The Amazing Race > The Amazing Race Discussion

When did The Amazing Race decline, if at all?

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Maanca:
Season 24 marked the start of the decline for me. Around the time CBS started pushing for more themed seasons. In the dating season, Phil being forced to ask at each Pit Stop if they felt a spark yet was the cringiest thing I've ever seen on TAR.

Which is why I can't wait for TAR32's promise of going "back to basics"...if it ever gets an airdate by 2027...

G.B.:
Season 26 is when they started trying to make a 'show' instead of making an 'adventure'.

dryedmangoez:
One could argue that the decline started back around TAR11/12. But it was very slow and incremental. Perhaps, negligible even. Interestingly, I feel like the transition from SD to HD is when the show's real steady decline started.

From TAR18 to TAR23, you could see the casting and the Leg design was definitely not at the same level as any of the SD seasons before. And the ratings reflected that. While the rest of broadcast primetime was hemorrhaging viewers, TAR had been one of the few consistent shows. They had maintained their ratings, NFL overrun boost or not, even when almost everyone else was declining. But it was around this time when TAR's ratings really fell and not even NFL overruns were enough to pad the numbers.

TAR24 was just the straw that broke the proverbial camel's back for many reasons. And of course that decline led to TAR moving to Fridays. Fridays did not kill TAR. TAR was moved to Fridays in the first place because it no longer was doing as well as it once was on Sundays.

The Friday timeslot certainly helped speed up the ratings and popularity decline. But the "quality" decline was steady and increasingly so from TAR26 to the present. Budget was obviously lower, but shouldn't be too much of a hindrance in terms of Leg design. TARs around the world have far lower budgets, yet can still produce seasons better and more enjoyable than TARUS did during this time. So TARUS had no excuse.

Casting, also one of the most important aspects of the show, continued to be subpar. And the gimmick seasons did not result in good, memorable teams. Nor did they bring in any new viewers either.

Traveldude1:
The show was much better in SD , but that's not the point here. Other than 18, you can see the show was declining around Season 16, imo.

Seasons 12 and 14 were fine and 15 was mediocre. But 16, was when you can start to tell it was going downhill

dryedmangoez:
I just mentioned the transition to HD because that's kind of a clear midpoint for TARUS. If we were to divide TARUS into two Eras, it would be the SD Era vs the HD Era. And the HD Era seasons are definitely inferior to the SD Era seasons.

And since I consider TAR17 one of the better seasons of the franchise, I think TAR18 is really the start of a noticeable decline in different aspects of the show (casting, tasks, locations, etc).

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