I totally agree with everything in Skammer’s post. . . except the bit about the bionic Gaghan kids! I think last night’s episode proved that the good old USofA can be pretty amazing, considering that the Paolos (from NYC) got lost in their own city. The Widder Lady thought Pennsylvania might be a state. And somebody asked directions to the Town of Soho! These folks can’t find their way around their own home country. . . and that’s pretty Amazing! Travel on, folks!
I actually thought driving big SUV’s into Soho and parking was a pretty good challenge but they didn’t seem to have any trouble at all once they got close. Wonder if that was filmed on Sunday morning, or something.
It definitely looked like they had a reserved parking area set aside for them. I wonder who they had to pay to get that privilege in NYC.
I actually thought making them drive all over Manhattan was a great – and really, really stressful – way to start the race. I’ve driven in a lot of places, around the US and abroad, and yet the thought of driving in Manhattan gives me the willies. Especially with the adrenalin pumping the way it was.
And it’s kind of ironic that we’re seeing just as much ignorance about the good ol’ US of A as we’ve seen from previous racers in various other countries. Although I was quite amused by one team crying out, “Andale! Andale!” to themselves as they climbed in the boat. (Which team was that, anyway?)
Hee. In her defense, I think it’s pretty reasonable to imagine she meant to wonder if the clue was talking about Pennsylvania the state, rather than a street or something. I like them OK overall so far. Although it annoys me when people drive with a leg up on the seat, so the older one needs to quit that. Hey, we’re all allowed to be annoyed by something for no good reason whatsoever, right? 
My wife was really sad to see the Blacks go, and I was bummed too, but I don’t think they had it in 'em. The one kid fell in the mud and couldn’t get up? I’m not sure what happened there. Also, they blew it by not picking the task designed to make it easier on the kids groups.
The Aiellos and the Bransens both are all right, but both patriarchs seem like they’re going to be a hindrance sooner than later.
Liked the Schroeder kids, but not the adults so much. What was the dad’s comment? Pushing a handicapped kid into traffic? I can’t figure out what he meant enough to be offended.
Liking Team Rugrats too. The girl is surprisingly engaging for her age (I had fully predicted Dakota Fanning levels of precocious annoyance), and the rest of the family seems ready to race. “Get used to it, dork!” So should have been the episode title. Or Carissa explains it all.
And Team Frickin’ Retahded? Dead to me.
Three Dudes and a Little Lady? Wow. Way to prove that young + strong + fast doesn’t necessarily = winner. They’ll be the team this season who ends up driving down the coastline when they’re supposed to be in the mountains.
Overall, I’m stoked. The outcry on TWoP is way premature IMO. It’s still the same great show, and I’m excited to see some U.S. locales this time. I wouldn’t want it to be a permanent thing, but it’s cool to see more than two airports in the U.S.
From memory, Slacker, I thought Schroeder dad said, “Too bad we don’t have a handicapped kid to push out into the intersection to stop traffic for us.” To which his wife replied, “It’s a good thing your mom goes to church every night or you’d be going straight to hell!” Clearly it was meant as humorous, and was non-PC enough that I thought it was hilarious. (Especially since we’ve been known to put a semi-disabled family member in a wheelchair to get to the front of the lines for rides at Disneyland – hey, if you’ve got it, use it, right?)
And when the Black kid fell down, it appeared that he’d bent down to get a bucket of water from a little streamlet and fell down, falling across the stream, so didn’t want to try to get up or he’d get all wet and muddy. I thought he actually showed great presence of mind to ask for help rather than just wallow in the mud the way my son would have at that age.
The more I think about it, the more I, too, like the idea of staying in the States. We’ve got some cool stuff here, too.
I didn’t watch the Black Family’s goodbye, because I knew it would make me weep like a little girl. I shut the tv off and turned it back on in time for the preview.
The Paolos were funny at first, because I know a lot of families like that. The older brother’s “You’re cute when you’re angry” line cracked me up. Mom’s going to make their lives miserable, though, and I don’t expect them to hang around much longer.
I think the Linzes are going to gain a couple slots next week. They’re dumber than I thought, but I’ve seen dumb people win before.
The Schroeders seem to have a pretty good attitude about working together. And the “you’re going to hell” line was very funny, although it wasn’t until Mama Tiger posted it that I knew what had prompted the response. (I was in the kitchen.) I think they might be around for a little while.
And I predict the Gaghan boy is going to have a line or two over the course of the race that will become TAR Canon. That’s one funny kid. And it was very cute how supportive he was of his parents when they were pulling the buggy.
