I Survived - General Discussion

[Meredith Quill]

Discuss I Survived Here!

[shoovenbooty]

I just got back into watching this (hadn't watched it since we downgraded our Dish package and lost the Bio channel it was shown on).  I HATE the new format, where they are sort of re-inacting the events that the Survivors endured.  I don't want to watch blurry actors in the background. I liked the still frames and words at the bottom of the screen telling me what happened!

[junemeatcleaver]

I hate the reenactments, too.  Why are they necessary?  The survivors' words are vivid and powerful enough with out seeing snippets of faceless actors being fake tortured.  That's something I hope they rethink if there's another season of this.

[junemeatcleaver]

Last night's episode was hard to watch, the ones where the mom survives and her kids die always are.  Kristy recalling her final moments with her kids will haunt me for a long while.

[Joe Jitsu913]

Last night's episode was hard to watch, the ones where the mom survives and her kids die always are. Kristy recalling her final moments with her kids will haunt me for a long while.

Me too.. Definitely felt her pain. I googled her, and her rapist was sentenced to death.

Edited December 21, 2014 by Joe Jitsu913

[aurora296]

junemeatcleaver, (great name BTW!) I agreed with your post. I've watched the last 3 episodes and the actors reenacting the scenes along the way as the real survivors describe it just takes me out of it. What drew me into this show was, of course the horrible stories and how well the survivors told them. Then they'd show a a dark and eery scene, with an ominous camera angle which added to the haunting tone of the show. 

 

This last episode, showed a quick scene of the perpetrator (actor) in a far area from the camera, slightly blurry, apprehending his intended victim. The actor they used kinda stumbled awkwardly and seemed like he had a slight build and short height. It ruined what my imagination might have built up by the survivor's description of the event.  

 

Where do I complain, because I want them to change it back.?

 

Nevertheless, these survivors are, for what they've been through, so well poised on camera and have risen above such tragedies, just to go on national TV and tell in detail, no matter how humiliating, their stories. Bravo to them!

[methodwriter85]

It makes me so angry to think about how many kids would have been saved if William Bonin hadn't been released. No wonder 1970's serial killers were able to rack up so many numbers- the system was a joke! I can't imagine how David lived with that.

 

The woman who survived because her best friend Lynn tried to escape their kidnappers haunts me as well. Imagine how many more lives Lynn actually saved because what she did stopped David Gore and his cousin accomplice. Everything had to line up just so in order to save her.

 

My favorite story though is the girl who beat the shit out of her rapist and attacker after he kidnapped her from a convenience store. I just kept thinking, "You go, girl!"

Edited January 5, 2015 by methodwriter85

[shoovenbooty]

Kristy recalling her final moments with her kids will haunt me for a long while.

 

I have a son who is the same age that her son was, a kindergartner.  When she described seeing her son through the doorway, lying motionless on a pile of pillows as if he were napping, that was one of the most heartbreaking things I have ever heard.  I'm haunted by it as well.

Edited January 7, 2015 by shoovenbooty

[junemeatcleaver]

LMN aired three episodes and then nothing for over a month.  I hope I Survived returns.

[slensam]

LMN aired three episodes and then nothing for over a month.  I hope I Survived returns.

What happened? How can they produce only three episodes?

[junemeatcleaver]

What happened? How can they produce only three episodes?

 

I don't know.  I noticed another LMN I recorded called Living In Secret only aired for 3 episodes and disappeared too.  LMN doesn't even seem to air reruns anymore.

[mayaluv17]

I forgot all about this show until the other day when my sister reminded me of one of the stories. I also hated the reenactments and lost track of the show when after LMN played a few episodes and then dropped it. It's a shame.

[azshadowwalker]

This show had some of the scariest stories ever. I kind of miss it. 

[walnutqueen]

6 hours ago, azshadowwalker said:

This show had some of the scariest stories ever. I kind of miss it. 

Yes.  One in particular - I want to say it was an episode of something like I Survived: Beyond & Back (?) was about people who'd actually been revived somehow after a near death experience.  There was this physician who was in a coma for a long time, and he eloquently described a horrific experience in a very dark and hellish place, slowly coming out of it, into eventual recovery.  My memory is VERY hazy on the finer points, but he was so erudite and scientific in his narration; and it was so different from the "bright white light, peaceful feeling, being met by loved ones" usual story.  I found it quite disturbing at the time.

[chenoa333]

So this show isnt on anymore? I really liked it. Is this the show that was always narrated by some young woman (forgot her name) who was the subject of one of the epusodes of "I Survived"?

[mayaluv17]

The show you're talking about is "Surviving Evil" with Charisma Carpenter. I don't think it's on the air anymore. I know I Survived isn't.

[chenoa333]

That's disappointing. I really liked both shows. 

[Dr.OO7]

I wish I'd seen the episode with the woman Jane, who was seven months pregnant when she was attacked at a rest stop. It was an Unsolved Mysteries story and one of the most chilling---her attacker is believed to be a serial killer who was operating in the area at the time.

I've recognized several other stories from articles I've read or watched elsewhere--Sharon, who was shot while driving home, then kidnapped, raped, and stabbed by her assailant, and John, who was trapped in his car for two weeks after it plunged into a ravine.

I remember how they had to nix the story of the Norway massacre when the Sandy Hook shooting happened two days before it would have aired.

And I've never forgotten the 9/11 episode. Intense doesn't even come close to describing it.

[janerazor]

I just watched Lonnie/Stanley/Rulon. Now, maybe it's because I've been binge-watching this show with all its horrific tales, but...but...Stanley! Yeah, I'm sure it was scary getting snatched from the street and pushed into a Lexus...but...but...Stanley! You didn't even get a scratch on you the entire time! And they just let you go after about 24 hours. The worst that happened is that you had to listen to the guys have sex with hookers while you were blindfolded. Oh, and you lost $1000. But, honestly, Rulon almost froze to death and poor Lonnie got shot in the head several times. In comparison, Stanley, your story fell a bit flat. Sorry, Stanley, but you were abducted by who had to be the dumbest criminals on earth, and it just didn't make for a great story.

[chenoa333]

On 8/29/2020 at 8:26 PM, janerazor said:

I just watched Lonnie/Stanley/Rulon. Now, maybe it's because I've been binge-watching this show with all its horrific tales, but...but...Stanley! Yeah, I'm sure it was scary getting snatched from the street and pushed into a Lexus...but...but...Stanley! You didn't even get a scratch on you the entire time! And they just let you go after about 24 hours. The worst that happened is that you had to listen to the guys have sex with hookers while you were blindfolded. Oh, and you lost $1000. But, honestly, Rulon almost froze to death and poor Lonnie got shot in the head several times. In comparison, Stanley, your story fell a bit flat. Sorry, Stanley, but you were abducted by who had to be the dumbest criminals on earth, and it just didn't make for a great story.

I think this show is running out of compelling stories. 

[Dr.OO7]

On 9/16/2020 at 12:41 PM, chenoa333 said:

think this show is running out of compelling stories

Which is probably why it stopped airing several years ago.

I don't mean to diminish these people's experiences or their incredibly strong survival spirit, but after a while, it started to get very repetitive. Especially the women's stories--almost 2/3 of them involved them being raped. I grew to expect it so much that I was actually surprised whenever it didn't happen.

For years, I wondered why they hadn't featured a 9/11 survivor. Then I realized that such a story deserved more than a 15 minute segment. I wasn't surprised at all when they devoted an entire episode to it for the 10th anniversary.

I which they could have featured the guy who was held hostage by the Boston Marathon bombers.

Edited September 19, 2020 by Camille