TV Watch: 4 Races, 1 Survivor

After being good all summer and avoiding the TV (well, it helped that there weren't that many good shows on), I'm getting excited for the beginning of the fall TV season. I can't wait to see new episodes of my returning favorites including 24, Amazing Race, Lost, The Office, and Scrubs. I don't even know if I can make room for any of the new shows, but from the previews, Heroes and The Nine look interesting enough that I'll give them a try.

In the news this week is the new season of Survivor. Apparently, the producers are starting out with four tribes of different races--white, black, Asian, and Hispanic--battling each other for survival. Of course this has created controversy, which is probably what the producers wanted to increase the show's ratings. I will probably watch out of curiosity, although I'm sure I'll cringe at some of the potentially awkward commentary (Jeff Probst: "The Asians are beating the Hispanics. The black tribe is chasing the white tribe..."). Of course, in their effort to get a diverse cast, the producers had to turn to California (13 out of the 20 contestants are from California), so the Bay Area is well-represented.