The Amazing Race > The Amazing Race Discussion
Why the Amazing Race has lost its magic
Dånooky:
--- Quote from: Hooky on October 20, 2009, 01:14:57 PM ---And the Legs are just too centralized in one location. It seems less amazing because there are no "24 hour train rides", no self-driving that can spread teams apart and make the race seem bigger. There is no mystery to it. Everyone knows that the teams will all end up safe in the end. Nowadays there are no risks. Older seasons had much more of the unknown to them.
--- End quote ---
I agree with this point. For example, while I was lloking for a screenshot of Peach (Season 2) I went through the episode when they went to Langa in Cape Town, as I was trying to get a good shot I kept repeating a confessional where they said "the locals told me not to go there because I would die". It was exciting to watch then. I think the biggest problem of the current TAR is that tasks are becoming fake and safe. It's not that bad when done with moderation, I loved the "Build a snowman in the desert" challenge, I found it creative, but I think the epitome of lameness was the Lithuanian Detour in Season 12: stilts or counting pickets = BORING! On the Japan leg, OK, the sushi roulette was something unexpected, but it would've been better had it not been 70% of the whole episode (the starting line task shares the fault of showing too little of Tokyo). On the cast: Enough with Malibu mactors already. But I think the casting crew got better beginning S14.
Summing up: fire the new task designers and bring back the old ones. Don't let the new casting crew fall asleep. Bring back the charity tasks. Show more of the country (extend the show if you must). And no more starting line tasks.
puddin:
One of the biggest letdowns to me were the tasks TAR14 Romania, fake gypsy village, drag the coffins and break the plaques filled with blood to find a clue
. .Tammy and Victor looking for the detour for what seemed like 30 minutes screen time. The Roadblock/Gymnastics was cute though.
Caelestor:
OH YES. Time for me to rant.
There is a trend that I've noticed in later seasons, which is the legs staying in one city -- ESPECIALLY this season. That makes for quite a bit of lost taxi situations, which I dislike. Compare TAR 5 with a whopping 31 cities to TAR 13 with only 18. (Looking at this season, we may end up with only 10-15 cities.)
What happened to the legs in which we traveled through the country and ended up in some place in the countryside? Take for example, TAR 14 Switzerland and TAR 13 Cambodia. We visited a whole bunch of cultural landmarks, traveled away from the city and took in some of the culture not usually thought of as being related to that country.
Unfortunately, I find that there is no one perfect TAR season. Most often, the season fizzles out towards the end, since I'm always feel odd about a certain team having a lot of screen time (That's why I say 6-8 teams make for the best episodes). From what I've watched about Season 9-15:
Season 9-11: The endings were all ruined because the teams ended up at their final destination midway through the episode, thus leaving them to only do one task at the final destination.
Season 9: An excellent race route with generally competitive teams. (What's so bad about this season? Alpha males were entertaining.) I shall compare the Tokyo leg of this and that season. Although TAR 9's visit to Tokyo was marred by an overnight stop at the capsule hotel, we did see not only the bustling city of Tokyo, but also the countryside. Compare that to an odd Japanese game show and herding tourists through Shibuya, where we've already been. You could remove this episode and I wouldn't care. This year's premiere would have been much better if they started with a double-length Vietman leg.
Season 10: The style was like Season 9, except the teams were like those from TAR 14 (more on that later). Dustin and Candace are the most competent FF racers I've seen on the Race. We got the horrid intersection (lucky it was removed after All-Stars). Once again, flights from Paris to NY ruined the last half of the episode.
Season 11: Too much time in South America! Otherwise, it wasn't too bad. Some old favorites brought their magic back. Worst TAR finish ever.
After Season 12, TPTB fixed the problem of the multi-area final legs. I don't have to see so much Alaska/Hawaii again! Then, we got the LA starts, the decline in tasks, and questionable casting (which has improved lately).
