CBSkin
Quick, guess what’s taking place when this picture was taken:
Give up? It’s Jeff, a contestant on Survivor 10. He’s making a point to another player about which girl he thinks should be voted out. Fair enough, but the weird part is that right in the middle of this (boring) speech, rather then getting a reaction shot from the other guy, the camera operator just decides to slowly pan down Jeff’s body.
The best way I can describe it is the camera is checking him out. (It’s almost the visual equivalent of the “uh-huh” nod as your mind — or eye — wanders.) You have to wonder what was going through the cameraperson’s mind. Sure, Jeff was moving his hands a little bit, but he was hardly making a point. Also, if you watch the cutting of the scene, there appear to be at least two cameras in use (I wonder how many they have on those islands?) so even if the photographer was just thinking “I wonder if he’s going to do anything with his hands”, they could have cut to the other camera for the shot when it didn’t pan out.
That assumes, of course, that they were not looking for pure beefcake shots, which they totally are. In fact, the CBS lineup last Thursday deserves a special mention for being a big tease. First there was this “Survivor” episode, then somebody called a “CSI” character gay. (Gil? Could it be?)
Incidentally, gratuituous skin shots aside, there seems to be a growing number of examples lately where the procedurals (“Law & Order”, “CSI”, etc.) are adding a touch of humanization to their storylines. Where before it was all case all the time, now we’re seeing some “my father was violent”, “have I been fired because I’m a lesbian” and other personal revelations from the characters.
Or maybe I’m just reading way too much into things, as usual.