In Survivor news, here is a New York Times article on the new Survivor race ratings stunt. The producer, Mark Burnett, suggests that old-fashioned, straight-up racism is no longer much of an issue in the US:

In America today,” Mr. Burnett said, “I really don’t believe there are many people who hate each other because of their race. But even though people may work together, they do tend in their private lives to divide along social and ethnic lines.”

Mr. Burnett noted that in many cities, members of ethnic groups tended to cluster in neighborhoods. “In New York you will find areas like Little Afghanistan,” he said. “Maybe in the year 3010, when we’re all coffee-colored, it really will make no difference. But right now, it is what it is.

Burnett points to this tendency of ethnic groups to self-segregate by race as the factor that gives salience to the network's decision to divide the contestants by race. But then he suggests that, in the heat of the competition, race will not be an issue:

People here are playing for a million dollars. They’re going to want to know if you’re going to vote them out. Or if they’re hungry, they’ll want to know if you know how to catch a fish. They’re not going to care if you’re green or Martian.

So which is it? Is race going to matter? And lead to increased viewership? Or will it be a non-factor? Which do you think CBS wants? My own theory is that race is simply the buzz factor in what will emerge as a pure affirmation of corporate-style multiculturalism, that is, a multiculturalism that represents diversity visually, (as in the catalogs and ads that now include people in wheelchairs) but never addresses the issue in any concrete way, like, for example, actual hiring practices...

But we will see.

Here is a more in-depth article from, well, CBS (news), giving space to critics of the show....