TV Series Lounge

Aside from the inclusion of former Survivor stars, The Amazing Race season 19 showed us some more surprises.

TV Fanatic: While the casting of some pseudo-celebrities was fun to see, it pales in comparison to the miracle that was Kaylani and Lisa recovering Lisa’s passport. Kaylani’s passport somehow fell out of their car when the duo stopped for directions at a gas station. A pair of unidentified men saw the pair being taped for The Amazing Race and saw her drop her passport and had the wherewithal to bring it to the airport.

Fishy? I thought so at first as well. However, I give the producers credit for pseudo-proving that the scene was not staged at all. The pair agreed to be interviewed to tell how they knew what was going on and even had Tweets to prove that it actually happened. Ok, so it was a bit hard to follow how theTtweets played in to anything, but I’ll buy it. Being cynical isn’t fun.

The random kindness from strangers was interesting and made for awesome television. I, however, was disappointed that Kaylani and Lisa got a second chance at the race.

The way the pair bickered at the airport was brutal to watch and I was ready for them to go home immediately. To their credit, they rallied the rest of the episode and were not nearly as difficult to stand.

With the biggest story of the premiere out of the way, let’s return to the inclusion of Ethan, Jenna and Marcus Pollard in the 19th season of this great show.

Once again trying to avoid being cynical, I hope assume Pollard wasn’t approached to be on the show, but actually applied. Assuming that’s true, I find his inclusion awesome. Sure, his celebrity probably got him in, but if he applied like everyone else, so be it.

Is it any different from Kaylani or Sandy being cast? What, you don’t think the size of each of their chest had anything to do with them being cast? Right.

As for Ethan and Jenna, it’s harder to say whether they were approached to be on the show or wanted to do it. Either way, you know they didn’t have to apply. Jenna’s been working for CBS forever. If they wanted to be on the show, I’m sure all she had to do was ask a CBS executive.

Adding “celebrities” like this season’s trio has definitely become a trend in reality television. Or at least with the other show I watch, Survivor.  Personally, I don’t mind it too much, as long as it is not abused. Something like pure Celebrity Survivor or The Amazing Race? That would be different.

The leg itself was very challenging to begin with, but slowed as it went on. Readers of these reviews will know that I like dynamic legs and challenges. The initial “hidden” clue and the Roadblock provided opportunities for anyone, regardless of what place they got to the challenge in, to get ahead. After the Roadblock, however, the Dragon Boat challenge afforded no opportunity for change.

Did you like first episode of The Amazing Race?

You can check The Amazing Race 19 Reviews and Spoilers HERE.

Spoilers:

• Cast Revealed; Includes Two Sole Survivors

Rob and Amber did not make it in their turn on The Amazing Race. Now, a pair of Survivor winners will compete on season 19 – as one team!

CBS announced this week that married couple Ethan Zohn (Survivor: Africa) and Jenna Morasca (Survivor: The Amazon) will compete against 10 other duos when this reality competition returns on September 25. Said the former, who battled Hodgkin’s lymphoma just a few months ago, to EW:

“Last year I was attached to a pump in complete isolation in a f-cking hospital room, and now I’m out traveling the world with the woman I love. Whatever happens, it’s gonna be okay. But if she screws up, I’m gonna kill her.”

The cast will be rounded out by Zac Sunderland (the youngest person to sail around the world solo), former NFL tight end Marcus Pollard and others. Details follow.

• Ernie Halvorsen and Cindy Chiang, Engaged Couple
• Justin Young and Jennifer Young, Siblings
• Liz Canavan and Marie Canavan, Twins
• Ron Zeitz and Bill Smith, Domestic Partners
• Bill Alden and Cathi Alden, Married/Grandparents
• Andy Finch and Tommy Czeschin, Friends/Former Olympic Snowboarders
• Amani Pollard and Marcus Pollard, Married
• Kaylani Paliotta and Lisa Tilley, Former Vegas Showgirls
• Laurence Sunderland and Zac Sunderland, Father/Son Adventurers
• Jeremy Cline and Sandy Draghi, Dating

At last, the villain is gone! This week’s Amazing Race Unfinished Business showed us how a simple mistake can change everything.

