Whetting our appetites for next week's 'Survivor: Heroes Vs. Villains' season premiere, this evening's 'Surviving Survivor' was definitely an hour worth watching for any true fan of the show. So often clips shows tend to tread the trodden path, but not so much with this one. The focus wasn't merely on the castaways we'll see in the upcoming season, but a look back at the show's history and a peek at what's happening in the lives of some of our favorite 'Survivors' over the years.

I've watched since the first season, and it brought back memories of the phenomenon that was 'Survivor: Borneo.' Fifty-two million viewers, extreme watercooler chat, and the start of the reality competition genre.

Jeff Probst is on Twitter now, and today he had some breaking news. 250 cast members from all of Survivor's many seasons will reunite this Saturday at the Television Critics Association press tour in Pasadena. This includes the final four contestants from the very first Survivor: Richard Hatch (let's hope he asks if he can be interviewed), Kelly Wiglesworth, Rudy Boesch, and Susan Hawk.

I watched that very first show. In fact, the night of the finale my power went out just when they were going to announce the winner so my roommate and I had to get his portable Sony TV and watch it on that.

They should have a giant, super-sized Survivor where all 250 compete for "The Ultimate Survivor" trophy. Give the winner $100 million. Sure, it would probably take three years for the show to end, but I bet people would watch. Set it on the moon.

More of our best of the decade coverage, which started on Tuesday. You can read the other posts at the link above. Here, we talk about a major category that came of age in the aughts: Reality shows.

While I would never call myself a reality TV junkie, it really bugs me when people make blanket statements like, "I hate reality TV," or, "Reality TV is the bane of my existence." The genre has grown so much in the past decade that it has become just like scripted television, in that there's good and there's bad. Even though we're splitting this up into two lists, "Reality," and "Trashy Reality," you won't see a single show that starts with, "Who Wants to Marry" on either list.

This list is dedicated not to the guilty pleasures, but to the shows that you wouldn't be embarrassed for your neighbors to know you watch: the classy reality, if you will. So without further ado, here is TV Squad's list of the best reality shows of the decade.

If you watched the season finale of Survivor the other night, you probably noticed that, unlike a lot of runner-ups in the past, Russell Hantz was openly bitter and angry about not winning. He didn't try to hide it, which probably proved to the jury that they were right in voting for Natalie in the first place.

But Russell still thinks he should have won and he has just launched a new web site called RussellGotScrewed.com, where he asks you to vote for him if you think he's "America's Top Survivor." You can also make donations or buy shirts and other things in his store. Proceeds go to St. Jude's Hospital, which is a great thing, though I'm not sure exactly what he wants to accomplish with the whole "vote for me" thing. Maybe he wants a recount.

He even told Natalie on the finale that if she asked Jeff to proclaim him the best player (though not the official winner) he would give her $10,000. She didn't take the offer.

2009 was a good year for television. It offered the resurgence of the comedy on network television, and the continuing growth of original programming on cable. In all honesty, I don't think I could just do a list of what was great and what was horrible on television because I would need pages and pages.

Instead, I'm going to focus on the things that really stood out this year. Sorry, Mad Men fans, but even though this was a great third season and an amazing finale, I expect it at this point. It's the only way I could come up with to keep my list manageable.

Also, as a point of protest I did not include Jon, Kate or the balloon boy hoax. These events got more attention than they deserved already this year, and I feel bad I even mentioned them.

So you read Jackie's review of last night's Survivor finale, and the show had their usual preview of the next season of the show (which starts February 11 so there's hardly any wait at all) which will be a "Heroes & Villains" edition, former players coming back for another try at the $1 million.

Not sure if we can make out who is on the show from the clip below. For the villains, I'm sure we'll see Johnny Fairplay, but Richard Hatch was probably in jail when they started to film it. For Heroes, maybe Tina and Colby?

One of the most coveted parcels in prime time real estate is the hour after the broadcast of the Super Bowl. In 2010, CBS has the big game on Sunday, February 7, and after the pads pop and the Vince Lombardi trophy is hoisted, the program that the Tiffany network will air is not one of the usual suspects. The slot won't be used to pump up the next edition of Survivor, as many experts guessed.

