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gingerman28:
To my mind, just too much pre-race publicity about the family teams is being generated by local papers around the country. Can't remember any previous TAR with so much info being given out about all the team members so far in advance of the start of the actual race.

Me thinks that CBS is getting worried about the appeal of the four-person teams, the trip only covering 11,000 miles and travel only around North America. So they are encouraging local papers from each team's home town to hype them to the sky blue heavens.

puddin:
The Amazing Race Schroeder Family Lost Everything In Hurricane Katrina
On the Amazing Race Family Edition, ten families compete in a grueling race around the world for a million dollar prize.  However, nothing encountered on The Amazing Race can compare to what one of the families competing on the show has been through recently.  The Schroeder family is from New Orleans, Louisiana and lost everything during Hurricane Katrina

more here
http://www.realitytvmagazine.com/blog/2005/09/the_amazing_rac_1.html

puddin:


By John Kiesewetter
Enquirer staff writer

 
 
 
Tom (left), Nick, Alex and Megan Linz of Anderson Township will be competiting in "The Amazing Race" starting Tuesday.
 
 
ON THE AIR
What: "The Amazing Race: Family Edition"

When: 9-11 p.m. Tuesday
 
"AMAZING RACE" HOST HERE
Host Phil Keoghan will sign DVDs of "The Amazing Race" first season 3-5 p.m. Thursday at the new West Chester Township Wal-Mart, 8288 Cincinnati-Dayton Road, just north of I-75.
 
It's amazing. Everywhere Terri Linz goes, somebody tells her how much they love "The Amazing Race."

And how much they're looking forward to seeing her children - Nick, 24, Alex, 23, Megan, 21 and Tommy (aka "Bone"), 19 - on "The Amazing Race: Family Edition" premiering Tuesday (9-11 p.m., Channels 12, 7).

"I hadn't seen the show," says Linz, 52, of Anderson Township. She didn't know that Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky was the No. 1 market for CBS' "The Amazing Race" and "Survivor."

"It has been a real enlightenment to me," she says. "I've never had time to sit and watch TV in the evening."

The mother of seven - and part-time Clermont Mercy Hospital nurse - has set aside Tuesday night to watch the show at an undisclosed location.

A very large location.

"We thought we'd have 100 or so, but we're doubling that," she says.

CBS won't allow her to mention the site. The network wants to maintain the illusion that the Linzes - and nine other family teams - are still traveling around the globe in hopes of winning $1 million. The show was taped in July.

For the first time, teams have been expanded from two people to four family members. Participants range in age from 8 to 57. The show won a third consecutive Emmy for best reality show last week.

Team Linz is Nick, 24, a salesman for the family business in Buffalo, N.Y.; Alex, 23, an emergency room technician; Megan, 21, and Tommy ("Bone"), 19, both Miami University students. Nick and Alex played on the 1998 St. Xavier High School state runner-up football team.

They proudly wear Bengals'shirts, and call themselves the "Who Dey" team.

"The kids are having fun seeing the excitement about it and the excitement this year for the Bengals," says mom, official CBS spokeswoman for her children.

She says she doesn't know any details about the show - and couldn't talk about it anyway. But she has been assured by the kids that the family - and Cincinnati - will be proud of them.

"I don't know anything. The kids just look at me and say, 'Mom, watch the show!' They tell me that there are no embarrassing situations. It's just going to be fun."

http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050926/ENT/509260307/-1/CINCI

gingerman28:
One of the sports betting sites in LV has stopped taking bets on the Linz Family.  Rumor has it that there was extraordinary bets being placed from Ohio during the last week.  At the same time Mrs. Linz is saying that her kids have told her that Cincinnati will be proud of them.  Giveaway that the Linz kids actually do win?

puddin:
another article with the Blacks in the spotlight



Amazing Race’ has lost its way
Show keeps tweaking format as ratings climbed

CBS
Will the addition of families improve or ruin 'The Amazing Race'? 

 
COMMENTARY
By Andy Dehnart
MSNBC contributor
Updated: 4:57 p.m. ET Sept. 26, 2005
The past year and a half has been rough for long-time fans of “The Amazing Race.” The first season debuted in 2001, but only in the series’ fourth year did it finally earn the audience and massive fan base it always deserved.

