yau-za, yau-za

"Survivor" used to be king of the unscripted television shows. It still gets decent ratings but it no longer has the morning-after buzz that it once did. Last night I chose to watch "My Name Is Earl" and "The Office" in real time on the HDTV. We recorded "Survivor" with the intention of watching it after "The Office" ended. As it turned out, my wife and I were too tired and decided to save "Survivor" for today.

A few years ago, I wouldn't have made it through this morning without hearing who had gotten voted off the island in last night's episode. Nowadays it's that way with "American Idol" and "Dancing With the Stars." Many entertainment websites, like TV Squad, make it easier for the TiVo generation to avoid spoilers by requiring you to click on a link to read past the introductory paragraph of an episode recap.

My wife watched last night's "Survivor: Fiji" early this morning while I was at work. She said that the episode was good but failed to mention that it may have been the best episode of "Survivor" ever. My son and I watched it this afternoon and were impressed by how great it was. The reward challenge, Exile Island and the hidden immunity idol all came into play. The current season got off to a slow start. At first I didn't think that Yau-Man was a serious contender. Before long, he became my favorite member of the current cast. I'll be watching Sunday night to see if Yau can avoid elimination again and maybe even win this thing.