It was worth it just for this exchange by the Gaghan moppets, during the buggy haul:
Boy - “Great job, Dad, I’m sorry I wasn’t able to contribute much.”
Girl - “Get used to it, dork.”
And this from Team Blonde:“I think Pennsylvania might be a state or something.”
Did the producers try hard to find a bickering Italian family? They might have been able to find one with a sense of humor, not the Paolos. Take 'em out and shoot 'em. Notice that every other team was shown rowing the Delaware? What happened? And why didn’t we get to see more of their retrieving the clue that Mama dropped?
Team Praise Jesus is wearing awfully thin already, too.
Do we know for sure they’re staying in the US this time? The info page from my cable display said the race is 11,000 miles long this time, which precludes a trip around the world, but would be right for hopscotching across the States and back, especially if they go to Alaska or Hawaii too.
Well, that was…different.
I guess they solved the transportation dilemma by giving everyone an SUV and a gas card, which seems to work ok (btw did anyone catch the $2.19 gas price? Hard to believe that was only three months ago!!!) I do miss the airports, crowded taxis, and hastily trying to get info from people who don’t speak English, and as a result this show seems a lot less fast-paced than normal. Still, I’ll give it time.
I disagree with Fenris that the teams with kids are inherently disadvantaged, especially with The Rugrats coming in second, and even though the Black Team is out (sob) it didn’t seem to have anything to do with their kids. Anyway, here are my thoughts/projections:
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The Godlewskis (aka Team Grrrl Power): They’re ditsy and clueless, they have no sense of direction, and yet they manage to take first place?? Stranger things have happened. They’re not even good-looking enough to be the Official Eye Candy Team of the race. They’ll last a couple more legs, but that’s it.
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The Gaghans (aka Team Rugrats): Impressive second-place finish, despite taking the Evil Buggy Detour (which proved the kids-as-luggage angle to be a strong advantage…this time) plus they beat the Weavers in a foot race, not too shabby. That annoyingly precocious 8-year-old girl hasn’t quite gotten on my nerves…yet. Give her time.
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The Weavers (aka Team Former NASCAR Fans): This team turned out to be much stronger than I would have expected – they’re physical, they work well together, and while their direction sense needs some work (praying to Jesus to find the silos…WTF??) they’re not nearly as clueless as some of the other teams. I’m still expecting an early, tearful elimination of this team, but I’ve been wrong before…
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The Rogerses (aka Team ???): Hardly any screen time for this family, which strongly suggests they are in it for the long haul. Can’t think of anything else to say about them.
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The Schroeders (aka Team Columbine): I love the dad’s sick sense of humor, although he does have quite a hot temper, which may be their undoing. I keep watching Hunter for signs that he’s about to grab a shotgun and do a Jonathan Baker on all the Victorias of the world, but so far he seems to have no personality at all. Once again, the limited screen time suggests they will make it far.
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The Paolos (aka Team Soprano): I call 'em that because the Dad’s an Italian immigrant who lives in New York and works for a sanitation company, you figure out the rest.
Maybe I should call them the Bickersons, or just plain Team Annoying Losers. How this pathetic brood managed a sixth place finish, I’ll never know…at least we can take comfort in the fact that they’re certain to be gone in the next leg or two. -
The Bransens (aka Team Red State): The Dad: “I believe that men are superior and dominant to women, because the Bible says so…” Wha-huh?? Nothing more needs to be said, here’s hoping for a quick and painful Philimination for this jerk. (We’ve got too many Jesus Freaks in this race anyway.) His daughters are damn cute, though.
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The Aiellos (aka Team My Three Sons-In-Law): Nice and friendly team, work well together, inherently likeable, but the Dad’s age will pull them down. Expect a 6th or 7th finish at the most.
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The Linzes (aka Team Straight Teeth): I really was hoping this team would be eliminated because they go against the whole “family” concept – good looking, square jaws, 20-ish, which are the stats of nearly every high-ranking team from all previous Races. Yeah, technically they’re “family”, but c’mon, haven’t we seen enough of these type of people before? As for their 2nd-to-last finish, don’t count 'em out just yet…every winning team has had at least one bad leg. We’re all but certain to see them on the Finish Mat with the Rogers and Schroeder families (though not necessarily in that order…)
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The Blacks (aka…The Blacks?): Sigh. They had the least annoying kids in the bunch and the parents seemed very likeable. And so much for the chuckle I’d always get upon hearing their name…
Loved the Frats cameo, especially how the show didn’t even point out who they were, so we can’t even call it a subtle promo for the season one DVD that was released yesterday. 
