One thing that is irritating to me is the editing. When I go back and watch the older seasons it feels much more smooth and there is much more time to get to know all the teams equally. But ever since Season 12 or so, the editing has focused more on some teams than others, resulting in teams that develop no personality whatsoever before being eliminated (or even making the Final 3).
Small changes bother me. For some reason this season always had a brief moment before the intro where it showed some random team making a "funny" quote. I don't think there is any good reason for this - it is much more epic and suspenseful to just say "four teams remain. Who will be eliminated...NEXT?" Then cut straight to the Intro. These quotes literally ruined the suspense for me.
Another thing that I think should be brought back is the narration by Phil where he says "Teams arrived here at the end of the last leg for a mandatory rest period. The 6 teams waiting here have no idea what's in store for them. Will [such and such team] be able to overcome the Speedbump and stay in the Race? And will [another team] be able to maintain their lead?"
Explanations of what a Detour or Roadblock is should still be necessary. "A Detour is a choice between two tasks, each with its own pros and cons." There are new viewers all the time, and I'm sure they would greatly appreciate knowing what these things mean.
Finally, the eliminations could be better as well. This season really didn't seem to show as much of the eliminated teams talking at the mat as past seasons have. I love watching those interviews with Phil and especially the confessionals given after the team was eliminated. I would love to see those be the same length as they used to be.
Reposting this here, because it generally sums up many of my feelings about the season as a whole.
Here's the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly for the Finale:
...The Ugly:
- Finally (and perhaps this should be a subset of the previous point), the unfulfilled promise to the teams that they would meet the president of the United States. ...
I can't believe anyone actually thought the President of the United States would be able to meet with the racers whenever they showed up. Don't you think his time is a bit more important and scheduled than that? I knew there had to be a twist, just wasn't sure what it was.
Don't worry: I definitely didn't believe it when I heard it (the task designers have pulled way too many tricks like this in the past for me to ever believe it anyway), but I just wish they would be honest in the clues, and quit trying to create ways to make the teams look like "dumb Americans." If they really are "dumb" it will manifest itself naturally (Nick & Vicki are an example).
I want to see TAR the way it actually happened, with as little "editing" or "slanting" of events as possible.