The Un-Amazing Race

I don't know whose fault it is, but this season's Amazing Race is so boring I want to cry. If it's my fault, then I have several theories as to what might be going on. This is the first season in a long time during which I've not been talking with at least one other person about the events of the show on a weekly basis. It's been a solitary experience and I think in that instance, the fun lessens exponentially. In fact, my friends and I used to have weekly viewing parties which made it an actual event. There's none of that now. I also think the time slot, well...to be frank, sucks. Sundays at 7pm (CST). Truthfully, I've got stuff to do at that time. I'm disappointed to admit that my interest is waning. It's at this point that I turn my glaring eye and pointing finger to CBS and the AR producers.

Like its other reality show predecessors (including Survivor and Big Brother--both also on CBS), AR seems very stale this season. The teams are cast in a fairly narrow range of stereotypes that are either mundane themselves ("Friends," "Dating Couple," "Father/Daughter") or almost too obviously stretching ("Goth Couple,""Married Lesbian Ministers). Once again, reality tv has raised it's ugly need to force interest upon the viewers. Instead of picking interesting people, they cast for the most *stereotypical* (thus predictable) pairs. It's almost like they want to predict the type of drama they'll get by "planting" these volatile (or boring) pairs in this high stress format. God forbid we, as an audience, enjoy the scenery and watch with evil joy as teams experience the kind of stress we all know comes solely and uniquely from traveling by air. Isn't that drama enough?

My last issue (for this post) sounds bratty, but I'm going to go ahead anyway: We need new places! I've been watching this show now for awhile and truthfully there's only so many times I can watch people go to Bhurkina Faso and complain that it smells. It's Africa--every day is 90 degrees and they actually have nature there--of course it smells. But, why not check out New Zealand, Australia, Southeast Asia, and those types of places? Some of my favorite episodes across 9 or 12 seasons have been the really, really "exotic" places. Agreed, I'm completely spoiled by my television so much that remote areas in Africa seem ho-hum--but AR, you've done that to me, so you have to keep delivering.

I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to do about the remainder of this season. I already feel a distance that might not be reparable. But, I'm always willing to reconsider if things seem to pick up. Honestly, now that the Christian, married, lesbian ministers are gone, I'm not sure how interesting it will get.