Today CBS announced when its fall shows will premiere, and many of the dates are easy to remember because CBS is essentially launching all of its shows in a single week.  From Monday, September 21 to Sunday, September 27, CBS will premiere all but two of its shows.

Those exceptions include the newest season of Survivor, which premieres one week early to allow a two-hour premiere on Thursday. September 17, and the series premiere of Three Rivers starring Moonlight's Alex O'Loughlin which comes Sunday, October 4, one week late to allow The Amazing Race to have a two-hour premiere.

So does that mean we'll have two Survivor seasons this year set in Samoa?  Could be the case, as they will be shooting the next two seasons of the reality show back-to-back, rather than take a three-month break in between the two, like it usually goes.

"This season we're also doing back-to-back seasons because of budget cuts, and that's just the truth," host Jeff Probst told Reality Blurred.  "We [have] to do two seasons to save money, because every television show is undergoing some sort of a cut.  And I think that's going to be hard on people.  It's a long time to be away from home.  We're gone nearly four months.  Six weeks was one thing.  14 weeks is another."

The admission is, there really isn't much to write on the Survivor front--at least before the show's 19th season heads back to Samoa in the fall.  But the usual online trawl led me to this story, and to wonder what they're actually looking for in a contestant.  Or, that question I wrote on the title.  Can you be too nice for the show?

There was this guy, 26-year-old Greg Insco, based in Cincinnati, who was told just that, when Survivor producers turned him down after submitting his audition tape.  Well, there's actually more than that: he walked the entire way, from his hometown to Los Angeles--all two thousand or so miles--to submit his video, and to be turned down.

To be honest, I can't imagine seeing Survivor host Jeff Probst do something else, but apparently he is.  Or could have been.  Or might be.  Depends on how you're looking at it.

I don't know if you've heard of this, but Probst is hosting another reality show of sorts, Live for the Moment.  Created by Probst, and co-produced by Survivor exec Mark Burnett, the series sees someone who is afflicted with a terminal disease on an uplifting adventure, perhaps to fulfill a wish that has yet to be realized.  Or, in other words, a schmeeze-fest.  The show wasn't announced on CBS' upfronts a few weeks back, but they're still shooting episodes of the show.

Biggest character of last season's Survivor: Tocantins?  Benjamin Wade, no doubt.  Never mind that J.T. won, in a finish that threw his close friendship with runner-up Stephen on the flames, and then some.  Never mind that Sierra almost made a fool of herself, and somehow unwittingly catapulted Erinn to the final four.  Never mind everything else.  It was Coach who defined the season, with all the things he's said, and apparently done, and the way he seemed convinced that he's this and that.  It's hard summarizing everything that he is in one introductory paragraph--or maybe it's me who wants to cram in every supposedly important detail.

But a lot more happened after that, and now that Coach's no longer bound against CBS' provisions against interviews, well, he's been set loose.  And man, I'm reading through the interview he did with local newspaper The News-Leader, and it's seriously, seriously long.  Just what you'd expect.

It's been a while since he braved the elements in Africa, but Survivor: Africa winner Ethan Zohn probably hasn't seen anything like this: battling cancer.  The 35-year-old was recently diagnosed with a rare form of Hodgkin's disease, which affects a person's lymph nodes.

And perhaps the first casualty is his trademark locks.  What you see on the photo on the side is, well, gone, replaced by a more cleaner look.  In an interview with The Early Show, he explained that it's in preparation for three months of chemotherapy, and later, radiation.  "I figured I'd shave it off before it started falling out on its own," he said.  "I've had this mop of hair for so long, and cutting it, I was a little nervous.  But I think it's what it represented.  'All right, I have cancer, and I got to shave my head because it's going to fall out on its own.'  That was the emotional part of it."