It also won't be used to reinforce the success of sophomore drama The Mentalist, nor will the space be handed over to The Big Bang Theory for a one-hour stretched out sitcom episode. And the network isn't going to pump up a slipping series like CSI, which isn't getting the gaudy numbers it did in the William Peterson days. So, what will they run? Follow me after the jump to find out -- and consider this a SPOILER ALERT.

(S19E14) I suppose it's only fitting and par for Sunday evening programming that the big three-hour Survivor season finale and live reunion show was delayed by football here in the NYC viewing area. No, I won't dwell on it. But, really. CBS, can't you get this scheduling thing down?

What I should dwell on are these skinny legs in the image above. It's a wonder the three guys were able to walk out of there at all. Tonight we went down from five to four to three and then onto the sole survivor in the live voting reveal. Am I pleased about it all? Read on.

A year has passed and there has been a lot of best and worst lists here at TV Squad. I know tons of reality television shows have grazed my TV so I've compiled a list of the best and worst reality shows of 2009.

Finding the best shows are easy, but it's hard to pare down the worst list. I define "worst" as shows that had potential and never did anything with it. While shows like I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here and anything involving the words "Real Housewives" aren't mentioned, they aren't the worst because they started at rock bottom and had nowhere to go. Several of the worst shows I've mentioned could just go through some tweaking and it could have been amazing.

(S19E13) Mark your calendars now, folks. The big three-hour finale night for Survivor is this Sunday, December 20, starting at 8 PM ET. The night will start off with the two-hour finale followed by the reunion hour. But we still have a few bodies to cast off the island before they face the jury. Will the original Foa Foa Four make it intact to the final four? Will Russell manage to sell his snake oil all the way to the jury and win the million?

Festivus is upon us once again here at TV Squad and regardless of whether or not I've been naughty or nice, all my wishes had better come true because I've already sat through all ten crappy episodes of FlashForward -- I deserve all this.

• First off, as you can probably tell by the picture above, I've got high hopes for David Simon's upcoming HBO drama Treme. Set in a post-Katrina New Orleans, I am in no way asking for this show to be The Wire meets the bayou, but I do want it to be good. Judging by the cast (Wire alums Wendell Pierce and Clarke Peters, Steve Zahn, and Khandi Alexander to name a few), I'd say Simon already has another hit on his hands.

(S19E12) Although I wouldn't have said it a month ago, this season of Survivor has been so interesting each week due to a certain snake oil salesman. Mind you, I don't like a lot of what Russell says, especially his misogynistic attitude towards women. But to give credit where credit is due -- he's a master of the game, and this season would have been boring without him. It's got to all catch up to him one day. His own people will turn on him if any of them are serious about wanting a chance at the million dollars. They have to. Could tonight be the night?

(S19E11) Oh my. Evil Russell from Survivor looks like some sort of deranged Buddha gone bad in this screen capture from tonight's episode. Tonight, like every Thanksgiving episode, was the clips show boasting previously unseen footage. It's not surprising that they do this each year. With the format of the show, they can't run a real repeat. And, if they were to air a new episode on the holiday, many folks would end up missing it. I'm usually disappointed with the footage shown, but tonight we did have a few surprises and interesting bits -- nothing earth-shattering, mind you.

(S19E10) Now, isn't this a good time to be a Survivor fan? Part of the problem with long-running reality shows is that they've run out of ideas and it's hard to keep things fresh and new. They end up depending on whatever outlandish and over-the-top characters they can line up for the season. Some are a dismal failure. Case in point, "Coach" Ben Wade last year. Sure, he was a nutty kind of guy. But he couldn't play the game well despite all of his bravado. This season is casting done right. And tonight's episode was just as good as last week's show.

Okay, I couldn't resist the nod to Abbott and Costello's Who's On First. But the fact is that Sports Illustrated has spread the word that The Who will star in the Super Bowl big, overblown half-time pageant. This follows the safe pattern the NFL has been employing since the Janet Jackson-Justin Timberlake costume malfunction; that is, stick with classic rock stars who are guaranteed to do their hits and not disrobe. That's why we've had Prince, The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney and now The Who. All superstar acts, no controversy.