Oh, the glory of Pirate Master.  When the idea of Pirate Master first came to light, there was a collective thought of “What the hell is wrong with Mark Burnett?”  The show sounded like a two-bit knock off of Survivor, a shameless attempt to capture the Survivor audience during the summer months.  Last night, Pirate Master premiered and, well, it was exactly that: a Survivor knock-off.  However, that didn't make the show unenjoyable.  The opposite, actually.  The show was as silly and contrived as one would suspect, but from that silliness comes a very entertaining hour of television.


Pirate Master makes little sense and, thankfully, the producers didn't bother with much exposition last night and just got right into the action.  If watching in HD, you were treated to a great-looking show, and I'm a sucker for scenes on the open seas, so I could've watched it on mute and been happy.  The ship itself, an old school pirate vessel, is awesome and one of the main draws of Pirate Master.  Here are a few things from the premiere that I found to be quite intriguing.


The cast, featuring Christian Okoye

The Nigerian Nightmare!!!  Christian used to be a beastly running back for the Kansas City Chiefs, and now he's on Pirate Master.  Why can't all reality shows feature a washed-up athlete of some kind?  What would the harm in that be?  The rest of the cast is fairly blah, with the most jarring Survivor rip-off being the casting of a complete Rupert look-a-like who acts just like the famed Survivor castaway.  Other than that, it's hard to get to know most people after one episode.


The treasure

The basic premise: two teams race to find treasure.  First one to find it, gets the treasure.  Here's the thing, if you like the Survivor challenges, then you'll like Pirate Master.  It seems that almost half of each episode will be devoted to finding treasure.  I actually like what happens after they find treasure.  The captain gets half, the rest is divvied up, and they can use the cash however they so choose.  Bribing should play a big part.


The scientist/exotic dancer

The dude who got kicked off last night, John, who we will have an interview with next week, is supposedly a scientist/exotic dancer.  After watching the episode, it makes sense.  He looks like an exotic dancer, but everything else about him screams nerd.  But, a weird combo to be sure.  


The battle of wits

At tribal counc-- I mean....At Pirate's Court, there was an interesting exchange between captain Joe Don and eventual stowaway John.  You see, John stole the boat's two compasses and threatened to keep them if he was voted off.  Joe Don basically said, “Screw you, I don't need compasses.  I can just look at the North Star.”  John then asked where the North Star was. Predictably, Joe Don couldn't find it.  It was a hilarious exchange between two guys trying to be macho and spouting cornball lines with as much gravitas as they could muster.  

Pirate Master is incredibly silly, over-the-top, and full of unintentional comedy.  Which means, of course, that I'll be watching it all summer.

-Oscar Dahl, BuddyTV Senior Writer

(Image Courtesy of CBS)