Amazing Race 23: Season thread

The 23rd season of the Amazing Race will premiere tonight, Sunday, September 29, at 8pm Eastern. The teams this season seem to be overburdened with folks who really want to be nice guys. Not that that’s a bad thing, but with everyone being so darned nice, it’s hard to pick out a preseason favorite from among the crowd. Nonetheless, let’s try a :

Taxi Assessment:

Stuck in the Desert and Officially Detained - or, Philiminated with extreme prejudice.
No one yet, but just wait!

Flat Tire - or, not likely to get anywhere soon.
No one yet.

Stopping for Gas - or, not broken-down, exactly, but not a good sign.
Hoskote & Naina (Indian father/daughter) - Hoskote is an ER doctor, and used to being in charge. Naina is his daughter, and apparently is used to rebelling against her father. This seems like the kind of dynamic that never really works out well on the Race. Prediction: a few good episodes, then a crash-and-burn.
Rowan & Shane (Older comedians) - So Rowan & Shane are touring comedians. They want to be fun! Their strategy is to make people laugh, so then they…will win? There seem to be some steps missing from their strategic plan here, but what do I know? I have a bad feeling that Rowan & Shane think they’re funnier than they really are, but on the plus side they probably won’t last long enough to be truly annoying.
Nicky & Kim (Brunettes) - Nicky & Kim are both married to Major League baseball players, and don’t seem to have any other qualifications for being on the show. Not that one needs “qualifications,” per se, but I’m not seeing anything about them that makes them stand out from the other teams.
Tim & Danny (Bland friends) - They’re lifelong friends from Oklahoma, who, like Nicky & Kim, seem to have no real experience. Could be a hidden well of experience, but probably not.

“Rapido! Por Favor?” - or, making meaningless ineffectual comments from the back seat, but in no immediate danger.
Leo & Jamal (Afghani Cousins) - I read Leo & Jamal’s bio and watched their interview, and still don’t have a real feel for this team. Their families are from Afghanistan, and they seem to have a variety of experiences in areas that are not very useful on the Race, but that’s pretty much all I can glean from them.
Ally & Ashley (Blondes) - Both Ally & Ashley are LA Kings Ice Crew Girls, who I gather are something like cheerleaders for hockey, except they shovel the ice rather than lead cheers. They say they’re totally ready for anything that can happen on the Race - if that’s true, they may do well, but I wonder how totally ready they really are.
Jason & Amy (Brunette couple - dating) - Amy is yet another beauty queen on a show rife with then in past seasons; the two want to “challenge their relationship” on this race. They see themselves as adventurous and versatile, and seem to have a good attitude. A definite sleeper team.

In the Passing Lane - or, ahead of the pack, but not quite comfortably.
Chester & Ephraim (NFLers) - Chester & Ephraim are former pro football players. They’ve each been off the field for a few years, but they’re still big and in shape. They seem like nice people (as do most other teams, truth be told). Now, not everyting on the Race is tailor-made for big strong guys, but I have to think they have an advantage.
Tim & Marie (Blonde couple - exes) - Tim’s a former minor league baseball player and current agent; Marie’s a kickboxing instructor. They used to date, but apparently don’t any more, but want to learn how to work together using the Race instead of butting heads all the time. The fighting couple: a TAR cliche, but they don’t look like they’re all that serious about it. They also think they can do a much better job than all the teams they’ve watched on TV - they may or may not be right about that, but I have to respect the fact that they’re actually running the race now, and not just talking about it.
Travis & Nicole (Married Black couple) - Travis & Nicole are doctors (ER docs just like Hoskote, oddly) - an occupation that doesn’t necessarily guarantee success (as we saw with the hydrophobic twins last season), but one I would think prepares people to make quick decisions about complicated problems with minimal information.
Brandon & Adam (Bearded guys) - Brandon’s got some experience travelling with bands, and Adam works as a firefighter, farmer, and loves animals. Between the two of them, they seem to have way more life experiences than you’d think from people their age. My early pick for final three.

Cruisin’ with Earl - or, drivin’ on the shoulder, takin’ shortcuts, and generally kickin’ butt.
No one yet–this ranking needs to be earned.

