Survival Mode is a docuseries, produced by NBC News Studios, that speaks to survivors of various disasters from the past fifteen years. The idea of the series is that these people made critical decisions that helped them survive these disasters, and the interviews are supposed to bring to light the reasoning behind decisions that are made under extreme and dangerous circumstances.
Opening Shot: News footage of the massive EF5 tornado that touched down in Joplin, Missouri on May 22, 2011.
The Gist: The first episode of Survival Mode is about the EF5 tornado in Joplin that killed 158 people and injured over 1,000 others in May of 2011. Other episodes will cover the 2023 Maui Wildfires, the 2012 sinking of the Costa Concordia, 2012’s Superstorm Sandy, the 2017 derailment of an Amtrak train, the 2018 Montecito mudslides, the 133-car pileup in Fort Worth, TX in 2023, and the 2022 floods in Eastern Kentucky.
In the Joplin episode, we hear from Natalie Ely, who protected her son, Augustus Ward, in the bathtub of their home while her boyfriend Scott Ely (whom she later married) seemingly got swept away. Ruben Carter, an employee at a gas station convenience store, shepherds 25 people into the cooler to protect them, including high school sweethearts Allie and Aaron Frost (who also later married). We also hear from Danielle Stammers, who lost track of her husband and daughter while protecting her son inside a local hospital, which was so badly damaged by the twister that it eventually had to be demolished.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? There was a Netflix documentary about the Joplin tornado called The Twister: Caught In The Storm. In general, though, Survivor Mode is similar to docuseries like Surviving Disaster.
Our Take: With only 42 minutes to tell these stories, the producers of Survival Mode tend to get right down to business in these episodes. There’s a couple of minutes where the survivors wax rhapsodically about how peaceful it was to live in Joplin or how being in the Midwest’s “Tornado Alley” can be a surreal experience, but for the most part, we jump right into the story when the sky gets really dark and the massive twister forms.
What we found interesting about the episode was that there was no finger pointing about people being unprepared. To the contrary; the National Weather Service gave people ample warning about the oncoming tornado, sirens went off repeatedly, and the local TV and radio stations strongly urged people to find shelter.
What nobody knew was actually how big the tornado actually was. It was interesting to get the perspective of Sean and Tricia Wilson, who are storm chasers that send info about tornadoes to the NWS so they can give more accurate warnings. Even these two people, who have driven towards hundreds of storms and tornadoes, had never seen anything as massive and powerful as the EF5 that hit Joplin.
The producers effectively create drama by going back and forth between the stories of the survivors, putting them on a map to show where they were when the twister hit. And they also make sure they tease out whether some of the interviewees’ loved ones survive, though if you’re paying close attention, you will likely see some clues. There is even some tension around whether the Elys’ puppy, Syd Vicious, survived the onslaught.
Sex and Skin: None.
Parting Shot: Danielle Stammers talks about how the tornado and surviving it is just a chapter in her life, not a defining moment. But knowing that she and her family actually had the chance to move past it is likely part of that philosophy.
Sleeper Star: The Wilsons did a heck of a lot more than chasing the tornado, as they also helped survivors get to triage and the hospital that remained operational after the tornado passed.
Most Pilot-y Line: None we could find.
Our Call: STREAM IT. If you want to hear inspiring stories about the decisions survivors of disasters made under extreme circumstances, then Survivor Mode is a show that should be entertaining and informative for you.
Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.