At the beginning of this week’s episode Justin commented “Ever since we hit the cold weather we’ve been running first.”  Was that a sign that Zev and Justin would win another leg if they stayed in cold weather?  Or perhaps the opposite if they were sent to warm weather?

Similarly, Kent commented “I feel like we become a better team the longer this race goes on”.  Had the Dating Goths talked out how they needed to act to be successful?  Would Kent and Vyxsin finally have a drama free leg?

Typically the foreshadowing on The Amazing Race is not as simple as the above questions suggest.  More accurately, determining whether the quotes are direct foreshadowing or an ominous sign of how things are going to fall apart is the challenge.

Very early this week it became obvious that Justin’s comment foreshadowed the opposite of what he felt was true.  As the temperature dropped when the teams climbed in to the heights of the Swiss Alps via helicopter, Justin and Zev struggled with the Detour and went from first to last.

Conversely, Kent and Vyxsin chose the better Detour option, vaulting in to second place.  Despite the drama and accusations at the Roadblock, Vyxsin propelled her and her partner in to first place.  Perhaps Kent’s foreshadowing comment would be one that came true?

As Kent and Vyxsin climbed in to a taxi to head to the Pit Stop, clearly violating the instructions on the route marker, I immediately thought of a comment that Gary made shortly after the Detour: We should have 25 minutes on Zev and Justin.  Why does this comment matter?   Because it is exactly five minutes shorter than the 30 minute penalty that Kent and Vyxsin would incur for taking a taxi cab to the Pit Stop.

I noticed the comment when Gary made it, but not because I knew something of approximately 25 minutes in length would occur later in the episode.  Rather, it was unique because of its specificity.

The show seems to go to great lengths to prevent the viewer from knowing the exact amount of time that separates teams.  Last week we were not shown if Jet and Cord got on the second train.  Ultimately they did not, but we never found out even how many trains behind they were.

I wondered if there was something to the show choosing to air Gary’s comment.  When Kent and Vyxsin hopped in the cab, the rationale became very apparent.  By telling the viewer that Zev and Justin were 25 minutes behind while Kent and Vyxsin had a 30 minute penalty to withstand, drama was created for the final Pit Stop.

For once, at least it actually came true.  It’s no secret that Kent and Vyxsin were not my favorite team on The Amazing Race: Unfinished Business.  Having Zev and Justin to slide in to the final four minutes ahead of them was wonderful news for me.  I would have had a hard time rooting for the pair, despite some of Vyxsin’s impressive moments.

This week’s episode of The Amazing Race Unfinished Business brings us happy and sad moments. Well, one of our favorite teams, Jet and Cord, is already gone. But nonetheless, I enjoyed this episode for several reasons.

First, who can forget Zev’s Cheese Fondue face? See it below.

Then, Mallory’s face on the pit stop is funny. That’s why she’s my favorite now.

TV Fanatic: The reality that the cowboys were going to be towards the back of the pack, if not last, was evident very early after Jet messed up the Roadblock.  However, we were able to dream that another team would get U-Turned as well and Jet and Cord could use their speed to make up ground, pass a team and avoid a last place finish.

As the Detour wore on, however, it became obvious that a worst case scenario was developing.  The cowboys would be U-Turned, alright.  But one by one each of the teams I wanted to see forced to do the other half of the challenge – Kent and Vyxsin, Kisha and Jen or Gary and Mallory – skated by the double U-Turn without doing anything.

The only option which remained was U-Turning the Globetrotters. This didn’t help our emotional conundrum; with the cowboys, they’re the two most popular teams and we were guaranteed one would go home. It was truly a sad episode.

Flight Time and Big Easy can’t be blamed for U-turning the cowboys, they had no other choice.  They even commented that they didn’t want to send Jet and Cord to the other challenge, but felt they had no option.

The real problem with the episode was the format of the leg.  By placing the Double U-Turn last, a lot of the drama was removed from the leg.  The first few teams that arrived at the Double U-Turn knew they were done with challenges, knew there were teams behind them and didn’t want to make enemies when they didn’t need it. Also, the episode turns out to be, not a race to the pit stop, but to the double u-turn.