It’s going to suck bad if there’s a late game as I’ll have to choose between TAR and Breaking Bad. :frowning: Well not really as I have a DVR, but still.

The national CBS late games are on:
October 6 and 20
November 3 and 10
December 1, 22, and 29
plus one or two possible late games in January

There is also the possibility of your local CBS station having a late game on the other Sundays in the regular season, but (a) those start 20 minutes earlier than the national ones, and (b) in those cases, CBS programming is usually “joined in progress” rather than delayed, although technically it’s up to your local station to decide how to handle it.

If Steve Buscemi and Nathan Lane were a gay couple with a Dame Edna-inspired church-basement drag show…

LOLOL!!! I automatically thought of Nathan Lane when I saw them! And they did much better than I expected them to :slight_smile:

The first episode was kind of a bad setup in that one teammate did both tasks while the other either rode in a taxi or stood there watching. It was the bad setup that confused teams more than reading fails. (Except for the doctors; epic reading fail there.)

My initial favorites after the introduction segment were the doctors and the OK hayseeds. By the end of the episode I was back to having no favorites.

Teams I didn’t like included the NFLers, the drag queens, the afghanimals (bitch!), and the father/daughter team that got eliminated, but none of those dislikes is particularly strong.

I wonder why Phil had Travis & Nicole wait out a half-hour penalty rather than just go back and proceed on foot. I swear I remember the same situation (taking a cab rather than walking) in earlier seasons, and I thought teams had to hoof it back and start over.

I am also somewhat impressed by the large number of teams that spoke at least semi-functional Spanish.

Taxi Assessment:

Stuck in the Desert and Officially Detained - or, Philiminated with extreme prejudice.
Hoskote & Naina (Indian father/daughter) (down from “Stopping”) - Well, Hoskote & Naina went home a little sooner than I had pegged them to…but not a lot sooner. They were one of the weakest teams, in the mix, and I don’t think they were really a threat to be competitive. Case in point here is that they arrived at the fish Roadblock somewhat behind the other teams, but wound up finishing (what looked like) hours after tenth-place Brandon & Adam.

Flat Tire - or, not likely to get anywhere soon.
No one yet.

Stopping for Gas - or, not broken-down, exactly, but not a good sign.
Rowan & Shane (Older comedians) (holding steady) - Rowan & Shane did far better than I expected them to, due to a combination of taxi driver luck (or lack of bad luck, rather), careful clue-reading, and knowing how to row. I remain skeptical about their long-term chances, but they’re looking pretty good here at the start.
Nicky & Kim (Brunettes) (holding steady) - We didn’t see a lot of Nicky & Kim this episode, as they chugged along and finished a solid fifth.
Tim & Danny (Bland friends) (holding steady) - Oh boy. Getting lost in LA isn’t completely unusual, but it is a bad start if you’re expected to navigate aroundtheworld. The penalty is that they find themselves on the trailing plane to duke it out for last place. I still don’t have a handle on this team, although they did finish second out of the four trailing teams.

“Rapido! Por Favor?” - or, making meaningless ineffectual comments from the back seat, but in no immediate danger.
Leo & Jamal (Afghani Cousins) (holding steady) - Leo & Jamal came in last among the teams on the first flight after making a couple errors, in sending off their taxi and letting the wrong person start the fish the Roadblock. Although they were in no real danger of elimination, it’s not an impressive start.
Ally & Ashley (Blondes) (holding steady) - A middle-of-the-road finish for Ally & Ashley, just behind Nicky & Kim. There’s not a lot of new information on this team from this episode, so I’ll leave them ranked here.
Jason & Amy (Brunette couple - dating) (holding steady) - This team finished ahead of the rest of the last-flight teams, due in large part to Jason’s crew experience.

