Amazing Race! Wooot!!
Just when I thought I would be mostly bored with patches of uninterested through this off-season!, it’s the return of the Emmy-winning Amazing Race on November 16th! Best show on television*! I’m totally psyched, and dearly hope that they move back from the Fear Factor-style eating contests etc they got into last time. I also hope they recruited people who actually want to be on the show and do well, rather than (say) advertise their taco stand for a couple episodes and then quit when it gets rough.
For your convenience, here’s your short guide to this year’s teams and where they fit on the Amazing Team Slotting, TAR6 team (TAR5 equivalent)
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Married couple: Jonathan/Victoria (Chip/Kim)
Beautiful people dating 1: Freddy/Kendra (Colin/Christie)
Beautiful people dating 2: Hayden/Aaron (Brandon/Nicole)
Best friends: Avi/Joe aaand Meridth/Maria (Linda/Karen)
Siblings, women: Lena/Kristy(Kami/Karli)
Siblings, men: n/a (Lance/Marshall)
One non-standard contestant: Lori/Bolo (Mirna/Charla)
Older couple: Don/Mary Jean (Bob/Joyce)
Father/Daughter: Gus/Hera (Jim/Marsha)
Dating with twist: Kris/Jon (Alison/Donny, Alison sort of cuckolded Donny on a Big Brother)
Dating with broken relationship: Adam/Rebecca (Dennis/Erika)
Also, I know you have to look good on television, but I’d much rather have some normal dudes who are funny and smart than all these models/beauty pageant contestants every year.
Comments
13 Responses to “Amazing Race! Wooot!!”
You’ve got to like the former CIA agent, who was the first to fly an open cockpit plane to the North Pole. I mean, afte rthat, what is teh problem with two pounds of caviar?
I really hope they don’t have the true equivalent of Mirna/Charla on the show. I watched a couple episodes last season and hated them so much I stopped watching. There are only so many times you can hear a person calling everyone around them “jealous” when they don’t treat her like royalty without being reminded of Jerry Springer (“You don’t know me! You’re jealous! I look good! I do what I want!” to quote Eric Cartman).
When the HELL is Alias coming back on??
Jimmie
Yay for more Amazing Race!
24 and Alias will both start in January, with no reruns
The Amazing Race is my favorite reality show, but I think they have strayed from making this a race for travelers and would be travelers to a model/actress/actor/ contestant. The race itself should be excellent TV. It does not have to be micro-managed. When it is cluttered up with the young, beautiful set of people it is just another reality show with desperate attention media whores.
I agree with 5. That is why I wanted Chip and Kim to win… But alas, they must have looked at the ratings of TAR5 and decided that they were on the right track.
Oh how I wanted to see the two Christian models shave their heads.
I, too, agree with #5, but it should be noted that TAR5 was produced with very little time, and part of the contestant pool was raided from the Miss Texas pageant (I think that’s the right one) which is where Colin/Christie and Brandon/Nicole came from. TAR6 was cast essentially without a call, using the applications they had on hand.
If I remember right, TAR is so expensive to produce that it’s been a near thing every time whether to renew it or not. TAR5 got made because TAR4 won an Emmy and got a lot of attention, and the huge ratings (and Emmy) success of TAR5 meant TAR6 was pushed into development.
TAR is the best reality show on TV, but I’ve become hooked on Lost on ABC. The character development, interactions, twists, and mystery makes it the most intense, dramatic and riveting hour on TV. Its even better than 24.
Yea! Arrested Development starts up on Sunday!
I’ve heard complaints that this Amazing Race has to many beautiful people on it, but then I think back to Mark Burnett’s Eco-Challege races, where a team of Playboy Playmates entered each year and did remarkably well (only one playmate was on the team every year – Danelle Folta). The fact that they’re models doesn’t preclude them from kicking ass in a race like this.
The Eco-Challenge always killed the military teams, but the models did okay. I see the Amazing Race as a sort of Eco-Challenge Light, but on a grander scale.
I got semi-hooked on this show the last time through, and am looking forward to this go round. Definitely my favorite reality show (and the only one I watch).
I think Eco-Challenge was the best of the reality programs (although I hate putting it into that genre). Too bad Survivor killed it off.
It had amazing athletic performances, crazy decisions (doing the entire race without sleeping like the Kiwis in New Zealand), and team meltdowns. I think my favorite was a group of three women and a man from South America. They wanted to be all women, but the teams have to be co-ed…so they advertised for a man. He came on thinking he would be the leader, being male. The women came in thinking of him as baggage they had to carry, but didn’t really want. He made a major navigation error the first day and they slowly went down in flames as the stress of anger and argument sapped their strength.
It appeals to me as a backpacker too. The good teams really are amazing atheletes, and any team that finishes is pretty tough.
Finally, something to eat up an hour of my time that usually goes to baseball.
All I’m asking for are three types of teams: the group I love to hate (Mirna/Charla), the guilty pleasure (Colin/Christie) and the sentimental favorites (Chip/Kim). I couldn’t care less about the others.
You guys know about the Subaru Primal Quest? It’s the successor to Ec-Challenge. It was raced a month or two ago between Orcas Island and the south flanks of Mt. Baker and back. It’s scheduled to be telecast on CBS in January. Many of the racers you’ve seen in Eco-Challenge (Ian Admuson, Rebecca Roush, etc.) competed. Sadly one of the lead racers was killed during the race as a rock dislodged from the cliff above him and hit him in the head.