Spike TV is debuting a new show on Sept. 1 called "Surviving Disaster" hosted by a guy who is described as being a SEAL veteran. The promos I've seen on TV make it look interesting but I'm sure it will provide fodder for discussion...! Here's hoping it proves worthwhile.

This short clip was pretty gripping.

I suspect that this show will get a lot of criticism from certain camps, like Man vs. Wild did. To me, I just approach these types of shows as entertainment, not education or training, so if the information seems "wrong" or "dangerous" or whatever, I don't take it too personally since it's entertainment. It would be like getting furious at a summer action flick over their unsafe gun handling.

However, I certainly hope that I can pick up some new bits of information here and there, too.

From the clips I have seen, he seems to stress a lot about the mental factor, which is something that I think seems to get glossed over. One thing I dont get though-why is it always someone with some sort of SF training that has to show this? Those of us who have served, know full well that ANY survival training you get, is simply designed for you to stay alive & hidden long enough for your forces to find you-or make your way back. Not taking anything away from it, but MY choice for an instructor would be one that does this on a regular basis-the US military doesnt typically drop their troops off in the middle of nowhere, without food, to "survive". Their main goal is to fight-if they find themselves in a survival situation then, yes, they are expected to live off the land-this isnt something that is normal to them though, as it usually means you are on Plan B (run away!!!) and something bad has happened.
I know that they get theatre specific survival training (during the first Gulf war, I went through a week long desert survival class, taught by SF, in Yakima WA), and they stressed the same thing; your survival depends on your locality and proximity to friendly forces. If locals are hostile (and you usually treat them as if they are), then you shouldnt contact them. Your survival LARGELY depends on moving back to safety, staying hidden, and staying hydrated. But, I digress...
I want to check this out. I thought it looked interesting, the fact that they are taking real-world scenarios (earth quakes, plane crashes, etc), and using them as a teaching experience. These are the most likely scenarios any of us would encounter-not a post-apocalyptic world. I am looking forward to this one!

On a side note; what does the sudden prevalence of all these survival shows tell us about our future, both as a country, and as a race? Should we start wearing tin foil hats now?!?!?!

much like everything we do and learn from, we can glean something from it, and throw away the hype. This show may have tons of usless information, or it may have tons of great information. it is a matter of what we can glean from it.

On this site, I have every confedance that those that come to this site posses the mental attitude aned the knowldege to sort the BS from the truth. I know I will be watching it to see what is offered and see what is said.

More curious is the fact that so many production companies think we need to be prepaired, or at least that they can profit off a show atempting to make us prepaired.

I would rather have an aboriginal guide teach survival than SF guys that have all sorts of fancy supersecret gizmos and support networks to rescue them. They don't get lost behind enemy lines for several months and have to live off the land. Give us someone with real world experience

It will be interesting to see what people think of it after a couple of episodes.

This TV show is just basically Urban Survival Porn for Mall Ninjas. Throw most SFs a tin of Tuna and ask them to get to the contents without a P-38 and they would be stuffed (Cody knows how to though ). None of the so called scenarios in this show (from what I have gleaned from the video trailers) are likely to occur. This SF guy would save more lives by just telling folks to wear sensible shoes, be careful of slippery surfaces, don't drive to fast and to secure that gun when not in use.

Most SFs don't have a problem getting a fire going though; forget about rubbing two sticks together, they can always rely on the fly boys to drop 500lbs of Napalm after they call one in on their commercial Iridium phones.

Forget about terrorists invading your home or the local Mall (if this a substantial threat then it would probably be best to move to a another city or country before it happens). If your gonna get shot chances are its gonna be your spouse, your best friend or your neighbour doing the deed.

Oh and if an SF guy wants a decent pair of boots he will be buying them from the same outdoor shops down at the mall.

I didnt mean to turn this into an SF bashing thread. My point was that Military survival and Civilian survival are 2 different animals-sure, some things are the same, but, military is more about evading and rejoining your forces, whereas civvie-urban survival is about getting found.
I have worked with the SF guys-they know their stuff. Its just a different mindset as opposed to civilian-that was my point.

I have only one gripe about these shows.
Most of them turn into bushcraft shows and are not really relevant for 90% of the situations that would be a real threat to 99% of the people on the planet.

If he does concentrate on realistic scenarios I will be very interested.
Most people have no clue about how to respond to most disasters, or how to be ready for one so it becomes an annoying inconvenience instead of a deadly threat.

The prevelance of these shows stems from the fact that "survival" items, books, and whatnot are selling at a feverish rate. Nationwide the sales at military surplus stores is the best it's been in a decade, it not more. The media hyping how bad the economy is and don't even get started on the scare people are in about the swine flu... all these factors add up to the fact that people are on edge, and will probably be for the foreseeable future. Thankfully this site exists to help separate the wheat from the trash. Just the insights I've learned from the level-headed and prepared souls who share this site let me sleep better at night. These shows are about ratings and advertising dollars after all, so if they can manipulate public opinion and heighten the sphincter factor, all the better.

My 2 cents.....YMMV.