Let’s hop in the time travel machine and go back to the fifth leg of the race.  Remember when Flight Time and Big Easy and Jaime and Cara were both U-Turned, but each had an opportunity to come back during the Roadblock?  The twist of the Roadblock after the Detour kept the leading teams uncertain of their spot and led to an earlier U-Turning.  Without that pressure this week, no one needed to U-Turn.

Also, Kent continues to be a villain. See the photo below to see what I mean.

So what can you say on this episode?

You can check other The Amazing Race 18: Unfinished Business Reviews and Poll HERE.

Lets admit it, last night’s Amazing Race Unfinished Business is the most boring episode so far. I mean the usual excitement of the race is not present and you can really predict who’ll come last.

Heading to the Roadblock this week, Gary hoped aloud that the challenge would be difficult allowing him and Mallory to get back in to the race.

The chimney sweeping Roadblock was fun and culturally interesting, but didn’t shake up the standings at all.

To be fair, the Detour prior to the Roadblock was definitely challenging and provided some drama to the leg. Who would have guessed that the Quick and Easy Meal option was virtually impossible?

Fortunately for Jet and Cord, they didn’t choose it.  This allowed everyone’s favorite team to get back in to the race. That’s the point, however. The Detour was the only chance for a dramatic change.

Along with difficult challenges, the earlier legs were often very dynamic, with teams going from last to first within the same leg. Certainly the nature of the challenges led to frequent lead changes, but other aspects such as different transportation methods and language barriers helped this process.  Driving a 2012 Ford Focus around Austria was not nearly as challenging as getting a cab in India (right, Kent?).

The most disappointing aspect of the leg was that it ended in a non-elimination. It’s not that non-elimination legs are not interesting, but up until this point it seemed like the race producers have gone with the mantra of making a leg a double-leg with a fake Pit Stop rather than have a non-elimination.

I loved that wrinkle and believed that was the direction the race would take throughout. I would have rather seen a fake Pit Stop in Austria than Gary and Mallory have to complete a Speed Bump next leg.

Despite what was a fairly simple, cut and dry episode to the viewers, it was definitely interesting to see that the teams did not realize what was going on. Certainly the best example of this was Zev and Justin’s utter shock and disbelief at finishing in first place.

Justin uttered a truly surprised “what just happened?!?” when Phil informed them that they were the winners of two new cars. They had no idea that they had jumped from fifth out of the Detour, to second at the Roadblock to first place all because teams struggled with direction.

(While I like Flight Time and Big Easy, it made no sense for them to win this leg and win the cars.  Those two giants, particularly Big Easy, wouldn’t fit in a Ford Focus!  I was glad to see that Zev and Justin, two people who’d actually keep the cars, win the leg and the cars)

Similarly, Kent and Vyxsin thought they were in danger of getting eliminated because of the driving woes the dating couple had going from Vienna to Salzburg. They were almost as shocked finishing third as Zev and Justin were at finishing first.  The Goth pair knew Kisha and Jen were near them, but likely figured that meant they would finish fifth or sixth.

So with additional speed bump next week for Gary and Mal, do you think they will be able to avoid the last place?

You can check other The Amazing Race 18: Unfinished Business Reviews and Poll HERE.

This week’s The Amazing Race Unfinished Business smells foul! Well it’s definitely not the buffalo manure but Kent’s attitude towards the race. Vyxsin is really doing everything to keep the team alive, even diving into India’s water as shown below.

When the teams returning to run The Amazing Race a second time were announced, Kent and Vyxsin’s inclusion was always a curious one.  Because of their Goth lifestyle, they’re certainly intriguing, but they lack the endearing qualities that make Jet and Cord, Flight Time and Big Easy and Gary and Mallory such fan favorites.  Heck, even Ron’s bumbling became lovable by the end of this episode.

But, Kent and Vyxsin were not alone as a curious inclusion.  Kisha and Jen and Ron and Christina also fit the bill of teams whose inclusion didn’t seem warranted.  The difference between those teams and the dating Goths is that they haven’t done anything that makes you root against them.  How could anyone root for Kent at this point?

