Delay tonight. 60 Minutes is beginning at 7:38PM here in SE PA. Expect TAR to start at 8:40ish.
ETA: Sorry…my CBS Eye-Lert email actually says 8:35 for TAR.
It never ceases to amaze me that it takes 45 “real-life” minutes to play 4½ minutes of football, especially when it seems like most of the time you already know who’s going to win the damn game anyway.
The answer is simple: Football in particular, and sports in general are much more important than anything else in the general scheme of things. We should feel privileged that they do not pre-empt more programming.
The needs of those of us who would just like the listed network schedule to actually run on time are much less important than sports fans. This season of the amazing race will run on time about 60% of the time, and we should just be damned glad that we are allowed to watch it at all.
Hey y’all, I’m back, after last week’s disappearance, and I’ll hook you all up with my Rickshaw Assessment by 11 p.m. if you want.
I was bummed last week. I was on vacation & arrived on Sunday to discover I had entered a TV market that aired the show on time… but the (promised) internet at the place where I was staying was a mere pipe dream and I couldn’t connect with my phone, my laptop or my iPad. Boo.
Someday, I’d love someone to do a YouTube video “The Hats of the Amazing Race”. Or “200 Hats in 600 Seconds”.
Debra Jo Rupp did NOT have a good day staying upright…that was just painful to watch. I do like Ma & Pa. I don’t think they have a chance of winning, but I do like them. Brother and Sister managed to not irk me too much tonight.
I’m really liking the Snowboarders. They seem like genuinely nice guys…they actually tried to help two different teams this episode (neither of whom paid enough attention to profit from that help). I mean, usually I’m all RAAAAACE but I have to admit that I’m likely to do the same kind of thing myself.
Tonight rather bored me. I liked the challenge with the Buddha statues, but I find that I don’t really care that much about the teams yet, either way.
Good Lord, after tonight’s show it’s clear that none of the teams are rocket scientists in their professional lives, and while I realize that it’s certainly a LOT tougher than it looks, I can’t believe that even after being spoon fed the answer, the ex-NFL player and his wife were too clueless to instantly grasp what they had been given. Yeah they were tired, but they had just been told exactly what they needed to vault to the head of the pack…
Also, the one Showgirl who was eliminated tonight mentioned that she was a “single mom” at least 3 or 4 different times just this one episode; Does she feel that she should get some sort of award (or that Phil was going to give her a Non Elimination For Life Pass) for such a rare and noble distinction?
Just another example of why you should read the damn clue carefully, and then go back and read it again.
I was thinking we were going to have one of those eliminations where Phil has to go out to that one team still there hours and hours later, middle of the night, counting every single Buddha in the place, and completely clueless as to why their count of 400-some is wrong.
ETA: It was mighty nice of the Snowboarders to mention that the Father & Son team had helped them, and to consider gifting them with the trip. I’d rather have them owe me a big-ass favor later on, rather than the trip, at any rate!
I noticed that they’ve tried to change the scripts a little bit this year. Phil always used to say, for instance, “In ‘Rice Pick’ teams must blah, blah, blah”. This season he says, “‘Rice Pick’ requires teams to blah, blah, blah.”
He also never mentions the “mandatory 12 hour rest period” at the beginning anymore.
The teams must have been isolated from each other during whatever down time there was between this leg and the first, because Phil told the older couple that the upcoming leg was a Double Elimination when they checked in at the mat, but the other teams seemed to be finding this out for the first time when they were reading it in their first clue tonight.
I read from one team of racers that, unless the other team is a total bunch of assholes, it’s very hard to not reflexively help out.
I’m still (inexplicably) liking the Dad/Son team–even though they have no real personality yet.
Like the Snowboarders a lot.
I like the Football player/wife team–I loved that he made her laugh a few times. On the other hand, they’re doomed. Not only were they given the actual answer (boo–I don’t know how you’d enforce it but I’d love that to be against the rules) but they blew it AND she turned the “weak”" task over to him*.
I loved the “Count the Buddah” task.
*One that requires very little physical strength–you always, ALWAYS give those to the weakest member so that towards the end of the race when there’s a “Lift 10 of these 150 lbs barrels” type task, the strong person has the freedom to do it.
I agree—I am not sure how they would enforce the rule, but it should be incumbent on each team to figure out a roadblock like that on their own, or die trying…
Of course, teams forming alliances and working together on various tasks is somewhat of a tradition on Amazing Race, but for one team to just flat-out tell another team the entire answer seems 100% wrong and totally against the spirit of the whole idea of a RACE.
