No Sloppy Seconds Here

I freely acknowledge that of all the TV shows I watch, Survivor has to be most devoid of any real quality. It's total fluff. It doesn't hang with you like a good episode of say, Battlestar Galactica -- or even a bad one. (Quick, name the winner of Survivor: Amazon. See what I mean?) It's cotton candy.

But one aspect of Survivor that is worthy of some praise is the "second unit." The second unit of a film or television production is the group of people who film "other stuff" that doesn't necessarily involve the main actors (or "contestants," in this case). Close-up shots of hands opening bags, establishing shots of the city in which a story is set -- these sorts of things are the domain of the second unit.

The second unit on Survivor totally kicks ass. We're getting some interview about how "Player A" thinks "Player B" is a total jerk that could turn on them at any minute... cut to footage of a huge spider eating some hapless insect. "Player C" is explaining how her strategy is to try and lie low, waiting for the others to screw up... cut to some crocodile sinking down in the grass. Yea, second unit! They are always there with the on-the-nose animal kingdom metaphor for the current situation in the game.

Not to mention, the second unit is always providing the footage explaining how a challenge is going to work before it is run. You'll often see members of the second unit (not their actual faces, of course) walking an obstacle course during Jeff Probst's explanation, or depicting how tiles of a puzzle will look when assembled, or what-not.

The second unit on Survivor totally kicks ass.