Kent has had a number of bumps along the road so far that make your brow furrow, but nothing like his performance this week.  I have no problem with doing whatever you can to win.  But listening to Kent trying to validate why he felt that he didn’t have to honor his agreement with Gary to work together once the significantly older Gary helped him find the six clues at the Roadblock was nauseating.  Talk about being full of…well, you know what.

After screwing Gary at the Roadblock, big bad Kent is so hyped up for the race he has to ask his partner, Vyxsin, to carry his backpack up the stairs to the Detour because he’s too weak to do so.  Have some freaking pride, dude.  This may seem sexist, but unless you’re sick or handicapped, who let’s their girlfriend carry their backpack for them?  Shouldn’t it be the opposite?

Last and perhaps worst was his deplorable behavior trying to secure a cab to the Pit Stop.  Why was he berating the gentlemen who was already in the cab to get out so he and Vyxsin can have it?  No wonder American’s have such a bad reputation overseas.  Jerks like Kent can’t handle stress.

What’s perhaps most depressing is that Kent’s actions overshadow how impressive Vyxsin has been this season.  For starters, she’s clearly ten times more physical than Kent.  To borrow the cliché, she clearly wears the pants in the relationship.  Additionally, her ability to handle stress is significantly greater than Kent’s (ok, besides the Japan melt down leg).

Considering how painful Kent is to watch and what an anchor Ron has been for Christina, I wish we could merge Christina and Vyxsin and have Kent and Ron go home.  This will be a great idea isn’t it?

As it is, Ron and Christina going home most simply means that Jet and Cord are not going home.  Even though the cowboys made the boneheaded move of not getting on the same, earlier flight as everyone else to Varanasi, you some how got the feeling that a one hour deficit was not hard for them to make up.

Overall, the turning point of the race on the part of Ron and Christina is the fact that Ron made the road block task overcomplicated. I hope Christina will be back on another season, with a new partner.

**Update: Azaria and Christina already got married. Congratulations!

You can check other The Amazing Race 18: Unfinished Business Reviews and Poll HERE.

If you won’t agree with me that this season’s tasks are more difficult considering the stage of the leg and complexity of the tasks to be done, then you might be missing something.

I mean tasting a tea in China then identifying the same on India with hundreds, if not thousands, of tea to test, that’s one difficult task especially if the teams are unprepared for it.

TV Fanatic: As an avid watcher of reality shows I can say that an All-Star-esque season always seems to work.  Survivor is three-for-three in different iterations of the idea (four-for-four if you want to count this season).  The Amazing Race hit a home run with its first run at an All-Star season and this version has been better.

The reason it has been better is that the producers and leg designers (or whomever is in charge of creating the race course) have done a phenomenal job of putting together immensely challenging legs.  Right off the bat, the unconfirmed idea that there are no non-elimination legs this season, just double-legs instead is an awesome change.  I hope it’s something we see in all future seasons.

Even the components of the legs themselves have been original and brilliantly planned.  None more so than this week when the racers were thrown off-balance by a seemingly useless stop at a tea shop before heading to India.  Excited by the prospect of getting out of China, only Ron and Christina took the time to figure out what they were drinking.  Admittedly the language barrier makes it tough, but the lesson is to constantly pay attention.

Another aspect of this season of The Amazing Race is that I constantly find myself emotionally invested in different teams.  Last week I was pulling for Jaime and Cara to make a miraculous comeback from the double U-Turn and frustration at the Roadblock and felt bad for them when they were eliminated.

Similarly, this week, I felt bad for Luke’s struggles at the Roadblock.  I’m not sure it warranted the emotional breakdown that he went through, but you know it was tough when Big Easy was rooting him on as well, even though Luke finding the cup before Flight Time might have resulted in them getting eliminated.  I was glad that Flight Time and Big Easy avoided elimination, but appreciated Margie and Luke’s spirit.

Beyond the teams who suffer the misfortune of getting eliminated, there have been a plethora of great moments when you can’t help but smile at the teams.  Mallory takes the cake in this category with her unmatched enthusiasm.  Who says “I love India already!” upon landing at an absurdly crowded Kolkata airport?  She follows it up with a wonderfully self-aware comment about living like the people live while on the race.

