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TAR 8 - On-line Articles
puddin:
Cincinnati Siblings To Split ‘Amazing Race’ Prize With Family
http://www.whiotv.com/entertainment/5533417/detail.html
puddin:
Locals fall short in not-so-amazing 'Race'
December 14, 2005
BY DOUG ELFMAN TELEVISION CRITIC
A Park Ridge, Ill., family lost in the finale of the game show "The Amazing Race 8," Tuesday night, blowing a shot at $1 million.
The Bransens -- a 51-year-old father and three daughters -- got beat in the 25-day physical challenge by the Linz family, four sports-playing siblings from Cincinnati whose ages were 19 to 24.
The Bransens began the final episode in first place, with a few minutes' lead over two families. But the Bransens soon fell behind by picking a slow plane ride from Montana to Montreal during one bland challenge or another. They regained the lead later but couldn't hold on.
Previous "Race" seasons have been acclaimed by fans and critics. But not this one.
A contest involving shoes?
The show's tasks were stupid. Tuesday, a family had to go to a shoe store, select a shoe, and find a woman whose foot fit the shoe. They had to ride on a speed boat. It was all very pedestrian.
The grumpy nature of the show brought out the worst in families. When the Bransen daughters gave their dad, Walter, grief about lagging in one chore, show producers ran sound bites of him saying, "Oh shut up," and "I'm gonna kick somebody's ass."
Among disgruntled "Race" fans are Steve Meitz and Dave Cottingham, who were Chicago air traffic controllers when they entered "Amazing Race 4" and lost. On Sunday, they co-wrote on a "Race" fan Web site called Tarflies.com that the "crappy" "Family Edition" "sucks," because it was less demanding than earlier "Races."
Trash-talking
They wrote that family "teams had to dress in costumes and have their pictures taken," whereas on an earlier season of "Race," "teams had to dress in costume and carry 500 (kilograms) of cheese."
My own viewing frustration is "Family Edition" was insipid and annoying. Contestants complained about each other, to each other, and about other families. A few families bumped flesh in an airport on Tuesday's show, and started trash-talking, saying they sucked, and they hated each other.
What's worse, the show claimed to reward smarts and physical prowess, but teams were unjustly forced to be in virtual ties during the finale. How so?
Another area family lost
For the first hour-plus, the teams raced like mad through obstacles to get to a stadium. But after the stadium, they were essentially forced to wait for airline flights to Toronto that departed at about the exact same time. That negated almost all their hard work.
If that doesn't sound unfair enough, on one week's show another Illinois family, the Godlewski sisters from Des Plaines, went from first place to last place after a CBS-provided car ran out of battery power. They were eliminated.
The whole experience of the show should be questioned. If you never watched, this is what you missed: cameras followed bellyachers who ran, drove and rode to 50 cities where they did little things, like rolling logs. Fast-paced music went pow with fortes and cymbal crashes. It was insufferable.
The only good minute of the finale came at the end, when families said nice things, finally. A Bransen sister said of her father, "We wouldn't have made it through this without him." Cue music. Cue tears. Cue cancellation. Please.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/entertainment/cst-nws-elf14.html
puddin:
Sinker finale for
Family funk? Drops 31 percent from last season.
By Diego Vasquez
Dec 14, 2005
Adding celebrity couples to CBS’s “The Amazing Race” worked splendidly last season, spurring big ratings. Adding families this year had quite the opposite effect.
Last night’s two-hour season finale of “The Amazing Race: Family Edition” averaged a 4.6 overnight rating among viewers 18-49, down 31 percent versus the 6.7 overnight rating season seven’s finale earned last spring.
Last season “Race,” which had been on the rise since summer 2004, featured “Survivor’s” Rob and Amber, and viewership grew as the season progressed, with viewers tuning in to see if the dynamic duo could be defeated. They were bumped out in the season finale.
This year “Race” played with the formula again, sending family teams of four people trotting around the globe instead of the usual two. But this time the result was a bust.
“Family Edition” averaged a 4.2 overnight rating among 18-49s through 11 episodes this season, off 21 percent versus the Rob and Amber season.
“Family Edition” was also off compared to the last non-Rob and Amber season of “Race.” Last night’s 4.6 overnight for the finale was down 12 percent versus a 5.2 for season six’s finale last fall.
Viewers never warmed to the family format, with one common complaint being the challenges weren’t as exciting as past editions of “Race.” People also did not like having kids on the show, a frequent gripe about reality TV.
Last night’s episode was the highest-rated of the season, and up 24 percent from the 3.7 overnight rating the show had averaged over its previous three episodes.
It also helped CBS finish first for the night among 18-49s, coming in with a 4.5 average rating and a 12 share. Fox finished second at 4.0/11, NBC third at 3.4/9, ABC fourth at 3.0/8, and UPN and the WB tied for fifth at 1.2/3.
CBS started the night in the lead with a 4.2 average rating during the 8 p.m. hour for “NCIS.” NBC was second that hour with a 3.1 for the first hour of a 90-minute “Fear Factor” and ABC third with a 3.0 average for the comedies “According to Jim” (3.0) and “Hope & Faith” (2.9).
At 9 p.m. Fox took the lead with a 5.2 rating for “House,” the highest-rated hour of the night in the demo. CBS was second with a 4.2 for the first hour of the “Race” finale and NBC third with a 3.6 for the last half hour of “Fear Factor” (4.1) and a repeat of “My Name is Earl” (3.0).
