Review: Survivor, "I'm Not Worthy" | Season 44, Episode 11

Would a 90-minute version of this episode have told its compelling story any better?

There’s been a lot of misinformation suggesting that the 2007/2008 WGA strike was somehow “responsible” for reality TV gaining a foothold, aka “ruining TV.” Friend of the newsletter Emily St. James has broken down why this is an apocryphal claim at Vanity Fair, but one thing is true: a writer’s strike does increase the relative value of reality franchises to their respective networks. It’s programming that they know they will be able to put onto their schedules, even if a strike delays the start of production for fall shows.

Today’s announcement that Survivor and The Amazing Race will both be switching to 90-minute episodes next season is not the first instance of this writer’s strike pushing networks further into reality programming: last week, Disney reversed Dancing with the Stars’ move to streaming, shifting it back to ABC. It’s all about mitigating the potential long-term impacts of a writer’s strike the easiest way they know how: taking an existing format that they know works, an…