Given a choice, CBS would much rather lose TAR viewers than lose viewers for 60 Minutes or the sports programming they put on during Sunday afternoons.
So the final tasks included letting yourself get lowered down a building, riding in a helicopter, doing a “sea rescue” that it’s not clear how one could fail without inflicting or receiving serious injury, and almost no mental skills required? Yet these guys still managed to screw it up. As fun as it may be to point and laugh at people failing to read clues, it’s not that much of a competition when that’s the only source of drama. All due credit to the winners for fixing their screw-ups in the best way possible.
Not that it’s a good solution, but they do put the shows up on their website. Don’t know why it’s not offered to any on-demand services.
The tasks also included hoisting yourself up a 40-story building with your arms, shaving ice from a block with a sword, and sliding down the hill and rolling a stone into a tiny goal. Nothing too mentally taxing, but no walk in the park.
All three teams made significant mistakes. Art & J.J. got lost trying to find the buildings. Brendon and Rachel went to the wrong place looking for the helicopters. (I was wondering at the time if they would notice another helicopter taking off nearby and make the connection.) Other Rachel & Dave missed a clue and had to go back. If anybody had just run a clean leg, they might have won it easily.
I’ve said this before, but I’m disappointed that the “race around the world” didn’t actually race around the world. Santa Barbara to Honolulu still leaves them a few thousand miles short.
I didn’t really want any of them to win, unless there was a way for Army-Wife-Rachel to win and have her husband lose. He is a complete and total jerk.
This year was another casting fail.
They need to shake something up, I’m not sure what - but the format isn’t quite working.
After the first episode I missed, I went to the CBS website later that week to try to find it and when I clicked on their link to “Full Episodes” all I got were short clips. Maybe it was a temporary glitch, but I tried several times and could not get to any full episode videos.
Oh well.
Taxi Assessment:
Stuck in the Desert and Officially Detained - or, Philiminated with extreme prejudice.
Misa & Maiya and Dave & Cherie and Elliot & Andrew and Kerri & Stacy and Joey & Danny and Nary & Jamie and Mark & Bopper - Already eliminated.
Vanessa & Ralph (down from “Rapido!”) - It looked like Vanessa & Ralph get eliminated because of Vanessa’s bum ankle. However, despite the editor’s attempt to inject some suspense at the end of the penultimate leg, I suspect Vanessa & Ralph might have finished in last place anyway, what with their late arrival at the Roadblock. Still, Vanessa’s ankle put them behind enough that, once they chose the sushi Detour that everyone else was doing, they were pretty much out of the running.
Flat Tire - or, not likely to get anywhere soon.
No one
Stopping for Gas - or, not broken-down, exactly, but not a good sign.
No one
"Rapido! Por Favor?" - or, making meaningless ineffectual comments from the back seat, but in no immediate danger.
Brendon & Rachel (holding steady) - Brendon & Rachel got over the finish line, which really is nothing to sneer at, as only two or three teams manage that every season. Still, this team never really looked like a threat to win, and they immediately showed it in the last leg by misreading a clue and dropping far to the back. I suppose that, if the finish line had been farther away from the sledding task such that Dave & Rachel burned up more time backtracking, and if Art had been just a little more inept in his use of gravity, then Brendon & Rachel might have been in a position to vie for first. But it wasn’t, and he wasn’t, and they weren’t.
In the Passing Lane - or, ahead of the pack, but not quite comfortably.
Art & J.J. (holding steady) - On the one hand: poor Art. It must really suck to feel a million bucks just slipping away because you can’t quite get something right. On the other hand: ha ha! And it’s not solely Art’s fault either: this team started out the episode following Dave & Rachel’s cab with no clear conception of where they were going–the very thing they sneered at about Brendon & Rachel. A little better preperation would have gotten them to the towers sooner, which would have gotten them on to the last task sooner, which would have given them that much more time for Art to practice.
Cruisin’ with Earl - or, drivin’ on the shoulder, takin’ shortcuts, and generally kickin’ butt.
Dave & Rachel (holding steady) - Dave & Rachel wind up the season with six first-place finishes in the last seven legs (and still finishing second in the odd leg out). They were really helped in the final leg by two things. One was just getting into and out of the twin towers faster than the other teams. Another was Art’s complete failure on the sledding task. With that help, Dave & Rachel were able to recover from their wrong turn and still handily win the final leg.
“Conan & Kardashian” - have we heard that before, or did they save it for the finale?
As a point of trivia - Mike Rowe rappelled those same buildings on the “High Rise Window Washer” episode of Dirty Jobs.
In the India to Japan leg, how many people could tell that there was going to be a bunching point after Army guy/Wife missed the Ferry?
Anybody who has ever seen the show?
It was late, dark, and whatever they were to do next was going to be closed. The only possible suspense was whether or not the ferry the next morning would arrive before or after dawn. Depending on time of year and location, 6:30 am is plenty passed dawn.
Yeah, that was pretty obvious, especially after they spent so much time with Dave bitching about it. But given that there was exactly one flight available from India to Hiroshima, and it took pretty tight timing to get from that flight to the final ferry of the night, I couldn’t imagine that it wasn’t going to be a “wait till 7:00 AM” clue.
BTW, anyone else annoyed with the stop at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial? What’s the point? What do you say apart from “Gee, that was terrible, hope it doesn’t happen again?” And then you’re off to grab chickens on a treadmill! They did a tour of Auschwitz a few years ago, and that was just as bad.
