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After separating contestants by race and gender in recent editions of Survivor, it was probably inevitable for the CBS reality series to also play the age card. Indeed, the network this morning announced that the 20 new castaways on Survivor: Nicaragua will be divided into “two tribes of 10: Young vs. Old.” What was surprising for me was the criteria: The “old” tribe features “individuals over the age of 40,” while the “young” tribe is comprised by “individuals 30 years of age and younger.” Given CBS’ demo makeup, 40-year-olds are actually on the young end of the spectrum. Looking for a way to alienate your younger viewers? Just call them “old.”
TV Editor Nellie Andreeva - tip her here.
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Oh please. If they did under-30 and over-50, there would be no competition whatsoever. It has to remain competitive. I seriously doubt it will seriously erode the audience beyond it’s typical pattern over the past several seasons.
OK … then where does 30-40 fit in?
Those are the neither-here-nor-there hill climbers. Once you hit 40, you’re over the hill, I guess /sarcasm.
middle aged?
They have already divided the tribes by age before. I am not sure which season it was but it was four tribes (young males, old males, young females, old females)
And the guy who thought up this stupid demo is probably 60. Get with the times CBS. 40 is not old. Time for the CBS dinosaurs with the outdated ageism, sexism, et al. to be brought into the future, or at least the present.
boo. firstly, they already did it–they had four tribes: old men, young men, old women, young women. guess which tribe got decimated?– secondly, way to continue to worship at the altar of strong, male youth, probst. boring!
If 40 is “old”, then Les Moonves is “dead”.
And Sumner Redstone is, well…
Sister Madonna Buder completed her first Iron Man at the age of 55 and her last one at age 79 (will be back next year to go again!)
Ageism should be so yesteryear (despite Hot in Cleveland being Golden Girls with a younger cast, not a good sign *cough) but who’s gonna teach those morons a thing or two?
Does that mean you now can trust someone over 30, but under 40?
30-40 = Middle-Aged
CBS has never been good at Math.
Middle-aged means halfway through life. When someone dies at 60 these days, it is considered pretty young since many of the boomer generation are now expected to make it to 100. That would put middle-aged at maybe 45-50 today. Either way, 40 is not old anymore.
Looking for a way to alienate viewers of any age? Put Survivor on the air.
Not that I watch this show (or hell this entire channel) but where do I go to get my 41 year old self some of the sweet discounts they give old people? And now that I can come out & freely admit my love for Turner Classic Movies, well I must say I feel vindicated.
I too am wondering, did they not cast anyone 30-40 on this show or do the demos now go:
Young 30 & under
Old 40 & over
Non-existant 30-40
Simple – that’s middle age!
Oh, brother. Puh-leease.
Have you seen any reality shows lately? 40, within this genre, is most definitely old.
Besides, what do you want CBS to say: Young vs. Middle Aged? It doesn’t really roll off the tongue like Young vs. Old.
(I’m 43…)
40 is old (especially for reality TV contestants).
-24
Hey, the age discrimination suit filed by TV writers started at 40, so you know. Maybe they’re right.
I’m on the wrong side of 40 and don’t give a shit what anyone thinks. I’m in the prime of my life.
Yes, but 40 is the demarcation point in law for the protected class of people in age discrimination…
CBS’ definition of over 40: “old farts”.
Oh, because I thought the CBS definition of over forty was VIEWERS.
CBS’ definition of a viewer is 55+ or Shh, I think he’s just asleep.
Survivor’s basic premise has always been to create a unique social experiment. This is just a continuation of that — and an interesting one at that. Get over it people, it’s just TV…
Survivor? Is that still on the air?
one word for that ideal — Ewwwww……
What a ridiculous article. This is not ageism at all.
CBS’ USE OF THE TERM OLD JUST MEANS OLDER THAN THE OTHER GROUP. IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH LABELING ALL PEOPLE OVER 40 AS OLD.
It would not make sense, nor would it be a fair game, to make the cutoff age 50. If you consider the general ages of the contestants on the show they range from about 20-70, but the vast majority are under 50. It makes perfect sense to have the cutoff age be 40. This is the only way that the Young vs. Old concept would actually work on the show.
To say that CBS is “alienating their younger viewers, by calling them old” makes no sense to me, because they are not calling them old at all. It seems to me that you are really reaching for a story here, Nellie. It’s too bad because I usually really enjoy your writing.
Does it matter? Every competitive reality show dumps the old and fat. The only question is which is more objectionable. Old seems to be worse.
Hey CBS,
Get off my lawn!
oh yeah, get snarky, people! the fact is 40 is still a magic number as far as age goes. cbs’ problem is the generation-Y crowd who are the target demo for a ‘young v old’ debate…they don’t watch primetime anymore!
OoooK… This means that forever young Steve Spielberg is way old, as is Jeffrey K. and David G. and Tom Hanks and George Clooney and Brad Pitt and…and…and…