'The Amazing Race' on CBS HD - Page 7

I'm not sure what other penalty would have been proper. Usually, when teams break a rule, it's to gain time, so the penalty is usually the time it would have taken but not for the rule-breaking + 30 minutes. Here, the rule-breaking only resulted in the loss of time, so it seemed fair enough.


Well, the pit stop last night was the first pit stop. There was no pit stop after the first half of the leg -- they just picked up the clue and raced onwards.

Anyway, it would have made even less difference then, since K&V still would have made that train if they'd had to wait 30 minutes.


I don't think it has occurred before... such legs are not all that common, or they weren't, until this season.

I actually think that Jaime and Kara should not have been allowed to U-Turn the Globetrotters. After Kent and Vyxin U-Turned the cheerleaders, shouldn't they have been required to go and complete the second challenge before using the Double U-Turn on someone else?

It shares one thing with Survivor: Outlast. You gotta stay alive. It's really not easy to avoid elimination all the way to the end either. It takes a lot of effort, skill, good decision making and toughness, and a big dose of luck, to make it all the way . By the time they get to the finale the teams that are left have definitely earned it IMO.


ron

Totally with you BUT I guess the only thing is that the double U-Turn is new and I guess it never crossed their mind, OR maybe it did and they want to allow a U-Turned team to use the second U-turn.

But we didn't have precedent for the rule previously because the double U-Turn is new. With the single U-Turn, this situation could not happen.

No argument that teams are cast to produce conflict/drama, but it is not played up as much as other Reality shows. When you're racing around the world with little sleep and little food and in unfamiliar situations, tempers will be short and bad behavior will result. But I believe AR does not play them up. Sure they'll show what happens, but then the race continues.

If AR wanted to play up the conflicts, they would put everyone together during the pit stops and show more of that interaction. I'm not sure if they prevent the teams from mingling during the stops nowadays. Imagine the juicy footage they'd have if the teams were allowed to go at it during their downtime. Of course, if they provided unlimited alcohol, then Whooeee! Ratings Bonanza!

Quite a few reality shows have gone down this route. Think of the show that started it all...The Real World. The first few seasons were about the social experiment of placing kids from different backgrounds together and see what happens. Now it's just to see who's going to sleep with who and how many fights will break out. I remember watching the first season of the Real Housewives of Orange County. It focused on the lifestyles of the families, but there were no big arguments. Nowadays, all of the RH series requires name calling and bitchiness.

This show has a lot of stuff that's not worth paying attention to. I've finally got the apocalyptic crashing/explosions soundtrack tuned out of my head. Now I have to remember not to pay attention to who's ahead until a leg is over.

Wait, produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. OK, I get it now.

There's no indication this is the rule.

No, but rSambuca's thought was (And I suspect many viewers had this thought too), that back when it was a single U-Turn, you saw you were U-Turned and had to go back. The assumption was with the double U-turn that if you saw that you were U-Turned, you simply had to go back as well.

Obviously we know now that isn't the case, and since it was new they could set new rules for it [and they can always change their rules as they please since it's a tv show], but it was reasonable to assume this based on how single U-turns work.

What you see as them being classy, I see as them not being popular enough. IMHO, if TAR's ratings were massive, they would consider doing what you propose: increase mandatory rests to 48 hours and turn those rests into another reality show that would either air on CBS or a Showtime network (somewhat similar they've done in the past with Big Brother where you can watch the people in the house live on one of the Showtime channels, at least in the sense of having a TV venue for fans to watch more of what happens on the show).

If TAR pulled anything close to American Idol or Dancing with the Stars (let's say at least 20M viewers instead of the 10M they get), you can bet your a** they would find a way to add a second hour, most likely with pit stop drama.

The focus of the show has always been about the race. It has nothing to do with ratings it is just the nature of the show. Like any reality show they play up all kinds of team turmoil and inter-team dynamics every season. The biggest difference between this show and others is the adventure aspect. This part of the show has always been part of the hook, and it has stayed apart of the core dynamic.

Since we are waxing nostalgic .. the reasons I have always liked the show ..

1) Ordinary folks placed in a once in a lifetime (mostly) situation
2) I relate to the show because I can see myself doing it
3) All ages / nationalities / can compete and everyone has a fair shot to win
4) First place winners on each leg are always rewarded ..
5) I can muse about what I would do in that situation
6) Phil is one of the best hosts on air, IMO
7) Interaction with other cultures as well as seeing places I probably will never visit
8) You can pick a team and root for it, and if they get booted, you can pick another

If there's one thing I wish they would add to the series, it would be a post-race show, kind of like what 'Survivor' does.

Yeah, when it's over, it's definitely over .. always so abrupt ..

The race does have a post-show exactly like Survivor. You can watch them on CBS's web site. The teams are required to go to a resort where they spend their time there before they have to go back to the reunion at the finish line. I don't think it is as good as Ponderosa but if you like a particular team you can still get more episodes of them.

Now that I did not know .. thanks for the tip ..

That's cool. I'll check them out.

I was actually talking about a 'reunion' type show, like the hour show 'Survivor' does after their finale.

I had no idea AR has their own "Ponderosa" either.

I did like them showing the scene with the pick up basketball game.

Very rarely do they show any downtime activities. Between planes, trains and even long car trips, they probably have way more downtime then they do racing activities.

I suspect the most common "down-time activity" is sleeping. Since you never know how long the stage is going to be, you really need to sleep whenever you get a chance.

There are the "Elimination Station" videos on the web site (previously known as Sequesterville by the Television Without Pity forum dwellers and recappers). Also, the day after the finale, The Early Show does something of a "reunion" with Phil awarding the $1 million check to the winners.

Revised start times for tonight's CBS programs:
60 Minutes (7:17pm ET),
Amazing Race (8:17pm ET),
Undercover Boss (9:17pm ET) and
CSI: Miami (10:17pm ET)

due to CBS Sports live coverage of the NCAA Basketball Tournament/Regional Final.



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It would have been interesting to know how long they were there and how many cups of tea people drank before they finally got it.

Luke is a wimp and nothing but a big baby .. glad to see them go ..

I guess you have not seen the 3 story Coca Cola animated graphic that runs on Idol at times .. as well as the giant coke cups the judges have placed conspicuously in front of them ..

Product placement and on screen / during show graphics are the new wave in commercials .. since apparently so many are skipping regular commercials ..

Yeah, I was going to ask about that. Do legs normally end with a three minute commercial for a sponsor's product? Even Outback Steakhouse's Survivor (brought to you by Sears Craftsman tools for making leaky shelters and Sprint Wireless for taking blurry photos with your cell phone) is more subtle about shoving products into viewers' faces.

Hey, if it helps to keep the show on the air, I could care less about the product placements.

I don't really care about product placements either .. so Snapple paid to get Snapple placed in the show .. oh, well .. I might even try that Snapple ..

I do care about the graphics that come on during some shows ..

My love of mango chutney and my familiarity with the mexican drink that contains papaya (who's name escapes me at the moment) might have saved my butt in that tea drinking challenge. And I'd need every advantage I could get with my poor sense of smell and taste.

I couldn't. I kind of prefer this blatant advertising. If your sponsor wants their product in front of the viewers, don't make it subtle at all. I'm surprised they didn't have people dancing in Snapple bottle costumes there!