Actually the Auschwitz one to me was pretty good. They stopped, had a moment of silence, lit candles for the dead…and since the episode aired on (IIRC) Passover or (IIRC) Yom Kippur or something, credit where it’s due, they did it with taste. Same with that one during Jonathan/Victora’s season where they stopped at that one port in Africa where all the slaves were sent off from–again, very tastefully done.
On one hand, I’d prefer they didn’t do it at all, but on the other hand there’s something to be said for acknowledging the bad stuff in the world too. I find these stops to be far, far less offensive than the “You are big white brother so you must accept the White Man’s burden by helping these simple, poverty-striken natives with their daily tasks* and give them faux charity (as opposed to, say giving them $100,000.00 and feed them for a few years)”.
*Fetch water, paint the barn, etc
Oooh, wasn’t that the one where the camera guy got his hair caught in the equipment?
I fully agree on you with the voluntourism nonsense.
I just prefer my light entertainment shows to be light and entertaining. Getting into discussions with my kids about the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, when the show itself has moved onto people running on treadmills grabbing chickens, puts a damper on the evening. (And I’m now expecting to get a call from one of my kids’ teachers reporting them for telling their classmates that the bombing of Hiroshima was a good thing.)
The blonde is very sweet and I am glad she won (still would have preferred Vanessa and the guy with Vanessa). Too bad she (the blonde) is in an abusive relationship with a douche. I hope watching this season wised her up.
Very disappointed with the task design for these last two legs. Bunches of bunches of bunches and no “Let’s look back” task at the end. I love those tasks.
Very disappointing season of TAR all around this year.
This was a pretty lackluster season, wasn’t it? I thought at first it was just my circumstances (which are currently totally different than they’ve ever been since I started watching TAR, with the long hospital stays and being stuck in rehab this whole season) contributing to the feeling, but I really do think now that it was a problem with the season itself.
Which only goes to prove that a casting guarantee of glitter and poutrage doesn’t make up for interesting or fun racer teams.
I agree. They really needed a mental task at the end to balance out the physical challenges. Or a combination mental and physical, like putting things in order while hanging in the air, like last season.
Kind of an aside, but what kind of culture designs such an impractical sled?
**Rules for Casting (for future seasons)–Its’ fun! Add your own rules! 
**
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Don’t pick any team who’s so awful that their winning would spoil the season.
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No, really. Don’t pick any team who’s so awful that their winning would spoil the season. See the reaction to the faux-hippies.
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No reality show people (winners or otherwise). Especially no one from The Jersey Shore (thankfully not yet) or Big Brother.
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No mentally ill or mentally challenged people (Adam/Hornhead in particular. Also deaf momma’s boy who kept crying all the time. I don’t want to see retarded/mentally ill people cry. This isn’t fun). There are degrees here–the Asburger’s guy did really well over-all and that kinda falls into the “mentally ill” thing…sorta…I’ll just shut up now, but hopefully you knew what I meant.
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No ‘stunt’ casting for people who “have something to prove”. Who “want to show the world that (fill in the blank*)__ can be just as good of racers as anyone!!!”
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No:[ul]
[li]Celebrities, A-list or Z-list. If you’ve been on national TV for more than 10 minutes, you’re out. [/li][li]Professional athletes[/li][li]Beauty queens (national level–if you were Miss Taco-Congeniality for El Farto County, Bumfuck Texas, good for you. You’re in.)[/li][li]Famous or semi-famous[/li][li]Did I mention reality show constants? I’ll mention them again because except for possibly Rahb (of Rahb an’ Ambuh) they all, universally suck. (YMMV with Rahb)[/li][/ul]
Everyone who’s seen the first season of Amazing Race knows just how fucking perfect the casting was. (Second and third season were nearly as good). Look at who they had:
Rob & Brennan Lawyers/Best Friends
Frank & Margarita Separated Parents
Joe & Bill Life Partners
Kevin & Drew Fraternity Brothers
Nancy & Emily Mother/Daughter
Lenny & Karyn Dating
Paul & Amie Engaged
Dave & Margaretta Grandparents
Pat & Brenda Working Moms
Kim & Leslie Teachers/Roommates
Matt & Ana Married
Ok, Karyn was a MEAN bitch and um…Paul/Amie (I think–if he’s the guy who looked kind of like Bob Denver as Manyard G. Krebs) were…weird but none of them were freaks (ala Myrna/Charla, Rachael/Brennan, Jonathon/Victoria) and none of them were career outliers. What made the first few seasons so interesting is they took NORMAL (except for Karyn–and I suspect that they discovered she was a freak after the fact) people with normal careers…not weird outliers like “Las Vegas showgirl” or “Harlem Globetrotter” and put them in the race.
I demand better casting, dammit!!
Any other casting suggestions?
*Dwarven stunt men, paranoid midget lawyer chicks who think that because they shout “El Rapido Por Fay-vOrEE!” in China means they’re fluent in chinese. That early gay couple–Chip and Riken? Richen? who had to PROVE to the world that GAY PEOPLE could race…erm…despite the fact that in the three previous seasons, the gay teams came in third, (IIRC) fourth and (ok, one gay guy one straight guy) fourth. Dating virgins who want to prove that Christian virgins can race JUST AS GOOD AS ANYONE!!! (no–really–that was their motive) Polyamourous furries with leather S&M fetishes…whatever. If you want to prove something to the world, do a PSA.
I was laughing about that last night.
“Hey chief, here come the Dumbfuck’aaki’aaki tribe on their war sleds. You want I should blow the alarm conch shell?”
“Nah, we’ll just wait for them to all kill themselves trying to get down the hill.”
Put an outrigger on that sumbitch.
They didn’t have the usual “Where have you been, and in what order?” puzzle challenge.