Season 12: This season gets a lot of flak for its bland cast and tasks. Still, I like this season better than 13/14/15. There were a few gems, as the boring team were eliminated quickly. Goths + Asian Family + Grandad = Awesome. Nate and Jen were good villains too. We had 5 new countries to visit, which is always good. I liked this season's finale (though I disagree with the winners), since I felt they actually went places and raced.
Season 13: The general route was pretty nice. There were a few gems in there, such as the Cambodia leg. In contrast to Phnom Penh this season, it felt like we saw a lot of the country (Tonle Sap and Angkor Wat). Boat-riding was fun! However, this season had terrible teams that I could care less about. Nick and Starr were too strong, and that took away a lot of the drama. And don't get started on Dandrew... :groan:
Season 14: At first, it seemed as if the race was revitalizing. The Europe legs did go places and had relatively interesting tasks (even though they're somewhat stereotypical, at least they were slightly challenging). Then, we got hit by boring Asia legs, especially after Mike and Mel left. There were some bright teams that brought quite a bit of action (it's your opinion whether it detraced from the show). The TAR 14 finale wasn't half-bad either, though I've grown tired of Hawaii. Why not Canada?
Season 15: Oh dear. Teams are slightly above those from Season 12/13, but the tasks! Despite the "indirect clues," I have not been intrigued by any of the detours so far. I would say only the duck task was fascinating so far.
For a change, why not have the race immediately start in the first country visited (and end on the East Coast/Canada)? This gets rid of the obligatory flight drama at the beginning of the season. Less blatant bunching as well please! Signs of improvement will include the countryside and boats/buses/trains/self-driving instead of cars/planes.
Coutzy:
Season 15 has included some lackluster areas, but lets remember that the race was run under the threat of swine flu, so WRP had to be very careful about where they went and what they did because obviously they didn't want racers or production crews getting infected.
mswood:
There are things I like and dislike about every single season.
I do agree that three of the largest things are Cast, Locations, and tasks.
On the cast aspect, that always seems to be the factor that has the largest disagreements on what makes a great cast. I know people who love the characters that are brash, over the top, or in your face. I am not one of those fans (though on occasion characters that fit that mold I do like or even love), and there are many people that hate the easy going racers (usually the ones I like). And not only is it the specific racing teams, but also how they interact on the race. I do think the smaller number of casting sessions in different cities is probably a budget choice.
The course. This is probably my single biggest complaint since season 11. After season 1, teh producers really have tried to make sure that teams remain together, but even after that they have allowed the teams episodes to go seriously off course, in either flights or more importantly to me driving. In a race around the world being able to navigate should be one of the most important aspects of the race (and for the first 11 seasons it was often a bigger factor then selection of tasks, and performance of tasks). But with the budget cuts, the producers have to fit as much travel in, and control teh time that travel takes. The best way to do that is limit driving. Its my single greatest complaint of what I would call "Budget TAR".
Tasks: This is often a mixed bad, each season and each season has had a few weak tasks. THough hell in season 13, who knew dressing as a cow or marching in formation would make such awesome tv. But I do miss the "wow" tasks. The "extreme Sports" type of tasks (Season 7 a season I really liked didn't have any of these type tasks. Tasks that are both rushes for the racers but offer beautiful sights for the viewer (like the Zip Line in the Alps). But they still do manage some great tasks (the cheese wheels last season, the ducks this season, searching for water in the desert. Again many of these could all be budget related. Oh on the tasks I also miss the interaction with authentic locals (we don't need many just one or two a season, but they had so much character to the show and the racers). On this leg for example I loved the roadblock, thought the detour was fine (Nice contrast), the Fast Forward was lame (like stunt driving or putting out a fire, YAWN!!!), and I like using the Burj, but they should have made it a spot the clue type of route marker, instead of just take an elevator and walk over and get the clue (that was a big mistake in my opinion) and one that probably wouldn't have cost hardly any more.
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