'Survivor' Finale Returns to Wednesday for First Time in 14 Years

After 12 years on Sunday nights, and 14 years away from Wednesdays, the Survivor finale is coming home.

The season finale of Survivor: Cagayan will air on Wednesday, May 21, from 8:00 PM - 11:00 PM, with a two-hour finale followed by a one-hour live reunion special. This is the first time in 14 years that a finale has aired on Wednesday, ever since Richard Hatch was declared the winner of Survivor: Borneo, the reality competition's very first season, back in the summer of 2000. Since then, the finales moved to Sunday (starting with Survivor: Marquesas in 2002) before heading to Thursday (Survivor: Thailand) and then back to Sunday (Survivor: The Amazon), where it's stayed since 2003.

Credit: CBS

This move is likely in response to the new season's unusually late start due to the Winter Olympics screwing up TV schedules all across broadcast television, as networks placed shows on hiatus and held off on midseason premieres in order to avoid a conflict. This is also likely a move to squeeze in the finale before the end of the lucrative May sweeps period, since the network has a limited number of Sunday nights in which to fit in the finales for all its other programming due to the Olympics. Basically, this is a move that might simply be a temporary measure for this season, as opposed to a permanent switch.

Well, unless the Wednesday finale ends up being a big success for the show. But it will definitely have competition, as the Survivor: Cagayan finale will be going head-to-head with the season finale of American Idol XIII. (I always figured if Mark Burnett wanted Idol dead, he'd use The Voice to kill it. But alas, he's called in the big guns by bringing in Survivor to finish the job, apparently)

What do you think of the move? I'm kind of stoked, since this frees up the ridiculously stacked Sunday night programming bloc. There's nothing more taxing than juggling Survivor, Mad Men, Game of Thrones, Veep, Revenge, Bob's Burgers, American Dad, and God only knows what else. Where do you stand on the move? Sound off in the comments!

Via: Entertainment Weekly