Sunday, October 3, 2010

The Amazing Race: Off to a Good Start With Episode 1 of Season 17

I remember the first episode of Season 1 of The Amazing Race like it was yesterday. And now we are in Season 17, which started off last Sunday with a 90 minute episode that began late in my Central Time Zone, due to a football game running late.

Even though the race started off well for Ron and Tony, the number of times they were shown talking about their great navigational skills sort of foretold that they were going to get lost. And they did get lost.

Super lost.

Ron and Tony managed to get to England in the lead with two other teams, being the first to get to the first plane to London. But, from that point on, nothing went well.

Ron and Tony got so far behind, by the time they got to the goofy little boat task, we saw them struggle with the boat and then quickly edited to the finish line where Phil eliminated them from the race.

The little boat task seemed a little unfair. It favored small teams who were similarly sized. Tony is a plus-sized greatly outweighing Ron. I don't think they could ever have managed to get across that water in that boat.

The Amazing Race seems to have done a much better job of casting this time. The teams all seem nice and likable. No annoyingly stupid beauty queen, no dumb mactors, no angry lesbians. Every one seemed fairly good natured, for the most part. The only bickering team was Chad & Stephanie, with Chad being the bicker boy. Chad & Stephanie were amusing in the end, when it took them hours, it seemed, to find Phil and the Pitstop, running circles around the Nevermore or Morenever or Whatever it was Named Castle.

Another amusing team is the tattooed/pierced pair of Nick & Vicki. They did a good job of getting lost. Vicki did not know what Stonehenge was. When Phil asked her what country she was in, Vicki said, "London."

I hope no football game wreaks havoc with tonight's 7 o'clock airing of Leg 2 of Season 17 of The Amazing Race.

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