In the Passing Lane - or, ahead of the pack, but not quite comfortably.
Chester & Ephraim (NFLers) (holding steady) - An OK, but not spectacular, finish for Chester & Ephraim. Like Nicky & Kim and Ally & Ashley (who co-incidentally finished right behind Chester & Ephraim), there’s not a lot of new information on this team from this episode.
Tim & Marie (Blonde couple - exes) (holding steady) - Not every leg will feature an opportunity like this one, where teams ahead of Tim & Marie obligingly screw up, letting Tim row for the gold. But Tim & Marie now have an Express Pass, which is kind of a big deal (last season’s surfboard fiasco notwithstanding). Although the show seems to be making a big deal out of their bickering, it seems pretty lighthearted (so far) to me. Assuming that stays the case, this team ought to go far.
Travis & Nicole (Married Black couple) - Whoops; could have gotten the Express Pass if they’d only followed Rule #1. An uncharacteristic mistake (I hope) from people who you’d expect to pay close attention to detail in their normal occupation. Still, it’s worth noting that Travis & Nicole hit the mat a half-hour ahead of all but one other team, so they must have run the rest of the Race pretty well.
Brandon & Adam (Bearded guys) (holding steady) - Yikes. Brandon & Adam scrape out a second-to-last finish when I had them picked as my top team. Well, I’m not going to let actual performance trump wild speculation, so I’ll leave this team ranked here for the time being.

Cruisin’ with Earl - or, drivin’ on the shoulder, takin’ shortcuts, and generally kickin’ butt.
No one yet–this ranking needs to be earned.

Got to root for the home team the Atlanta Doctors. Also digging on the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers and the Afganamals.

Too soon for me to have favorites. I’m waiting for them to forget they’re on camera. Glad to see the back side of the father/daughter team, though - the daughter was pretty lame.

Which team is the obligatory gay couple?

StG

As I was watching, my “All the Way” picks were the Doctors and the Beards… then the Beards landed in 10th place. Ouch.

But I’m liking this season so far, even if the clue at the paragliding task was needlessly complex.

I’m getting vibes off of the Nathan Lane/Cam-from-Modern-Family guy on the comedians team. His general demeanor kind of reminds me of a less-fem version of the Lane character from The Birdcage, and the references he kept throwing out this ep just pointed the arrow more emphatically.

Leo and Jamal were pretty impressive. I missed the first 20 minutes of the show and wouldn’t have guessed they were Afghani, their Spanish was pretty good!

Most encouraging, for me, was the preview for next week’s leg, showcasing the attractive women racers in swimwear.

Good idea on the part of the producers, to get these babes half-naked early on, when the chances of them not having yet been eliminated are maximized.

You mean they weren’t shouting “Afghanimals!” the second you flipped it on?

I don’t remember which one, but one of the Afghanimals had a particularly groanworthy confessional where he said something like, “If we get the Express Pass, maybe we can align with another team. Or maybe, if someone else gets the Express Pass, they’ll decide to align with us. Aligning with the other teams is how this game is played!”

I just rolled my eyes and mumbled, “No, it’s really not” to my wife.

Maybe I was just grumpy when I was watching this episode but the stunt casting really ruined this episode for me. The Afganimals shout, the whining about daddy choosing her husband and the bickering couple who dated 5 years ago just drowned out the actual race for me.

It’s probably inevitable now that being on reality TV is the goal rather than the race itself but I miss finding out about teams by their actions rather than listening to them tell me what they think I should know about them.

Also, rereading this post makes me feel like I should be yelling at the new kids to get off of my lawn. God I hope that I love the next episode so I stop feeling like I’ve turned into an old woman.

Maybe they think they’re on Survivor.

This is why I walked away from the episode about 10 minutes in.

It’s also why, a couple of weeks ago, I walked away from this season’s premier of “Survivor” about 10 minutes in.

I guess I’m grumpy, too, but in both cases I’d rather watch people who are on television because they want to play the game rather than playing the game because they want to be on television.

They did have a “Read the Clue” moment though, when the wrong person did the rowboat task.

Anyone else think of the 30 Rock episode where Liz reports her suspicious Middle Eastern looking neighbors to Homeland Security, who it turns out were filming an Amazing Race audition tape?

I feel all warm and fuzzy inside. One of my favorite things… watching Amazing Race and then reading the Doper’s take on the episode.

I have to say, I like the Beards, they have a great energy and attitude. But you boys need to start doing better that second to last!

Aside from the NFLers, the baseball wives, and the Ice Girls, these all seem like regular people to me.