I’m glad to finally have back on air, about the only “reality” TV show that I can stand to watch hence my favorite, The Amazing Race.
However it looks like this season, it’s going to go to extremes. Either someone screws up so badly that it becomes the highlight of the season, or it’s so unmemorable that no one will bother about it weeks after the final show. Of course it’s only the first episode so as yet anything can happen.
However it’s the people that make the show and compared to last season, this season’s 2 person teams almost seem normal. Sure, we have the requisite young, good-looking, comprised of at least one model, couple (or two, or three, or four!?) and the network tried to spice things up by throwing in mothers, pilot, twins and a midget but they are still lacking compared to the clowns, blondes, virgins, gays and surfer dudes of yester season.
Now I’m not saying that it’s gimmicks that sell the show, far from it. I’ve always believed that it’s how the teams run the race that matters. In the first episode, the teams already seemed “blessed” by lousy vision, stronger than the norm ability to follow written instructions and copious amounts of backstabbing that didn’t serve any purpose. In contrast, the above-mentioned red-nosed wonder clowns ran a near prefect race. They were eager, quick to move, hardly missed a clue, were good at almost all the events, rarely argued, were nice to other teams when it mattered and was actually funny to boot. It was only by a single mistake that led to their exit late in the race but they still remain my favorite team in any season.
So here’s hoping that these teams improve on their race skills, but I think they will have an easier time trying to show some character. Until then I’ll be honking my bright red nose at them.
Here is a good site to read the latest episode recap. Beware that it can be bitingly honest of the team’s performance. More so than even I can stand to be at times.
