So, tonight is the night that The Amazing Race 4 starts up. This is, for those who have yet to watch it, the best reality show on TV. It bypasses a lot of the crap from other shows like forced confrontations, irritating backstabbing, and random rule changes. It essentially comes down to intelligence, skill, and a little bit of luck.
So, who wins, who do we all hate, who do we love, and who will look lik incompetent boobs?
Early on, I think the teams of Chip/Reichen (married gay couple), Russell/Cindy (Dating friends), and Jon/Al (friends and professional clowns) will be top tier teams.
I am pretty sure I will despise Tian/Jaree (friends and models) only because I look at them and see the vaguely airheaded lawyer babes from last season.
I just hope that this season puts more of a reliance on skill, intelligence, and determination than last season’s random luck fest that let such a pathetic performer in Flo reach the checkpoint first.
I’ve been a big Survivor fan since day 1, and have seen all of those shows. I’ve never watched The Great Race, but it sure gets good reviews in the paper. Since Survivor is not on, is this a good substitute?
Amazing Race still has all the ‘human drama’ of this type of reality show.The contestants are dealing with the world at large, as well as each other. It combines the stress and tension involved in international travel with the teams racing around like chickens with their heads cut off, and the results are pretty much what you would expect. The concocted challenges can be rather silly, but it’s a fun show most of the time.
Less strategy than Survivor. The only goal is to get there.
But a lot less boring than Survivor too. One of my favorites.
Wonder where they’ll go this year? They haven’t done Russia or Scandinavia or the Middle East (not likely) or Canada, I think. And I don’t think they’ve done much in England, other than that one stop last year.
How come they always have a token gay couple, and token African-Americans?
Are there no interesting Asian, Hispanic, Indian, Arabian or other minorities that enter the Amazing Race?
and to John Mace, the Amazing Race is a great substitute for Survivor jonesing. Like others here have said, this show might actually be better than survivor. I like them both, but I wouldn’t expect more Amazing Races in the future, like how Survivor is. Contestants make or break the show like survivor. we need to have interesting couples, in-fighting, chemistry and
more. I think they best part about the Amazing Race is that you get to enter as a couple. watching the dynamics between two people that know each other with other couples can be refreshing to the solo outfit they got going in survivor. Oh well, we get one and a half hours of good reality tv tonight.
Amazin gRace. How sweet the sound…
What makes this the best reality show is that it has all the competitive aspects of other shows, plus–it’s a travelogue. I would love to be on this show.
Um, Madawc, last season, they had two black pairs (not couples), and two gay guys on two different teams. The season before, they had two black pairs as well and a Hispanic gay couple.
Besides that, I think it’s actually easier for minorities to get on these shows. They stand out just by being themselves, while white guys like me need to have some other hook.
John Mace, to echo what others have already said, The Amazing Race is not only a good substitute for Survivor, many of us believe it is a far more interesting reality show. Try it for a few episodes to get familiar with the format and get to know the racer pairs. Then you’ll be able to judge it for yourself.
Did you see where one of the guys said “Luftwaffe” for Lufthansa?
It was sure close at the end - for a while I thought the models were going to lose! Debra and Steve wouldn’t have made it far anyway, as physically punishing as AR is. I expect the air-traffic controllers won’t last long either.
I was on pins and needles the whole 90 minutes, even though I guessed which team would be eliminated just from the introductions.
That being said, so far I don’t really like any of these people! Maybe it’s just that there’s too many to wrap my brain around. But I know who I really DON’T like: The NFL Wives (puh-leeze!!!) and the fake boob ladies whom my son calls the Boobesy Twins! And the Clown Boys. I hate clowns!
I did draw Reichen and Chip in the office Amazing Race pool, so I think I have to root for them. There’s a whole 12 bucks at stake at the end of the season. . . winner take all! Hope it’s me!!!
This show is FAR FAR better than Survivor! Its a REAL competition - its a real race! Its not a popularity contest, there’s no “in-fighting”. The strongest, best, smartest teams win, regardless of other teams. THIS my friends is what reality TV should be.
Plus I’m a huge aviation junkie and I love watching the airplane footage
(Oh, and boy am I glad that old crying team is got eliminated. If you can’t keep up, don’t enter the show!)
I like Josh. I think he’s going to be dragged down by his father though.
The Roadblock, with the timed bus tickets, was brilliant. A great way to penalize the hasty teams and reward the thinking ones. Too bad the staggered flights made it almost irrelevant anyway.
The Detour sucked. It was boring, and there was barely any passing. If someone had chosen the dig for treasure part, it might have been interesting, since it was kind of a fake out. The fast, risky choice didn’t really seem all that fast in the end. So the diggers might have surprisingly passed the sliders. But they all chose the same, so no fun.
I like Josh too. Other than that, none of the other teams have made much of an impression on me one way or the other yet.
I was surprised none of the teams on the last bus decided to try for the Fast Forward, since they wouldn’t know it was already gone. That could have made the ending a bit more interesting, since anyone who tried would almost certainly be eliminated.
Does anyone know when this was filmed? I could’ve sworn that when the girl from one of the teams at the front was whining on the way down from the Detour, her partner said something along the lines of “Move it, Flo.” I may have been hearing things though.
All in all, a promising start for one of my favourite shows.
I hate the three teams at the front. Why are they waiting for each other every step of the way? It is a race!!
Something tells me the virgins are deeply confused. I think he is a candidate for a closet case. 12 years and he says he is afraid of commitment? 12 years is a commitment!! A wise man once said, “Shit or get off the pot”
I thought it was hilarious when that one model was talking to the guy in the cafe.
Was finding the bus tickets the Roadblock? I thought that always came after the Detour, and only one team member could do it.
I was also wondering if the “search” detour would have faster. Especially for those blonde girls stuck behind the old middle-aged woman. (I guess slow, fat cows are a natural hazard in the Alps…)
I was ROFL over the teams trying to get out of Dodger Stadium. HA! It would have taken me all day, and I live here!! I was also thinking, “Man, L.A. sure does look ugly…”
Something tells me it’s gonna be weeks before I can tell the straight young male team apart from the gay young male team. Interesting how the gay team hasn’t told about that fact yet…
Looks like a good race, especially since none of the players seem like the screaming harpy that Flo was. knocks on wood Oh, and did anyone catch the “visit Turkey” commercial? Looks like they’ll be going there at some point.
It was filmed sometime last year. Originally, TAR4 and Survivor were supposed to start airing withing a couple weeks of each other back In Feb., but when CBS saw how popular (American Idol/Star Search/one of those types of shows) was becoming, they put off airing TAR until now so to not have the competition.
And yes, Chris did say to Amanda, “C’mon, Flo!” I taped it (had to watch the Devils take another step towards Lord Stanley’s Cup, yanno) and ran the tape back a couple times to make sure what I heard and what he said were the same thing. I got a good chuckle out of that.
None of the teams has really struck me in a like/dislike manner yet, tho I can see getting tired of the models pretty quick.
Nice to finally have something to look forward to on TV.
Good input. Thanks for the nudge, and to the others who posted responses, too. I watched it and did enjoy it. Not ready yet to say it’s as good as Survivor, but we’ll see.
I liked the clown guys. Good sense of humor (big surprise). The S. Dakota couple had me laughing the way the editors had to bleep out every other work-- and more from the girl than the guy.
Neidhart: I caught the Luftwaffe gaffe, too. Good for a laugh. I try not to be too critical of these folks, though. Who knows what any of us might say if we were on camera in a tense situation.
Maybe after one episode I can decide who I like, but not yet. I’m sooooooooo happy that this show is back!!
