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1st time Amazing Race Watchers, what do you think?

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1st time Amazing Race Watchers, what do you think?

Old 04-05-05, 06:40 PM
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1st time Amazing Race Watchers, what do you think?

I know Rob and Amber brought in a new audience to the show who had not previously seen it, but I've been watching since midway through the 1st season, and was wondering if the newcomers like or dislike the show.

And will you be back?

Sadly the next TAR is a 'family show' with families of 4, but then it reverts back to the normal TAR.
Old 04-05-05, 07:45 PM
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Im a first time watcher and im really enjoying it.I guess im like alot of people who knew Rob and Amber from watching Survivor(i only watched S1,S2,gave up during S3,came back for Allstars),also my boss was always talkng about TAR so i gave it a shot and im hooked.Right from the 2 hour opener it felt like one big long immunity challenge that never ends which is alot better than people sitting around bickering and back stabbing each other and standing on logs for hours on end.I also love seeing the different places they go to.Count me in as a TAR watcher
Old 04-07-05, 12:38 PM
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This is my first season of TAR mainly because of Rob and Amber - that and now we have local channels with TIVO. I have enjoyed it so far.

I plan to watch at least one other season, on DVD when avaible, but I think I like the format of the show enough to watch in the future.
Old 04-07-05, 12:43 PM
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i watched for the first time last season after giving up on telling my wife i didnt' want to watch (she's been watching it from season 1, episode 1 and loves it to death). So this is my 2nd season.

After you get past the fact that they allow teams to get back in it by bunching up in airports/bus terminals, etc., its really a great show. I think i liked last season a lot better, but Rob and Amber have made this one watchable.

Overall its a raelly good show and I will continue to watch it.
Old 04-07-05, 12:46 PM
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Hi,

Before this "Survivor" was the only reality show I watched. I'm tuning in to TAR because of Rob and Amber. Here are some things that would make TAR better:

* Show more interaction between the contestants.

* Instead of several teams of 2, why not do two big teams and then have everybody compete individually by the end?

* Instead of running around the world and giving us only glimpses of places, why not do one locale per season and have them stay there?

* Contestants are too pampered, staying in hotels, being given money and the like. They should have to rough it, and hunt and gather their own food.

* To make things more interesting, put the fate of each player in the hands of the other players, having them vote out the person to be eliminated.

* The challenges just lead to clues for other challeneges. Perhaps they could instead give awards for winning them, including immunity from being voted off.

Just my humble thoughts.
Old 04-07-05, 12:51 PM
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Groucho makes some very valid points. I think we should pass them along to the producers of AR.
Old 04-07-05, 12:59 PM
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Despite the positive reviews I had never watched the show until this season. I like it but I will pass on the "family" season.
Old 04-07-05, 01:03 PM
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Originally Posted by Dubya
Despite the positive reviews I had never watched the show until this season. I like it but I will pass on the "family" season.
Rumor has it that they are trying to secure a "celebrity" contestant for the family version
Spoiler:
Another "Survivor" contestant, Rupert and his family
Old 04-07-05, 01:08 PM
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Originally Posted by LorenzoL
Rumor has it that they are trying to secure a "celebrity" contestant for the family version
Spoiler:
Another "Survivor" contestant, Rupert and his family
That could be fun.
Old 04-07-05, 01:10 PM
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Originally Posted by Groucho
Before this "Survivor" was the only reality show I watched. I'm tuning in to TAR because of Rob and Amber. Here are some things that would make TAR better ....
Just my humble thoughts.
Sorry, but the suggestions would basically turn TAR into a Survivor-clone, a show I avoid like the plague.

What I enjoy about The Amazing Race is watching how the different personalities deal with different cultures and environments under stressful conditions - one day they're in the mountains of Peru, next day they're in the deserts of southern Africa. Frankly, I wouldn't find it to be much of a race if the contestants were plonked down in the same location for weeks on end.
Old 04-07-05, 01:18 PM
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No, no, no to the suggestion of voting people off. That's what makes TAR so great, the strong survive.

Like Survivor, the 2nd half of the season is usually even better because there are fewer teams they have to focus on.

Re: show more interaction between competitors - one good thing about last night's recap was that they did show some more interaction than we got in the regular episodes.
Old 04-07-05, 01:19 PM
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Originally Posted by rampo
Sorry, but the suggestions would basically turn TAR into a Survivor-clone, a show I avoid like the plague.
Welcome to the forum.