Beyond just Mallory, other racers have stepped up.  The aforementioned Big Easy cheering on Luke at a difficult Roadblock.  How about Big Easy, Flight Time and others fooling the late arrivals at the Town Hall in to thinking there was a sign up somewhere?  Perhaps my favorite moment this week was Jet and Cord high fiving and cheering with the kids at the primary school.

Again, kudos to Big Easy and Flight Time because they really have good attitude. I hope their good hearts will be rewarded soon. They are in India, so I think karma might work on their advantage.

What do you think?

You can check other The Amazing Race 18: Unfinished Business Reviews and Poll HERE.

The Amazing Race Unfinished Business, again, shows us one challenging episodes. Yeah, this season, the challenges are not walk in the park anymore.

Chubbs: It’s all in the hips.  It’s all in the hips.  It’s all in the hips.  It’s all in the hips.
Happy Gilmore: Get off me!

TV Fanatic: One of the best quotes from one of the best movies, Happy Gilmore, is a perfect summation of what was biggest factor in the finish of this week’s episode of The Amazing Race: Unfinished Business.  Christina noted it herself as well, indicating that the racers, who got the hips correct the first time, finished the task first.  Those who didn’t, such as herself, came dangerously close to elimination.

Now in the 18th season of The Amazing Race, I continued to be shocked by team’s complete lack of attention to detail.  To that end, give credit to Jet who was calm throughout the Roadblock and took the time to check the picture multiple times to make sure he had his dilophosaurus model assembled correctly.  What amazes me most is that after watching Jet get to the Detour in fifth and be the first team to complete the challenge, no one else thought to check the diagram more often.

Well, that’s not entirely true.  Kent checked it multiple times and still couldn’t figure out what he did wrong.  Fortunately for him, he and Vyxsin arrived at the Roadblock fairly early and had a large enough lead to withstand a) his mistakes with constructing the dinosaur replica and b) the 30 minute time penalty they had incurred from the previous leg.  Surprisingly, they only fell one spot, from fourth to fifth, at check in because of the penalty.  Unlike recent legs, the teams’ arrival was not as bunched as we’re used to.

Jaime and Cara probably did not understand why Kent and Vyxsin U-Turned them when the teams were in 3rd and 4th place, respectively, and not a seemingly more formidable team, but Vyxsin’s logic behind the move made a lot of sense.  They had no idea they had gained so much ground due to Ron and Christina’s error (more on that later), but knew they had 30 minutes to make up on at least one team and had at least one team behind them.  What other move did they have?

The language barrier has always been an issue for Amazing Race contestants, particularly when they visit Far East countries.  Ron and Christina speaking Chinese fluently is a huge advantage.  However, teams have been racing in Far East countries for many years now and managed to survive without speaking a lick of Chinese.  Many teams did it just last night.  So why are Zev and Justin and Kisha and Jen blindly following Ron and Christina?

No matter how well Ron and Christina can communicate to their taxi cab driver where they want to go, the driver still has to know how to get there.  In the case of racing to the U-Turn, he didn’t and all three teams got burned.  Give Kisha and Jen credit, after that one blunder, they left the three team carpool and flourished without Ron and Christina.  Justin was too paranoid to go it on his own and was almost eliminated because of it.

There is some merit to simply being around other teams early in the race. Often it seems the teams that get eliminated early do so because they get lost or make a non-challenge based mistake that dooms them.  However, eventually a team needs to work by itself to win the race.  Besides, it’s far more interesting when you have teams by themselves instead of in a car pool.

Overall this leg was another tremendous hour of television in what has been a great season.  The apparent removal of non-elimination legs and replacement with double-legs is a tremendous improvement.  Additionally, the race designers have clearly made a concerted effort to make this a more challenging race versus the previous 17 seasons.  The challenges are hard, the teams are bouncing all over the place, and everything’s been wonderful to watch.

Beyond the race itself, the racers have really delivered.  Most of the teams have been super competitive with very few teams leading the race for the entire leg or trailing the race for the entire leg.  This element of change to the order of the teams makes for a far more interesting race.  Knowing that all of the teams are competent gives the sense that any last place team can dig itself out.  I wasn’t worried at all about Flight Time and Big Easy trailing early in the leg and they proved me right.