The Island: Episode 1- "Man Up" Review

The Island: Episode 1- "Man Up"

Oh the things NBC will put on TV to fill up their summer schedule. This "Survivor" style reality show features 14 men (yes, only men) living on an island for a month with no food, no water and no shelter. It's actually an American version of a show that already exists in the UK with the same host called "The Island with Bear Grylls". The UK series met criticism from both PETA who claimed the show had "a deep ignorance for animals" as well as female survivalists who claimed the show was "sexist" for excluding females from the challenge.

The tagline for the American version really says it all, "No Winners. No Losers. Just Survival" which pretty much means "No Plot. No Purpose. Just Boring". This show is very much like FOX's Utopia in a way because there's no challenges, there's no winners, there's no losers, nobody gets voted off, and there's no script to follow. So in the half hour of the episode I watched, the 14 men (who are trying to, as one stay at home dad said, win back their "man card") proceeded to argue with each other over which direction will lead to the main beach (yeah, men arguing over directions. Imagine that), arguing over who should be drinking water and over where to get the drinking water. Not to mention several men kill a boa constrictor by trapping it and chopping off it's head with a machete. First of all, I've got better things to do than watch a group of men (who all think they know better) argue with each other and secondly I do not believe in killing animals after invading their natural habitat. It's disgusting. 

There are four professional camera men among the crew who must endure the same conditions as the rest. I really question just how professional these camera men are because during the "boa death scene" it was pretty much like a nature rendition of The Blair Witch Project. Not sure what the hell I was looking at and the crazy motion just made me want to vomit.

It's no surprise that I will not be continuing on with this episode or the remaining five episodes of this series. If NBC was paying any attention to the disaster that was Utopia last fall on FOX they might have learned a thing or two. Like we are not interested in watching grown men argue as they try and come together to see if they can survive for a month. Of course they will survive. You think NBC wants a death on their hands played out on national television? I think not. One thing about this series that I can guarantee, the men will survive and the show will not.

D-

**Follow me on Twitter @popculturedlife for more**