Unfortunately, success came with a price.

During the first four seasons, two-member teams of people with preexisting relationships raced around the world. From Johannesburg to Manila, Hong Kong to Paris, Mexico City to Venice, they were challenged to navigate unfamiliar places, complete physically and mentally challenging tasks, and overcome the stresses placed on their relationship.
Parents grew closer to their children, grandparents finished tasks they didn’t think they’d be able to complete, couples learned that their communication skills weren’t quite as strong as they’d imagined, and friends laughed and bonded on their way to the finish line. Viewers grew frustrated with “equalizers,” pre-arranged transportation or hours of operation at certain tasks that caused the teams to bunch up, but also kept the tension ratcheted up. Along the way, these teams formed friendships with their fellow racers and sometimes butted heads when their paths crossed. All but one pair would be “Philiminated” — told that they “been eliminated from the race” by host Phil Keoghan — while the rest would keep running, ensuring our pulses would be racing until the very last minute.

And then came season five.

In the summer of 2004, “The Amazing Race 5” became a hit, ending its 12-episode run with a finale that was watched by 50 percent more viewers than watched the previous season’s conclusion. That was also the season that the race officially changed. With the introduction of two new elements, the series took a different route than it had its previous four seasons.

Ch-ch-ch-changes
The most significant change was the Yield, an option that permitted one team to force another team to stop racing for a period of time. While in the past teams sometimes worked together, and occasionally worked against one another, the Yield fundamentally changed the series’ focus from the race to the dynamics between the teams. Instead of just racing against other teams, they were now playing against other teams.

Also during “The Amazing Race 5,” producers changed the rules for non-elimination legs. Teams that arrived to pit stops in last place occasionally were not eliminated. But during the fifth season, teams who came in last on those special, predetermined non-elimination legs were forced to surrender all their money (and, a few seasons later, all of their possessions). This left the team to wander around a country begging for money from locals and tourists, all while a camera crew awkwardly, ridiculously, and offensively taped their quest for $1 million.

The casting also changed the series. For the fifth season, CBS decided to pimp out a star from its summer reality series to its Emmy winning series, and former “Big Brother” houseguest, Alison, and her boyfriend joined the race. Alison was pretty universally loathed on “Big Brother,” and viewers remained baffled why the producers would let such a twit tarnish “The Amazing Race.” Of course, the answer was ratings.

“The Amazing Race 5” also included pompous and verbally abusive Colin and his suffering girlfriend Christie, giving the series its first detestable villain. And Charla Faddoul’s presence on the cast also caused some concerns, at least initially. As a little person, the first reality show contestant not to be of average height, her inclusion on the show seemed like stunt casting at best and exploitation at worst.

As it turned out, Alison and Donny were eliminated at the end of the second leg, after annoying the world with their immature bickering. And Charla’s heart quickly captured viewers, as she showed she was more capable and strong than her teammate and cousin, Mirna, and frequently stronger than other racers.

As Charla hauled a 55-pound side of beef through the streets of Uruguay, she gave the series one of its few iconic moments and the rest of us a lesson in perseverance and will, shaming anyone who thought a person’s lack of height could limit their abilities. When Charla and Mirna were eliminated from the race, even usually stoic Phil Keoghan broke down.

But Charla left early and Colin and Christie made it all the way to the end, arriving at the finish line in second place. Between the abrasive personalities and the new rules, producers had injected their show with elements of other reality series. Then the ratings increased, because apparently many viewers weren’t smart enough to appreciate a show that was more than just a popularity contest.

That led the way for future contestants Jonathan and Victoria, Rob and Amber, and others, all of whom gave us more fighting and backstabbing than we usually see on a season of “Survivor.” Specifically, Rob and Amber’s aggressive play changed the face of “The Amazing Race”; instead of focusing getting themselves further in the race, they also focused on slowing other teams down. Their use of strategy was within the confines of the game, but as a result, the competition became more than a race.

It’s not as if the first seasons didn’t have their share of dramatic confrontations or even villains. “The Amazing Race” has seen plenty of abrasive personalities; season three’s winner, Flo, was known for her shrieking fits, during which she often insisted she was quitting the race. And from the first season on, contestants have always shared information—or declined to be helpful—based upon how much they like other teams.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9493274/

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