CBS regained the lead during the 10 p.m. hour with a 5.1 average for the second half of “Race.” NBC took second with a 3.6 for a “Law & Order: SVU” rerun and ABC third with a 3.1 for an original “Boston Legal.”
Among households, CBS led the night with an 8.3 average rating and a 13 share. Fox was second at 6.9/11, NBC third at 6.0/9, ABC fourth at 5.9/9, UPN fifth at 2.1/3 and the WB sixth at 2.0/3.
http://medialifemagazine.com/artman/publish/article_1852.asp
puddin:
CBS Wins With Race; House Is Top Show
By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 12/14/2005 11:35:00 AM
CBS won the 18-49 demo Tuesday in the Nielsen overnight ratings with a 4.5 rating/12 share for drama NCIS and the two-hour finale of reality show Amazing Race, winning every half-hour except the two Amazing Race half-hours that went up against Fox's drama, House, the night's top-rated show at a 5.2/13 at 9-10.
http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6291292.html?display=Breaking+News
Pedaler:
http://www.tvguide.com/News/Insider/default.htm?cmsGuid={9BA48222-9C94-48A0-9BCB-A33293F5403B}
Well, Megan. Not all TAR detectives fell for all the decoys. =]/
--- Quote ---The Linz Kids are Race's First Family
by Rochell D. Thomas
The Linzes by Jeff Neira/CBS
The Amazing Race's Linz family
"I loved every minute of it!" Tommy Linz, 19, says of The Amazing Race: Family Edition, which sent him, his brothers Alex, 22, and Nick, 24, and sister Megan, 21, zipping through 50 cities in three countries in 25 days. TVGuide.com talked to the foursome the day after their long ride officially ended.
TVGuide.com: Congratulations! For a while there I thought God might help the Weavers win. If that had happened, what would you have done?
Nick Linz: We would have congratulated them! They were a strong team and very competitive.
TVGuide.com: Now that you've won $1 million, what will you do with it?
Nick: We will give half to our parents and split the other half between all seven kids. I think that we will be spending our money on paying back student loans and also, maybe, splurge a little.
TVGuide.com: In the first leg of the race, they edited out a task wherein you had to take the flag to the flag store. Were there other parts that were edited out?
Alex Linz: They did a good job putting the show together. Obviously, there are some things that are better off not being shown, like our car breaking down.
TVGuide.com: Speaking of that, did you have a hissy fit when it happened?
Nick: Not at all. The situation was completely out of our hands. Knowing we were being bumped back kind of stunk, but there was nothing we could do about it.
TVGuide.com: A friend of mine saw a clue box this summer in Niagara Falls, but it was set up in a different location. Was part of that challenge cut out?
Tommy Linz: From what I understand, CBS and the producers set up decoys.
Megan Linz: You've seen the spoilers on the Internet. It's all a way to throw people off.
TVGuide.com: You got home in August. How did you manage to not say anything to your family for three months?
Nick: We signed a big fat contract that said if we did, we could be sued for a lot of money. You don't get any of your winnings.
TVGuide.com: So you put on a serious game face?
Alex: Seeing my parents almost every day was hard, especially at times when people were saying, "I know you guys want to say something." But I would just play it off. Every day it got easier not to say anything.
Meg: At school, our friends would hassle me and Tommy. I would just say "I don't know" and drop it.
TVGuide.com: What was that crash with Rolly about?
Alex: We were both racing to the counter and I lost my balance. They edited that part to make it seem bigger than it was. It was not a big deal.
TVGuide.com: So Meg, when they showed you saying, "It's getting personal," what were you talking about?
Meg: It was just a comment that came out of my mouth after Mrs. Weaver said, "Don't touch my kid. Don't touch him!" I mean, is that really necessary? Do you really honestly think that my brother's trying to hurt your son? It wasn't necessary. But then again, in the heat of the moment, I made a comment that wasn't necessary either.
TVGuide.com: How long did it really take to find the clue in Toronto's underground city?
Nick: Two hours. It took a lot of running around, backtracking and retracing our steps.
TVGuide.com: It must have taken longer to find the box in the stadium. The Weavers' mother went to sleep!
Meg: It took every team close to five hours to find that box.
Nick: Even longer.
Alex: If we could pick the hardest task on the whole race, it's got to be that one. The clue boxes were so small, they blended in with the chairs. That's why, as soon as we found one, we took it.
Meg: It was a long day.
TVGuide.com: One of you called the Weavers "The Wicked Witch of the East and her three little monkeys." Who said it and what have you got against the Weavers?
Alex: I'll own up to that one. At times the Weavers seemed to rub us the wrong way. We made jokes about it, but in no way was it meant maliciously.
TVGuide.com: What did you guys think of the nickname the Weavers gave you — "G.I. Joes and G.I. Jane"?
Alex: We look like we're in shape, so I thought it was kind of cool. Clever.
TVGuide.com: You all made some whopper mistakes along the way, like forgetting to take a number for the helicopter ride and generally not reading clues carefully. If you were to give one of your team members an "Oops-That-Was-a-Doozy" trophy for the stupidest mistake, who would get it?
Nick: Bone's "I am 100 percent positive I see the flag" stunt he pulled at the CN Tower probably deserves it.
TVGuide.com: There seemed to be a lot of flirting going on between you and the Bransen daughters. They mooned you. You flashed them. Spill it: Who made a move on whom when Daddy Bransen wasn't around?
Nick: Daddy was always around, so what can you do?
--- End quote ---
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