The Amazing Race > The Amazing Race Discussion

Lee Sanders: Blood of the Realm

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georgiapeach:
Huge Congrats to Lee and his partner Michael McNelly on the release of their new Fantasy novel "Blood of the Realm"!! A STAR is Born!

 You can visit the website to purchase your very own e-copy now: only $4.99!!
http://www.thenayoransaga.com/shop/

 or the Amazon link is here: http://tiny.cc/w4l8ex

There is also a preview on Amazon!

tarflyonthewall:
Congrats on the book!


--- Quote ---I should add that the editors actually place the music onto the scenes, and in many cases they'll find something from a previous cycle's music that works well for a new event (even if I've written something new for it). That's one way that reality TV works very differently from other TV formats.
--- End quote ---

Oooh, interesting. What is your take on the recent(ish) decision to put local/local-inspired music over the end credits? I really want to like the added cultural element, and I love the show's music, but often the music chosen is a little too upbeat to me given there's usually an elimination directly before.

Lee Sanders:
That's a great question, Tarfly (can I call you 'Tarfly?').

We've definitely put a greater emphasis on music as a vehicle for "expressing cultural variety" (as opposed to "pushing the dramatic intensity of a situation," for example, or "emphasizing character relationships") in the last few cycles. I think the end credits music is an outgrowth of that shift.

To my mind the show has a three-ingredient recipe: A) travelogue, B) action, and C) relationships. The music has to be serving one of those at any given moment.

Last thought here: I haven't had a conversation about this with anyone in the production, but my sense is that the end credits music often sums up an episode *as a whole*. So turning the emotional corner from a difficult elimination can definitely be tricky (especially if a given locale's ethnic music has an inherently light-hearted feel).

tl;dr: Agreed that it can be a mixed bag in certain situations.

tarflyonthewall:
That's definitely a good point, and there are rare occasions when it's so bizarre it works perfectly - the one that instantly comes to mind is following up Abbie & Ryan's bitter elimination with the jaunty Dutch street grinder music - so it's not as if it's awful every week. It may just be that the music is being used directly after the elimination (instead of, say, using the 'next week' preview to shift the tone and putting it on the longer section of credits afterward) that is making it feel so awkward.

I was thinking last night about what the music choice should be if the show ever comes back to Australia. I eventually came up with this, which is somehow simultaneously the most and least Australian piece of music imaginable LOL.

(Sorry for derailing the thread.)

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