Skip to main content

"Bees Are Much Calmer Than All This": An Advance Look at the Season Premiere of "The Amazing Race"

I'm already rooting for comic book geeks Mark and Bill.

It seems like a lifetime since we last had an installment of reality series The Amazing Race and, after an interminable wait, the series finally returns this Sunday night at 8 pm. I had the opportunity to watch the season premiere a few days ago (that thing was burning a hole on my coffee table until I sat down to watch it) and was immediately sucked back into the addictive world of road blocks, detours, and Phil Keoghan.

While it's a little too early to tell which teams are stronger than others and which ones are worth rooting for, I already do have two favorite teams... and one team I already cannot stand. Making the top of my list are the aforementioned goateed geeks Mark and Bill, who are instantly likable as they race around with their minds overflowing with Watchmen trivia; the duo--friends for over 23 years--are attempting to be the first team to ever run the race strategically (but didn't Rob and Amber attempt to do just that?) and are proud members of the geek tribe.

I'm also pretty taken with brother-and-sister team Nick and Starr, whom I initially assumed would make me cringe with what I believed to be a co-dependent relationship that bordered on creepy... but they've completely won me over with their can-do spirit, cooperativeness, and teamwork. (And, no, they're not twins.) By the end of the premiere, I was rooting for them to come out on top.

But the real question is: which team do I already hate with a fiery passion?

The answer to that is easy: it's dating couple Terence and Sarah, whose combative nature with each other, unlikely relationship (find me a couple more dissimilar and I will gladly pay you), and social awkwardness immediately rubbed me the wrong way. While Terence gladly shuns the other contestants (he's aware from the start that this isn't a popularity contest but a race and then creepily says that Sarah is supposed to be holding him instead of talking to the others), Sarah has this burning need to become friends with everyone on the Race right off the bat and gets pissed when an offhand comment about the difficulty of finding a cab goes unnoticed by Nick and Starr... and promptly turns Sarah into a raving maniac who freaks out that they've--to quote the immortal words of Black Books--"blanked" her. (In actuality, they're all in a race and I don't think Starr or Ryan even noticed her mumbling at them.)

The rest of the competitors are a pretty motley bunch, especially elderly Oregon beekeeper/dyed-in-the-wool hippies Arthur and Anita and overweight frat boys Andrew and Dan... but none of the other teams have really yet to make an impact on me as a viewer. I'm hoping next week's installment pushes the teams a little more and gets us to see more of the inter- and intra-team dynamics (look for Sarah to flip out at Nick and Starr at the airport over a lack of a hello!) but I'm just as hooked as ever on this compelling and dynamic series.

The Amazing Race premieres Sunday at 8 pm ET/PT on CBS.

Comments

Anonymous said…
I also had the opportunity to screen the first ep and, though I don't have any favorites quite yet, I totally agree about Terence and Sarah being the most irritating team of the bunch. They seem to be living on a different planet and, apparently, don't know how to interact with other human beings (or each other, for that matter)!
Anonymous said…
I can't wait for this to start up. And from what you say I think I will be rooting for Bill and Mark too!
Jennifer said…
I guess it's a given that there'll be an annoying dating couple on every season of the Amazing Race...
Anonymous said…
Are you the authority on social skills because you write a blog about a reality show? I love the show and haven't seen the premiere yet, but I'll hold my opinions about a team until after the first few episodes. How much can they really have of this dating couple in the first episode and you're ready to throw them under the bus? I just think it's early for someone who writes on a computer about a reality show that is proven to not really be reality to be providing commentary on social skills. There seems to be some irony to me...
Anonymous said…
Wow, it's amazing to me to see someone comment about someone's criticism of a couple on a reality series that you haven't even seen yet. Seriously, dude calm down. I am going to assume you know these people or you wouldn't be freaking out like that.

I'm really looking forward to this especially after reading this review. TAR is always a highlight of the season and it seems like there are some interesting characters to follow and from the above some polarizing ones as well. People love villains, I guess!
Anonymous said…
And even more amazing to see someone comment on a comment on a criticism. And "dude," I'm plenty calm.

Popular posts from this blog

What's Done is Done: The Eternal Struggle Between Good and Evil on the Season Finale of "Lost"

Every story begins with thread. It's up to the storyteller to determine just how much they need to parcel out, what pattern they're making, and when to cut it short and tie it off. With last night's penultimate season finale of Lost ("The Incident, Parts One and Two"), written by Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, we began to see the pattern that Lindelof and Cuse have been designing towards the last five seasons of this serpentine series. And it was only fitting that the two-hour finale, which pushes us on the road to the final season of Lost , should begin with thread, a loom, and a tapestry. Would Jack follow through on his plan to detonate the island and therefore reset their lives aboard Oceanic Flight 815 ? Why did Locke want to kill Jacob? What caused The Incident? What was in the box and just what lies in the shadow of the statue? We got the answers to these in a two-hour season finale that didn't quite pack the same emotional wallop of previous season

Pilot Inspektor: CBS' "Smith"

I may just have to change my original "What I'll Be Watching This Fall" post, as I sat down and finally watched CBS' new crime drama Smith this weekend. (What? It's taken me a long time to make my way through the stack of pilot DVDs.) While it's on following Gilmore Girls and Veronica Mars on Tuesday nights (10 pm ET/PT, to be exact), I'm going to be sure to leave enough room on my TiVo to make sure that I catch this compelling, amoral drama. While one can't help but be impressed by what might just be the most marquee-friendly cast in primetime--Ray Liotta, Virginia Madsen, Jonny Lee Miller, Amy Smart, Simon Baker, and Franky G all star and Shohreh Aghdashloo has a recurring role--the pilot's premise alone earned major points in my book: it's a crime drama from the point of view of the criminals, who engage in high-stakes heists. But don't be alarmed; it's nothing like NBC's short-lived Heist . Instead, think of it as The Italian

The Daily Beast: "How The Killing Went Wrong"

While the uproar over the U.S. version of The Killing has quieted, the show is still a pale imitation of the Danish series on which it is based. Over at The Daily Beast, you can read my latest feature, "How The Killing Went Wrong," in which I look at how The Killing has handled itself during its second season, and compare it to the stunning and electrifying original Danish series, Forbrydelsen , on which it is based. (I recently watched all 20 episodes of Forbrydelsen over a few evenings.) The original is a mind-blowing and gut-wrenching work of genius. It’s not necessary to rehash the anger that followed in the wake of the conclusion last June of the first season of AMC’s mystery drama The Killing, based on Søren Sveistrup’s landmark Danish show Forbrydelsen, which follows the murder of a schoolgirl and its impact on the people whose lives the investigation touches upon. What followed were irate reviews, burnished with the “burning intensity of 10,000 white-hot suns