Dear Jesus,
Would you please let Mrs. Weaver know that you don’t *care * if she wins a game show? All that praying and you *still * ran her over with an Amish buggy. You’d think she’d take the hint!! I’d be happy even if you just convinced her to not pray out loud continuously on camera. And kudos on the cosmic irony with the buggy thing, seeing as her husband was killed similarly on a racetrack. That’s some wicked and warped sense of humor you got there, pal. No offence.
OK that’s about it. Thanks for everything,
OO&XX,
DeVena
I don’t have a lot of fondnes for Carissa and family. Yeah, she’s cute and all, but her family has convinced her and themselves that she’s the most wonderful kid in the world. That attitude isn’t going to be so adorable when she’s 15. Atleast they don’t have her doing pageants… yet.
Lots of clips up on the official site (looks like around 30):
BTW does anyone know how many episodes will be in this season? For the first time ever, I’m able to record this show directly to DVD, but I need to plan ahead for how many episodes to fit on each disc.
All the articles I’ve read have said they spend “most” of their time in the U.S., which obviously implies that they spend a little time outside of it…which will probably be limited to Canada and possibly Mexico, since 11,000 miles is way too short even for a quick hop across the pond to Europe and back. (The length is actually just about perfect for a circuitous route across the U.S. and back.)
BTW did anyone else wonder how to say “Stassi?” I didn’t hear her name pronounced last night. From the CBS.com videos, apparently it rhymes with bossy, as her dad calls her “Stass” (rhyming with boss).
I automatically assumed it was short for Anastasia. I’m probably wrong.
My least favorite part of last night’s episode was that I didn’t realize that it was going to be a two-hour episode until after 10 o’clock- at which point I didn’t want to quit watching but also didn’t want to stay up late to watch it. So I tried to set the VCR - it took me ten minutes to figure out that I needed to rewind the tape. I got to watch the end this morning but I missed some of them setting up camp and any pre-departure in the morning activity.
Personally, I’m ok with staying in the US. not thrilled, but I enjoyed the “Hey, I know where that is” sensation. (My college was about an hour from Washington Crossing. I never heard of it, but curiousity got me to check it out on Google and Mapquest this morning).
Dad and I were also having fun making nasty comments about the lack of clue some people were showing-- and wondering how they will cope with foreign countries so it is perhaps a little disappointing to hear that they may not have to.
We did the same thing, except we said “Hey! It’s The Fatties!”.
The Paolos have got to go. Sorry to see the Blacks go; they were nice.
jayjay – was there any local buzz that TAR was filming in the neighborhood — come on out to the location & watch? Or was it totally secret?
Overall – I had trepidations about the concept, but I enjoyed this episode.
The eldest Linz, during their intro, said something like “we’re the oldest of the two”. 
I see 4 people…
On the other hand, the siblings could switch pusher/rider roles, but the Gaghan adults had to push the whole time. Which they were amazingly capable of.
Well, I was missing from the thread, but that’s probably not what you were talking about.
I have to admit, I didn’t stay up to watch the whole thing, and now that I’m reading this, I am sorely regretting that decision. The first couple of episodes are always a little confusing to me in the sense that the teams’ personalities haven’t really gelled yet for me. I also think I am just a wee bit resistant to the whole Family Edition thing anyhow, and I wasn’t even trying to look beyond the annoying factors (Screaming blonde ladies! Sullen teenagers! Kids who think they are better than everyone else! [ditto to what hillbilly queen had to say about Carissa]) to give the show a fair shake. But it does sound like it had some interesting moments, and it has Team Aiello, who live just a stone’s throw from me, so what’s not to love?
I will miss the exotic locales, though. That’s a big part of TAR’s charm to me.
I couldn’t help but picture a team consisting of my late father-in-law and my 2 brothers-in-law. Our SUV would’ve burst into flames before we got to the Brooklyn Bridge, from a conflict of personality & brain power of anti-matter proportions.
Can’t wait 'til they get to Californee.
It wasn’t easy seeing the boys’ faces, or even Mom’s, on the platform. They seemed angry and humiliated at the thought that they’d not only failed, but had let Dad down. The family did seem like they could deal with it, though.
There had better be some airport bunching scenes this time too, even if they can’t lead to nearly as much separation. Long trips in an SUV with bickering kids (of whatever ages) in the back seat is gonna get ugly long before 11,000 miles.