If you stay around here for awhile, you'll find out that Groucho is just being himself.
Old 04-07-05, 01:33 PM
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Originally Posted by Groucho
Hi,

Before this "Survivor" was the only reality show I watched. I'm tuning in to TAR because of Rob and Amber. Here are some things that would make TAR better:

* Show more interaction between the contestants.

* Instead of several teams of 2, why not do two big teams and then have everybody compete individually by the end?

* Instead of running around the world and giving us only glimpses of places, why not do one locale per season and have them stay there?

* Contestants are too pampered, staying in hotels, being given money and the like. They should have to rough it, and hunt and gather their own food.

* To make things more interesting, put the fate of each player in the hands of the other players, having them vote out the person to be eliminated.

* The challenges just lead to clues for other challeneges. Perhaps they could instead give awards for winning them, including immunity from being voted off.

Just my humble thoughts.
Excellent suggestions.

Here's another thought -- the name "The Amazing Race" really lacks pizzazz. The basic premise of the show is that you're trying to be the one who stays alive or endures -- maybe they could change the name to reflect that fact.
Old 04-07-05, 03:08 PM
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Sorry, but the suggestions would basically turn TAR into a Survivor-clone,
I agree totally. TAR needs to continue to be its own show! *ALL* the suggestions that were made above are saying "make this more like Survivor".

I am also a first-time Amazing Race watcher (Started watching on request of several family members that were staying with us, not the 'Romber' factor)

I like the fact that there is a chance that a leg may not be an elimination leg, the old couple have definatly made the most of their "second chance"!

I do agree somewhat that they should try to avoid having stopping points too often (airports, etc) that bunch everyone up during a leg. I did like the one leg however that had two departure times that gave those in the middle a chance to catch up some, while not giving the same advantage to teams closer to last.
Old 04-07-05, 03:17 PM
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I agree that TAR must be kept different from Survivor, but I had one idea the producers could use to spice things up. Instead of making the teams consist of 4 people to spice up the drama, what if the teams were split up? At the start of the race the players would learn that their 2 person teams have been randomly shuffled so that each player would be racing with a stranger.

Imagine the fights two people who don't know each other would have. There's tons of drama between freshman roommates in college who have to put up with each other for a long time against their will. Plus you would have couples racing against each other. Would a man sabotage the team his wife was on just to avoid being eliminated? I think that could be an interesting little experiment of a season.
Old 04-07-05, 03:24 PM
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Originally Posted by LorenzoL
Welcome to the forum. If you stay around here for awhile, you'll find out that Groucho is just being himself.
D'oh!!! I really must be out of it this afternoon. Believe me, I'm not USUALLY this slow.
Old 04-07-05, 04:05 PM
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Originally Posted by Groucho

* Contestants are too pampered, staying in hotels, being given money and the like. They should have to rough it, and hunt and gather their own food.

Just my humble thoughts.
They have tried this ... NBC debutted "Lost" about the same time as TAR. You are stranded in the middle of nowhere with no money and no means of transportation and the first person to find his/her way back to NYC (I think) wins 1 million dollars. Anyway, it was supposedly bad/boring because there was nothing to do but beg for money.
Old 04-07-05, 05:13 PM
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Originally Posted by chowderhead
They have tried this ... NBC debutted "Lost" about the same time as TAR. You are stranded in the middle of nowhere with no money and no means of transportation and the first person to find his/her way back to NYC (I think) wins 1 million dollars. Anyway, it was supposedly bad/boring because there was nothing to do but beg for money.
I LOVED the idea behind Lost. Dropping you off in some unknown country, with very little money, pairing you with a complete stranger, and expecting you to somehow figure out where you are AND get back to the US was priceless. But the show had several problems.

First, the contestants weren't that interesting. Second, there were only three teams of two. One team just quit early, and the other teams were so far apart it was boring.

Finally, there was just no structure to it. Between the dropoff and gitting to the final destination there was only one or two times where the teams had ANY sort of input or direction. On paper this sounds great, but in reality it just looked like wandering aimlessly. It ruined any sense of competition or pace the show might have had. I've complained in these threads before about the bunching in TAR, but this is the ridiculous extreme opposite. Without any interim goals there was NOTHING to keep this competitive or remotely even other than the producers crossing their fingers and hoping for the best.

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