Amazing Race: Unfinished Business

[Spiderman]

Obviously this isn't showing until next February, but since they showed teasers on the finale...

I don't like the idea. Most of the teams shown look to be from the past two seasons, with a whole bunch from this past one (Chad and Stef, the Asian team, and a couple others). I mean, they may be popular, but like Survivor, I like seeing new faces, not old ones. The only kind of thing I like about these retreads is if they do "first eliminated", like I keep saying Survivor should do.

 

[EricBess]

I don't mind too much, depending on who they get. In general, I agree with you, but an occassional "second chance" is kind of cool, too, particularly for people that really stood out, but didn't win. I don't like that they occassionally let winners rerun, but was about people that "came close" getting another shot?

They showed way more than 11 teams in their preview. I think they showed just about everyone from the current season and probably about twice as many from previous seasons. So, either it is going to be an absolutely huge group to start that is quickly whittled down to 11, or they are intentionally not wanting to reveal the list yet.

 

[Spiderman]

Another (kind of) problem I have with this is that if this is supposed to be over the whole of Amazing Race, 20 seasons or so, I doubt people are going to remember those teams from the early races. So you get a whole bunch of people from the last couple or three and a smattering here or there. Which is kinda unfair.... I mean, first eliminated, you may not remember some of them, but it's a objective deliminator. This is more like a popularity contest - and some are probably making it just because they make good TV, but the reason why is because they argue among themselves or are catty between teams, not because they're genuinely likable.

 

[EricBess]

Yeah, I agree that there are certainly some "likable" people that deserve a second chance, but the networks are also going to bring back "villians" because it is more controversial and brings better ratings. People you "love to hate" or that you can cheer against. Its a shame that those people get a second chance also just because they were memorable and the networks think they need a certain percentage of that sort of person.

It doesn't bother me in general. After all, if you are memorable, then you sort of earned your way into this season. But it would be nice if just the people who are memorable for being good people were the ones that came back.

 

[Spiderman]

Right, I would like *that* to be the criteria rather than just "memorable".

 

[Spiderman]

I think this starts Sunday

 

[EricBess]

Hope it didn't start yesterday...I missed it if it did...

 

[Spiderman]

It did... maybe you can catch it online.

It looks like they just pulled teams from the past couple of episodes for this, not for the whole history of Amazing Race. Most of the teams I remember, except one or two (especially the team that got the initial clue last - Amanda and Chris?). Mallory got on my nerves early with her general hyperness.

Rooting for the cowboys again, and maybe Gev and brother since they didn't get to finish last time when they lost their passports. Cowboys got to get in gear though, they seem to be missing a lot of stuff already.

Funny about how the lead plane become the last plane (although only by about 7 or so minutes).

Kind of weak how some teams got the answer to the flag word puzzle from other teams - perhaps each team should have a unique phrase to prevent that from happening.

And.... it's to be continued...

 

[Spiderman]

Well, the cowboyus caught up, although it's unclear how long they spent on the streets looking for the anchor thing at Town Hall before they could sign up for a plane. With this many episodes/seasons, I think looking for an Internet somewhere, like at a hotel, is pretty paramount to finding out stuff.

Looks like people should have done the Natural Spirit challenge as it seemed way faster than making a mosiac.

Amanda and Chris's error in the beginning came back to get them as they couldn't get enough speed to beat Christina and father team. They probably would have beat them if they didn't have to do both Detours.

Not sure why there was a question of Margie and Luke going back to get her kangaroo costume that fell off (well, more on Margie's part than Luke's). Again, after all this time, I think it's better to spend the "little" time looking for a piece that may prove to be needed later than keep going on and then finding out you have to go back and get it.

 

[Spiderman]

Jaime and Cara caught a (bad) break when they sideswiped a car and had to wait for the police and all, but caught a good break when Mike and Mel couldn't find the frog. Now, I'm not sure how long they spent there, but usually people go for the other detour if they can't do the first one. Not sure why they didn't do that here.

Glad that the Globetrotters are getting a penalty for basically bad sportsmanship.

 

[EricBess]

No one switched. I think once you are that muddy and it has gotten dark and you are cold, they figured that it wasn't worth it. What I don't understand is why they brought Mike and Mel back. I seem to recall that the son was constantly wanting to quit the first time because he was afraid his dad couldn't handle it. And now, the same thing this time. No disrespect to them because it's great that they look out for each other, but why bring them back?

It wasn't clear what happened with the fanny pack. I got the impression that taking it was an honest mistake, but just leaving it wasn't cool. I think the tents were a ways down the mountain, but still. I was actually surprised that they didn't award the penalty when the Globetrotters checked in. Usually they are on top of that sort of thing. I wonder if the cameramen didn't realize.

I also wonder if they reshoot things for something like this or if they intentionally get a lot of close-ups of anything that might get left behind or moved, just in case it does. I've heard that Survivor will sometimes reshoot things that happen to make them seem more interesting, so I'm guessing that they do also. It would be very difficult to anticipate everything that might happen so you could film everything.

I'm sort of surprised so many people went looking for the frogs. Personally, I'm not a fan of needle-in-haystack challenges anyway, but when you have the option and so many have already done it, you have to wonder how many more frogs there even are. Do they plant extras or just enough so that each team can have one? They can't really put them back in. They didn't show a lot of the other challenge, but it didn't seem that difficult. The globetrotters were basically spouting nonsense and they just let them through.

 

[Spiderman]

I think they brought them back because the father is one of the oldest to be on the show and I *think* he lasted fairly long in their original show, thus qualifying for the "unfinished business" theme. I guess.

I thought they got to the challenge around the same time as the "rest of the pack" (excluding Jaime and Cara), so it was still daylight. So like I said, not sure how long they spent there for darkness to fall and have Jaime and Cara catch up.

