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Survivors

Julie Graham as Abby in Survivors
  • Posted at 5:20pm
  • 02 December 2008
  • by AlisonGraham-RT
  • 10 comments

The disparate group of men and women emerged, blinking, into the light. Though their surroundings were familiar, something had changed. An older woman spoke first.

"We must stick together, because we're the only surviving stereotypes in prime-time television drama. Just look around you. It's all reality shows, costume dramas, spy thrillers and a damaged Swedish detective who doesn't shave. We're the only predictable TV archetypes left on the planet."

Everyone paused. Just what had happened? How could it have come to this? The older woman spoke again. "We are the survivors and it is up to us to re-populate post-watershed television schedules with an old-fashioned concept centred on a neat handful of ethnically diverse people facing peril."

Someone piped up. "Hang on, weren't you in Bonekickers? Weren't you the maverick archaeologist leading a reckless band of fellow academics who, week after week, destroyed the very priceless historical artefacts you had sought? You even broke Excalibur in the last episode. Why should we trust you?" The group murmured as the older woman answered.

"Forget Bonekickers. I'm certainly trying to. In this I'm a mother looking for my lost son, which gives me an air of sanctity and means I'm allowed to do whatever is necessary to find my child. It also gives me a certain warmth, which is essential in this type of drama if audiences are to feel empathy."

A handsome young man spoke up. "That's all right for you, but what about me? I'm trapped in this as a piece of dim man-candy who's supposed to be vulnerable and charming. Yet all I seem to do is pounce on every presentable woman while also showing my soft side as I bond with the only child in the group."

A younger woman began to speak. "What are you complaining about? I'm the pretty young professional who has to be tough for herself and for those around her, yet really she's pining to be loved, but she can't show it for fear it will reveal her as weak."

More voices chimed in. "I'm the mysterious loner that no-one can bring themselves to trust…" "I'm the violent escaped prisoner, the self-seeker who says little but who frowns a lot and never raises his voice…"

The older woman spoke up. "All right! We need a plan. The only way we can survive is if we go out and forage for scripts. We all know what we need: anything that brings us into weekly contact with strangers, preferably with plots that allow each of us in turn to be at the centre of the action. It's our only hope."

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Comments

  • Posted on 08 January 2009
  • at 4:50pm
  • by JENNY

What happened to survivors, did it just end

  • Posted on 30 December 2008
  • at 9:05pm
  • by dewsbry

this is a classical example of what brian aldiss called cosy catastrophe the survivors are safe, middle-class, (usually) white people now replaced in our PC world by a 'neat handful of ethnically diverse people' twee, sentimental, and silly, as we all know that only bad-asses are survivors.

so first question is, where have all the guns gone?

if i had survived the first thing i would do is make a b-line to the nearest army barracks and get seriously tooled up, boy your really going to need those guns to shoot stuff- dont bother with agriculture just skip that and go straight to hunting and gathering, and they're all so clean and well groomed why? (clean water is in short supply- no electricity, no pumping stations, no sanitation) and where have all the animals gone? dogs? rats? or are they too busy feasting off the dead humans?

and why are the roads empty? no cars anywhere people were dying everywhere and in their cars and who's cutting the grass?

  • Posted on 16 December 2008
  • at 11:39pm
  • by nicghillian

for heavens sake, paulK, stop trawling alison and get a life. you don't like her, fine - i disagree with some of her viewpoints, but still find her funny, and respect her right t express an opinion. Grow up.

  • Posted on 16 December 2008
  • at 12:44am
  • by PaulK

Does Ms Graham actually like anything? week after week we read yet another withering and predictable critic on programs that are not only enjoyable but actually popular and god forbid aren't Soap operas. Perhaps it is time that Ms Graham actually looked at programs with a fresh set of eyes and tried a bit of positivity.

Survivors is a good re-make of the original series, it has been given a fresh 'Modern day' look and yet still managed to hold onto the Authors character concepts. For once it's nice to see a program about ordinary people surviving in extra ordinary circumstances with out having to contend with fake (or even worse, Real) American accents and people parading around with guns all the time.

And talking about stereo types, Critics aren't meant to like anything, so well done there Ms Graham.

  • Posted on 09 December 2008
  • at 6:28pm
  • by Nicola

Romana, yes we do like to be entertained and i was really excited about this drama because of the concept and gave up 2/3rds of the way in because it was so boring and badly written. I even read the script before hand and my mind was wandering. I was highly disappointed by this drama coz none of the characters either on the page or on the screen made me feel any kind of empathy towards them. Therefore i lost interest in the drama.

  • Posted on 09 December 2008
  • at 1:56pm
  • by Wilks_228

older stupid she says older, and yes, 43 is a lot older than 34

  • Posted on 09 December 2008
  • at 12:17am
  • by Eve

Maybe I'm being a little over-sensitive here, (as someone close to the "older" woman's age) but is Julie Graham, at 43, really "an older" woman? Phillip Rhys is described here as a "young" man, although he is 34. Is 9 years really the difference between young and old?! Does Alison Graham really think that 43 is old?! Should I, as a person of Ms (Julie) Graham's advanced years, book myself a place in the Home for the Bewildered now?!

  • Posted on 08 December 2008
  • at 5:11pm
  • by Romana

Hmmm. Sometimes critics actually need to think of viewers who just want to be entertained. Instead they watch so much TV that they forget that most normal people only watch a few hours a week and aren't always looking for anything too difficult to watch. The article was very witty, but missed the point. Survivors is entertaining, easy watching. So what if it's not the best written thing in the world? We should be crying out for more of this kind of stuff than the turgid repetition of soap operas or uninspiring hospital and police dramas.

  • Posted on 03 December 2008
  • at 2:07pm
  • by Sandra

The characters may be stereotyped, but only because that is the only way they can be related to. That speech at the end of the 1st episode by the older woman trying to 'unite' them, if they had been going into battle after a speech like that they would be cutting their own throats. And who is going to wander off alone when there are people there anyway? Yes, I am going to walk off somewhere unfamiliar, with no friends, no food, no support, no-one to talk to... This series needs the stereotypes, they are the only believable factor in it. (ok, except the killer, and isn't that saying something)

  • Posted on 02 December 2008
  • at 7:24pm
  • by Phil

The only surviving stereotypes? What about "Lost". The premise is very similar to "Lost" and quite intriguing in a "Lord of the Flies" kind of way. However unlike "Lost" the story looks as though it might go somewhere. It also looks stunning. The aerial scene of the expensive car racing through empty streets was particularly memorable.

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