The Rickshaw Assessment for “Don’t Lay Down On Me Now”
Ox Status: Broken
- Philiminated with an extreme eyebrowing
[ul]
[li]***Kaylani & Lisa ****- *Done in by too much time finding their taxi and getting back to Phil. It was clearly very close between 7th, 8th and 9th place, and they were the unlucky ones, having run as competitively through the leg as the rest of the bottom of the pack. Really tough way to go out. Props to Phil for his kind words to Kaylani at the mat, as well.[/li][li]*Ron & Bill *and Ethan & Jenna[/li][/ul]
Unrolling Hay Bales in Sweden
- they’re trying but they’re just not getting it
[ul]
[li]***Liz & Marie ***- They were majorly hampered at the Roadblock despite working in a group with three other teams, and then did far too much fiddling around with their taxi nearly cost them the race. They’ve got to think harder and move faster if they want to last through another leg.[/li][/ul]
**Duct Taping the Bumper
**- things don’t look good, but they may eke out some improvement
[ul]
[li]Amani & Marcus - They had bad luck with a taxi, but also made a near-fatal decision to switch tasks at the Detour rather than simply gathering more grass, and were hampered, as predicted, by Amani’s lack of conditioning. Saved only because they weren’t in the taxi hijinks, they’ve clearly got a major disadvantage in any upcoming speed tasks or races to the mat.[/li][/ul]
Andale, s’il vous plait, xie xie!
- some bumbling and fumbling, but not terribly at risk yet
[ul]
[li]*Justin & Jennifer - *Their sibling squabbling seems to have been put aside this leg, and it served them well, as they moved ahead. They’re still middle of the pack, but they showed on this leg that they can gain ground when they work together.[/li][li]*Ernie & Cindy *- They’re not getting better, but they’re not getting appreciably worse, either. That’s about all there is to say about their performance this leg. Having the Express Pass in their back pocket means that they can’t be counted out, though.[/li][li]Bill & Cathi- They seem to have some forward momentum after their disastrous race start, and Bill, to his credit, was one of the few who did the Buddha challenge on his own steam. Despite Cathi’s inability to stay on her feet at the Detour, had they dealt with their bags & taxi earlier they’d have had a top-half-of-the-pack finish.[/li][/ul]
Our Driver is Awesome!
- ahead of the pack, for now
[ul]
[li]***Jeremy & Sandy **- *They keep working smart with very little drama. They caught a good break this leg, ironically, from a broken down taxi. It pays to never assume that the worst is the worst. If they keep their heads together and race, they’ll contend for top of the heap.[/li][/ul]
Carried all the Heavy Stuff & Ate All the Cheese
- nothing can stop them but themselves
[ul]
[li]***Laurence & Zac ***- Despite a 15 minute penalty (these sorts of things used to be 30 minutes, didn’t they?) they showed all of the traits of winning Racers this leg: teamwork, patience, perseverance and positivity. They’ve just got to be more careful with reading their clues.[/li][li]***Andy & Tommy ***- They maintained their front of the pack status, even had they come second it would’ve been just by a matter of moments. Like Laurence & Zac, they’re racing smart but they’re also racing strategically – see: giving info to Amani & Marcus. They’ve also got the goods physically; thus far it’s hard to imagine what could stand in their way in future legs.[/li][/ul]
Props to zut, Mullinator, the Taxi Assessment, the Raj Rating and all recappers who came before!
[quote=“tumbleddown, post:12, topic:599125”]
[li]***Laurence & Zac ***- Despite a 15 minute penalty (these sorts of things used to be 30 minutes, didn’t they?) [/SIZE][/li][/QUOTE]
I think the time penalty is based on how much time they gained, as it were, by not following the rules.
In this case, they decided that using more than two buckets gave the team an advantage of 15 minutes, so they were penalized 15 minutes.
Seriously, that was my biggest WTF moment of the show – even more so than that they so completely misplayed having been given the exact answer to the task – why the hell didn’t they just go back and shove in some more grass?
Marcus may be in fabulous physical shape, but people this stupid shouldn’t be allowed to race.
IMO, It is not a penalty then. It is just an offset. If they got a 15 minute advantage, they should have got a 30 minute penalty.
This one episode showed exactly what it should mean for teams to help each other out. When The Adventurers and The Snowboarders decided to form a team and help each other out with the counting, that was cool. When the Double-Wits (four half-wits) decided to all work together, there’s no question that’s part of the game. But when Football & Crier got the answer without performing the task, that was unacceptable. It’s clear that there is a difference between helping each other and completing the task versus being given an answer without having to do the task. I say that any team that gives another team the answer *unless they perform the task together *gets a 1 hour penalty.
Traditionally the way it’s worked is you got a 30 minute penalty no matter what PLUS a time offset based on the advantage. So they shoulda had to wait 45 minutes if they saved 15.
I don’t think it was the grass that was giving them the trouble, the sheep (or were they goats?) they had were crazy stubborn and he had to carry his animal along with the bag of grass. I could see why they wouldn’t want to go through that again.
IIRC he remembered the Snowboarders saying something about the numbers when he was in the middle of counting himself…??? So it wasn’t like he completely forgot, but even he said he’d wished he’d been paying more attention.
What happened in the meantime? Did he finally remember and just went to the Great Buddha Person-Giving-Out-The-Next-Clue and recited the numbers? Or did one of the other teams tell him and he finally remembered?
I wasn’t crazy about this leg. The bicycle task at the beginning seemed to be a throwaway; the rice vs. herding sheep was a bit better, but neither seemed to contain that added “something” that’s addled most teams in the past. The counting Buddhas was interesting – loved the temple – but that, too, seemed to be a throwaway…it’s almost like either the Amazing Producers are getting tired, or there really wasn’t anything novel the teams could physically do in the area. Am I the only one thinking this?