Like you said, it is mostly the cast. With a few exceptions, it's not the edits that bother me. (Cagayan post merge and all of Samoa are really the only edits that bother me because they both could have been better with good editting.)
The casting is what bothers me. You mention old school and Thailand. What made a lot of the first few years of Survivor great was that Survivor was still new. No one went in thinking "I'm going to make big moves and play hard!" Rob Cesternino and John Carrol are probably the only people from the era who probably thought something close to that, but they didn't go in specifically to make big moves. No one did because it was still new and no one really knew what to do. Because of that, the people who played back then weren't strategy focused, but instead played a lot more emotionally.
Yes there were duds. Thailand and Africa weren't the best seasons and got uncomfortable at parts. But Thailand and Africa are better seasons than Redemption Island, One World, and Caramoan, where people came in with the sole intent of making big moves and playing hard.
Part of the issue with today's Survivor is they show new castaways seasons like Microensia, Heroes vs. Villains, and Redemption Island while in sequester. People who would normally go in not caring as much suddenly go in saying they're going to play like Parvati! or Boston Rob! or Russell! Or they cast super fans like Kim Spradlin, Cochran, and Spencer who aren't great personalities and sit there and talk strategy in their confessionals every episode, and they get cast because they promise to make big moves and to play to win.
Just cast people. Don't show them seasons before hand. If they get recruited to Survivor and they don't know what it is, let them do their own research. And don't cast people based on them being huge fans who promise great strategic games. Just cast a good group of people and let them play the way it comes naturally to them. If you want to cast a fan, cast fans like Denise or Kass who aren't out to play huge strategic games. I'd rather watch Denise or Kass play again than Kim or Cochran.
Like, the thing that bothers me is people want to play like BR or Parvati their first time playing and they over compensate with the strategy talk. Boston Rob and Parvati weren't all stars because they played amazing balls the wall games the first time out. Boston Rob probably stood no chance of ever winning Marquesas no matter what. Parvati probably could have won Cook Islands if Yul didn't have the super idol, but she didn't play a game that set the world on fire. It was only when they came back their second time did they think "I already did the starving thing once and it wasn't fun. If I'm coming out here again, I'm playing to win."
If Boston Rob and Parvati played balls the wall their first time they probably would have won, but it wouldn't have been nearly as fun watching them.
edit: Again, that's why I enjoy seasons like PI, Panama, Gabon, Nicaragua, and SJDS a lot. If they were shown previous seasons while sequestered, no one seemed to care. No one wanted to play big games and be the next huge strategist. They just played what came naturally to them, and that meant emotional games without a lot of strategic reasoning behind it for the vast majority of the cast. Not every season like that is going to be good though, like you said. Thailand and Fiji were like that but weren't fun to watch.
But the track record for seasons where people don't care nearly as much is a lot better (imo) than seasons where people do go in with the mind set of "I need to be the next Parvati/Boston Rob and make big moves." Those are the Redemption Islands, South Pacifics, Cagayan post merges, and Caramoans of the world. We have to sit through endless confessionals about finding idols, potential alliances, how stupid the other players are, etc. in those seasons and it's not fun.
edit 2: That's also my biggest fear about this season with Max and, to an extent, So. I like So based off of her video, but her bio saying something like "I want to be the girl who makes big moves!" worries me. My main fear is Max and So taking control of their tribe and Max, being a super fan, has confessional after confessional about "So is my main ally, but I have others. If these people were smart, they'd vote me or So out!" and then So having a confessional every other episode saying "Max and I are close, but when the time comes, I'm ready to make a big move!"
And I can already see Facebook and other Survivor sites eating it up. "Wow Max is such a great player!!!! So's a pathetic coat tail rider. Hope Max wins!!!"
I know I'm jumping to conclusions with them, but Russell, Natalie T, David Murphy, Jim Rice, Spencer, Kim Spradlin, Chelsea, Alicia Rosa, Troyzan, Cochran, etc. burned me and now I'm weary of pretty much every super fan and person who says they want to make a big move.
