The Amazing Bore

Ray and I caught up with this show and are both very disappointed. As I feared, given the logistical difficulties of moving 4-member teams instead of 2-member teams, this edition of The Amazing Race is, simply put, boring.

The teams haven't left the States yet, although that usually happens within the first half of the first episode and this was episode three. The destinations are always within a few hundred miles at most, and nothing is too hard to find (unless you're a moron, or you're not paying any attention to what you're doing, or you're completely clueless, which some teams are.) Suffice it to say that the race started in New York City and they are now in Alabama. If I drove for 3 days (the length of the race so far, more or less,) I'd have crossed half the country already by now.

Furthermore, the makeup of the teams is a liability in itself. Since there had to be 4 related members, I believe some people got dragged into the race by family member eager to do it, probably against their will. That at least is how the Paolo family's mother looks like she feels. Same goes for some of the kids. Maybe they are eager to race, but they can't be expected to take on some challenges, like driving a car through a field of mud, which, in turn, forces the parents to do all those tasks. As a result, one of the two families with young kids was out the first episode, after the youngest kid couldn't row a boat as hard as his father. Go figure.

The last episode had the pit stop right next to the last task, which could be performed only by one team at a time in the order of arrival. That meant that the last team to perform the task was likely going to be the last to reach the pit stop, which is exactly what happened. Where is the suspense?

Note to the producers: the family-edition sucks. What's done is done, since the race is over by now, but if the show gets renewed (a challenge in itself after a showing like this -- I wonder how low the ratings will sink before it's over,) you might want to go back to the regular 2-member teams for the next one.

Too bad, since it even won an Emmy for Best Reality Show just a month ago.