard that Bear and his crew met their demise because they didn’t take proper precautions? How did you feel when you heard that Steve Irwin died swimming too close to a stingray? If he had backed off would he have lost his authenticity? This is certainly a topic for exploration at another time but for now let’s compare the two shows without this alleged betrayal to the TV viewer.
The Men Behind the Shows
Les Stroud is a musician, survival and wilderness guide, and now TV host, among other things. Bear Grylls is an author, motivational speaker, ex-SAS member, and self-proclaimed adventurer. He does have a long list of accomplishments under his belt that gives credence to his adventure status (plus, his name is Bear). Background alone, Bear wins.
Les Stroud is laid back, soft-spoken, but not afraid of anything. He has a good knowledge base and does obvious research prior to filming an episode. He doesn’t shy away from exotic foods and his puffy eyes and groggy face when he wakes from a miserable night of sleep give him a genuine quality that is admirable and relatable. Bear Grylls is excitable and kinetic, somewhat of a man-boy with ADHD. He his likeable in his youthfulness and his enthusiasm is contagious. He is also anxious to try vomit-inducing cuisine and doesn’t appear to be afraid. Both hosts rattle off valuable tips as they press on through their respective challenges. They both tell of survival stories they’ve researched or heard that connects with the area they are in which lends to the drama of them trying to ‘survive’. Personality and on-air presentation: tie.
The Format
The format of Survivorman is simple: Les Stroud is stranded in a mock survival situation (plane crash, ran out of gas, etc.) and with a few simple items and cameras he has to survive one week. Man vs. Wild is similar Bear Grylls has his trusty knife and is usually clothed accordingly. There is one vital difference between the format of the shows: Les is his own cameraman and is alone, Bear has a crew with him. Bear claims that the interaction with his crew is limited, and that could be the case, however, he still has that ever important presence of another human there as a safety net. Les not only has to be a survival guide and host but a filmmaker as well. On many weblogs people question how he is able to have the different camera shots and assume that he has a crew with him as well. Les has addressed this from the beginning by explaining the painstaking task of filming shots from dramatic perspectives and then going back to retrieve the camera, doubling his travels. The clear winner here is Les.
Lasting Impressions
For two very similar shows to coexist there are a few prerequisites to consider: 1) they cannot be on the same broadcast network (the same cable network makes sense because most cable channels are thematic – Emeril and Bobby Flay share the same network), 2) they must entertain and remain unique, 3) they must not try to become bigger than what they originally intended. The recent controversy may also factor in to this equation as well. In fact, it is possible for the Man vs. Wild maelstrom to actually take out both shows. Audiences are fickle and now that one show’s authenticity has come into question all shows like it will face severe scrutiny. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. In fact, let’s hope that both shows forge ahead and conquer every environment possible before twittering out. Let’s hope that Bear doesn’t try to overcompensate and get injured on an episode.
After all is said and done who is the true winner here? That’s easy: the viewer.
If you found this page useful, consider linking to it.
Simply copy and paste the code below into your web site (Ctrl+C to copy)
It will look like this: Wild about Survival Shows
No comments yet