Survivor

31Leave it.

A game of alliance and hunger. Not a model of a town. Adults, sparingly.

Take controlThis scores 31. Survivor cannot be blocked by name on this shelf. The lock is the phone. Block it

The review

The show is a pressure cooker for a particular American talent: reading a room and making a deal. That talent is real. The frame is the problem. Food is scarce on purpose. Friendship is a tactic. The jury is a score-settling. A republic is not a group of hungry people voting their grudges for a million dollars.

Watch an hour if you want to see how fast charm becomes strategy. Do not watch a season as company. The people are hungry and filmed. You are not obligated to be the audience for that.

Folio

Keep Survivor in the record.

No house has filed a sentence for this yet.

Live Historic number 31. Yours can differ.

The glance

Household and Piety and Republic and Temperance and Truth and Stewardship are the thin ones.

Is a marriage, a parent, or a child a real life here, or just a prop?

This phone is set for a grown person, just me. Change the ages.

Consider this

Project Runway

43 instead of 31

Project Runway is still a reality show, and it scores 43 instead of 31. What you gain is industry: Design, cut, sew, on the clock, with a client.

The eight

5
Industry
Camp craft is real for a few days, then the game eats it.
1
Household
Bonds are made to be spent at tribal council.
2
Piety
No reverence. A prayer would be a confession of weakness.
5
Courage
They endure the island. The endurance is for a prize.
3
Republic
Voting is the ritual. The polity is a television set.
4
Temperance
Hunger is the producer. The show does not pretend otherwise, and still sells it.
4
Truth
Alliances are lies with a timetable. The show calls this gameplay.
1
Stewardship
The winner leaves with money. The island is unchanged, and so is the lesson.

Where to watch

Finding the page.

Live Historic · Survivor · 31IMDb

Live HistoricSee what matters.

Series · Netflix · 2008

Pass it on

Breaking Bad

31Leave it.

The finest argument on television for how a man becomes a villain. Do not mistake the argument for an invitation.

Take controlThis scores 31. If you do not want Breaking Bad in the house, the steps are on Netflix. Block it

The review

This is a great piece of work and a bad teacher. Walter White is given a real fear, a real bill, and a real gift with his hands, and he spends all three on an empire he pretends is for his wife and his boy. The series is honest about the corpse count. It is less honest about the thrill it sells you on the way there. People quote the man. They do not quote the ending, which is the only moral sentence the show has.

Not for teenagers. Grown people who watch it should watch it through, including the cost, and should say out loud that competence is not absolution. If you feel yourself admiring him past the first season, stop and notice that.

Folio

Keep Breaking Bad in the record.

No house has filed a sentence for this yet.

Live Historic number 31. Yours can differ.

The glance

Household and Piety and Courage and Republic and Temperance and Stewardship are the thin ones.

Is a marriage, a parent, or a child a real life here, or just a prop?

This phone is set for a grown person, just me. Change the ages.

Consider this

The Sopranos

40 instead of 31

The Sopranos is still a crime show, and it scores 40 instead of 31. What you gain is household: A marriage, children, Sunday dinner.

The eight

7
Industry
The chemistry is real craft, and the show never pretends the product is anything but poison.
2
Household
He starts for his family and ends by destroying it. The series knows. It also makes you want him to get away.
2
Piety
No soul is allowed to stop him. The closest thing is a brother-in-law who still believes in the law.
4
Courage
He takes enormous risks. They are for pride, long before they are for a child.
2
Republic
Every institution he touches — school, DEA, a partnership — he turns into cover.
1
Temperance
Addiction, murder, and the pleasure of being the smartest man in the room. The show is hypnotic about all three.
5
Truth
It tells the truth that a lie can wear a man's love for his house. Then it asks you to miss him.
2
Stewardship
What he hands his son is a name that has to be lived down.

Where to watch

Finding the page.

Live Historic · Breaking Bad · 31IMDb