Wednesday, March 01, 2006

putting the amazing back in the race

Ah, reality TV ... I'm such a slave to your contrived ways ...

The new season of "The Amazing Race" began last night and I'm already hooked. I'm thrilled that it's back to its usual 11-pair format. The Family Edition of The Amazing Race was ass. Pure ass.

First of all, it wasn't much of a race around the world. They raced around the USA, for sure. But I constantly had the feeling they had no idea how long families with little kids would be in the race, so they decided not to risk sending 8 year-old kids into the heart of Indonesia. Instead, they went to strange and exotic sites like Utah (oooooo!!!) and Lancaster, PA (aaaaahhhh!!!). Anyway, the show sucked and I'm glad to see that they've ditched the retahded format change and gone back to what works.

So, what's working for the new series? Well, how about this nice contrast to the Family Edition? Phil (the host, for those who don't know) says "Aaaand ... go!" and suddenly everyone's already off on a race to Brazil. Already I found myself thinking "Yeah!! That's right! Shove it up your ass, Family Edition!! They've already gone further around the world that you, you a-hole!!"

Clearly, I have some issues.

Never the less, the show is pretty good and I already find that I have favorite and least favorite couples that I'm rooting for and against, respectively.

The Good:
- David and Lori, the nerds They just seem like nice people who make me smile. I dig 'em and they remind me of Amanda and I to some extent.
- Wanda and Desiree, the mother/daughter team. They're fun. Good TV to watch. Seem like nice people.
- BJ and Taylor (Tyler? Teylore? Teighlure?), the hippies. Hometown pride, baby! SF representin'! Anyway, they seem good. They seem like what it would have been to have Ry and Jeff on there (you guys should so be on this show).

The Bad:
- Lake and Trophy Wife, the dentist and his assistant/baby machine. This lady has no mind of her own and her husband is a complete tool. I can't wait for them to get eliminated.
- Danielle and Dani, the "cute girl" duo. Bleh. They are so freakin' annoying.
- Jimbo and Mimbo, the future welfare recipients. I can't remember the names of these guys, but they're the guys who have so far disparaged concepts such as Thinking and Working. Way to go, guys. Way to go.

And the ugly:
The Frosties, aka the Glamazons, a pair of middle-aged sisters. Why are they in "the ugly" category? Because of their freakin' shrill voices. I can't stand them and they're always screaming at the top of their lungs. It's so goddamn obnoxious. If they're not eliminated from the show soon, I honestly don't know if I'll be able to watch the whole season. I find them that annoying.

Anyway, The Frosties aside, I'm excited to see that the show is good again. Hopefully it'll just keep getting better as previous seasons have tended to do. I have my fingers crossed, anyway.

4 comments:

rooni said...

I agree that the show is better, but it did NOT need a two-hour premier. Way too long and slow.

I don't know who I'm cheering for yet, but I think I like BJ/Tyler, Dave/Lori and the Glamazons (the screaming was annoying, but I have a feeling that was a lot of "clever" editing) .. and we've only seen caricatures of these teams so far, so my vote could change.

In other opinions ... why do they always have to cast an overbearing husband and his enabling wife? I think that's a theme I could live without, if just for a single season.

Bug said...

Yeah ... there's definitely some kind of checklist that the producers seem to go down when casting the show:

Jerk Husband/Victim Wife? Check.
African-American Couple? Check.
Two gay men? Check.
Two "cute" girls? Check.
Old couple? Check.
Parent/Child team? Check.

If you're an asian lesbian in a supportive relationship, you can effectively scratch being on The Amazing Race off your life's to-do list. It won't ever happen.

rooni said...

I'd like to see that truth challenged by the show's producers -- c'mon! We can take it!

EmoRiot said...

Lisa and I have a very simily good/bad list.

Revenge of the Nerds = Good

Two Princes = Good (in reference to the singer for the spin doctors and there's two of them)

Mini Me (mother/daughter) = Good

Though I think Mini Me will get annoying on account of the mom being totally high strung at times. But they'll do okay for a while and they race well.