I think taking the fanny pack was an honest mistake but not taking it back *nor* telling the others where they left it was not very sporting. However, I think Phil was leaving it up to them to say something since technically, the Globetrotters weren't breaking any Race rules that would warrant a flat-out penalty; there's always times where teams tell others wrong information or nothing at all, etc. But since they did speak up, I think it was fair to assess such a penalty as it was a bit more egregarious than misdirections.

Not sure if the show reshoots things; I think it's harder than Survivor since by nature of the game, people are on the move and need to get places. I do think they have lots of footage and angles, especially when waiting for the players to do challenges, so they can always go back and get those shots in when it turns out that something like that is happening.

They didn't say how many frogs there were, but except maybe at the beginning, there were teams there constantly so I can't see how they could have put them back. I think the number of frogs was probably 2x the number of teams, maybe slightly less, so 18-20. Although 15 sounds like a nice round number.

Gotta say Kent is much better this show than his original (so far). He's not yelling at Vixxen but being more supportive and not giving up so much (although it didn't seem like he was looking for the frogs that much; Vixxen was doing that).

 

[EricBess]

I could see them having a crew whose job it is to trail a day behind the group, shooting things that they want to add, like a close-up of the fanny pack. The only thing about that is that they would have to be very good at appropriating and/or creating things that looked like the original objects, so who knows. It would be interesting to get a behind-the-scenes look.

 

[Spiderman]

Well, not sure how big the "entourage" is, but it makes sense to have several crews at the stationary sites like Detours and Roadblocks so they can be sure to get enough angles and footage. Films do it all the time and the stationary sites where people aren't on the go all the time makes the most sense here.

 

[EricBess]

Good point. I was thinking that it would be difficult because they only have the people following them along. It can't be a large crew because they occassionally need to take taxis. Plus, if you keep an eye on your cameraman, you see what they are filming. But yeah, it only makes sense that they would have extra cameras already set up at the challenges. And if the team has to take off running, the entourage cameraman is at a disadvantage, having to lug gear.

 

[Spiderman]

Well, Kent & Vixxen are having a string of bad luck. Went the wrong way in the beginning to the airport, left passport at the ticket counter, breaking down at the charm challenge, and now leaving their fanny pack on the gondola. I am still amazed at how Kent has changed and has not yelled at Vixxen but has been continually supportive of her.

The Globetrotters redeemed themselves in my eyes by stopping their bus so the Asian team could get on. Although not sure if the Asian team might incur a penalty since they didn't start at the top of the mountain with the bus, although Phil didn't mention it at the "pit stop". Maybe when they finally stop.

Funny how the Asian dad wants to eat all the time though

 

[EricBess]

Honestly, though...what is going on with Vixxen? It's like she's had a brain anurism or something. I don't say that to be mean, I'm just wondering if something is going on with her. It seems like the very smallest things have her turned around and confused. And not really confusing things. I mean - maps can be hard to read, but it just feels like it goes beyond that, like rather than being confused at reading the map, like she's confused about what a map even is. Was it just me or did someone else get that impression also. I'm genuinely concerned that something may be wrong.

I can't believe how far the brothers fell. Didn't they just do 2 first place finishes in a row, then to all but give up on the road block. I can't believe he just hung all of the charms from the middle and said "there it is" and got upset when it wasn't. When it doubt - reread the clue.

Yeah, the asian dad was pretty funny - wanting to stop and eat the fish. We were equally surprised that there wasn't a penalty, though, thinking the same thing. Yeah, it wasn't a pit-stop, so maybe still, but I would think that having seen Phil there.

BTW - Have they said anything about non-elimination legs this time? This is the second time they have "kept racing" and they are barely into the season. I'm wondering if they are not having non-elimination legs and are doing that instead.

Also - not sure if you noticed, but at the beginning of the previous episode (not this weeks, but the week before), I had meant to point out that they didn't have a mandatory rest period, but "left immediately". Prior to yesterday's episode was really their first "break". I guess they rest while in transit sometimes, but it's probably not quite the same.

 

[Spiderman]

I agree about Vixxen; it may have been the same way in their first time on the show but wasn't shown (although one of them alluded to it, saying it was like one of their legs in their first time), but since it seemed to be multiple setbacks, it was shown a lot more here. Maybe she's a terrible navigator and terrible under pressure, but for her to say she's was looking at the map and the compass for an hour and seeing they were going the wrong way but not saying anything sounds... weird. Like she was paralyzed or something. Same with the challenge. It doesn't bode well for them, that's for sure.

The one who did the challenge (Zeb? Although I think they're best friends, not brothers) is autistic, so it may be that this challenge just got the best of him and as he got more and more frustrated, he started "breaking down" also. I mean, they were in the thick of it in the beginning but to see the other teams just pass by and leave them probably was upsetting and when Kent and Vixxen showed up, even more pressure was on. Yeah, we were saying to re-read the clue too, but perhaps in the heat of it, he just couldn't think of it either.

Yeah, I don't know about the non-elim legs and keep racing thing either. I remember the leg after the first keep-racing (the second episode?) was a definite "The last one to reach the pitstop WILL be eliminated" though

Yeah, I caught the "leave immediately" thing a couple of weeks ago. It may have been one of those "comfort trains" with beds and a car for meals, etc. so perhaps it was the equivalent of a rest stop, though they were moving.

 

[EricBess]

Right, I had forgotten that Zeb was autistic. That does explain a lot. The fact that he does as well as he does is pretty good. I imagine something like this would have been better for his team mate to do, but you never really know what the challenge is, just a hint of it. For a while, I thought the deaf kid was going to have to do something involving listening and I was wondering how they would have handled that...

 

[Spiderman]

I thought he did do a challenge like that before, like something involving music and/or dancing...