Salem’s Ciera Eastin will be one of the 20 castaways competing on “Survivor” this season. The 34th season, with a “Game Changers” theme, premieres with a two-hour debut on Wednesday, March 8. Robert Voets/CBS
Catching up with your local TV news?
We’re here for you, with an answer to a frequently asked reader question regarding KGW’s Brian McFayden; the Salem woman who will be making her third appearance on “Survivor”; the award that’s not the Oscar but is pretty cool anyway recently won by Hillsboro’s Laika studio for “Kubo and the Two Strings”; and more.
Where’s Brian McFayden?: Plenty of readers asked me that question when the MTV veteran-turned-KGW staffer was no longer an anchor on the weekday morning “KGW News at Sunrise” show. But as viewers likely know by now, McFayden is still with KGW, where he made his on-air debut on early December.
McFayden is now hosting the “Live at 7” weeknight show and contributing stories to the “KGW News at 4” afternoon broadcast.
Salem women survives to appear on “Survivor” a third time: Ciera Eastin, a 27-year-old from Salem, already competed on CBS’ “Survivor” in Season 27, the “Blood vs. Water” edition. Eastin finished fifth in that one, and was a jury member.
In “Blood vs. Water” Eastin was teamed with her mother, Laura Morett, and made a stir when she voted her mother off the island.
Easti returned for Season 31, subtitled “Second Chances,” and finished tenth. Now Eastin is getting a third chance — she’s one of the 20 “castaways” who appear in Season 34 of the show, and who will be vying for the $1 million prize.
“Game Changers,” as the new “Survivor” season is subtitled, will premiere with a two-hour debut Wednesday, March 8. By the way, that season premiere will be the 500th episode of the series.
According to CBS publicity, the new season is called “Game Changers” because the returning cast members “helped evolve the game even further by launching an accelerated level of competition,” and have shown “willingness to risk it all in order to become the Sole Survivor. These castaways who have made some of the biggest moves in the history of the game will be divided into two groups of 10 and forced to compete against each other with the same ultimate goal: to outwit, outplay and outlast each other.”
This season was filmed in the Mamanuca Islands in Fiji. In an interview on the “Survivor” website, Eastin says she’s changed since her last time on the show. “
I’m more determined, more active, driven, and living with more intent,” Eastin says.
“Kubo and the Two Strings” is already a winner: We don’t yet know how the animated feature from Laika will do at the Academy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 26, where it’s nominated for best animated feature and for its visual effects. But the movie recently upset frontrunner “Zootopia” to win the best animated feature award at the BAFTAs, or the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. The ceremony aired Feb. 12 on BBC America.
Here is director Travis Knight’s acceptance speech (yes, he is the son of Nike’s Phil Knight.)
A dark slice of Oregon history: If you missed the “Oregon Experience” documentary “Massacre at Hells Canyon” when it aired on OPB, don’t worry. You can watch it on the OPB website: http://www.opb.org/television/programs/oregonexperience/segment/massacre-at-hells-canyon/
The half-hour documentary explores a terrible episode that happened within the larger context of discrimination against Chinese immigrants in Oregon in the 1880s. The massacre of the title happened in 1887, when horse thieves murdered more than 30 Chinese gold miners on Oregon’s side of the Snake River, near Hells Canyon. Former Oregonian reporter R. Gregory Nokes wrote about this shameful chapter in history in his book, “Massacred for Gold: The Chinese in Hells Canyon.” Nokes is among those interviewed in the documentary.
— Kristi Turnquist
kturnquist@oregonian.com
503-221-8227
@Kristiturnquist
Our editors found this article on this site using Google and regenerated it for our readers.
