*Tonight’s premiere of “Survivor: Cook Islands” will probably draw the largest ratings of any “Survivor” opener since the show began 13 seasons ago, which is exactly what producers wanted when making its controversial decision to split the tribes along racial lines.
Part of tonight’s audience will be the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), which announced Tuesday that it would reserve comment or judgment about the show’s segregated approach until the episode actually airs.
"Concerning the new season of 'Survivor,' whether we like the concept or not -- and for the record, we do not -- it is premature to judge the show purely on conjecture," the organization said in a statement. "We will judge the show on what we see, and we will monitor the public response."
CBS responded to the NAACP with its own statement. "We appreciate the NAACP reserving judgment on 'Survivor: Cook Islands' until they've seen the show," the network said. "As a programmer, you can't ask for more than to be judged by how audiences react to what they see on the screen."
The NAACP added that "Survivor’s" race element is distracting from what the group deems to be bigger, more crucial issues, including what it called the "woeful lack" of minority creative executives and showrunners along with the "stereotypical and biased" portrayal of minorities in news coverage and the lack of comedy series on the Big Four networks that feature a black lead character.
Premiering at 8 p.m. tonight on CBS, "Survivor: Cook Islands" will separate its 20 contestants into four tribes: black, white, Hispanic and Asian.