Topic: TAR: Where are we Going? Suggestions for the Future!

[Hubickichibi]

Or NOT....

What u mean? dont u like to watch Mallory or Cowboys in action again?

[G.B.]

What u mean? dont u like to watch Mallory or Cowboys in action again?

Because we all miss the basic TAR without twists, like Seasons 25 and 27.

[georgiapeach]

It would be fun if TAR doing Star edition (returnee or celebrity) every after 2 TAR with new racers

Or NOT....

Or NOT....

What u mean? dont u like to watch Mallory or Cowboys in action again?

I don't care for celebrity or returnee seasons after 2 regular...10000%. I don't like gimmick seasons in general.

A true ALL Stars now and then would be great.

And I love Mallory dearly but both she and her Dad are in different places now...doubtful that they would choose to race again.

And No...I do not want to see the Cowboys ever again...or any 3+ returnees really.

I like "ordinary people doing extraordinary things"...so new teams with a very occasional ALL Stars would be my choice.

New teams do not exclude interesting concepts like the pairing of singles in 29.

[Hubickichibi]

I don't care for celebrity or returnee seasons after 2 regular...10000%. I don't like gimmick seasons in general.

A true ALL Stars now and then would be great.

And I love Mallory dearly but both she and her Dad are in different places now...doubtful that they would choose to race again.

And No...I do not want to see the Cowboys ever again...or any 3+ returnees really.

I like "ordinary people doing extraordinary things"...so new teams with a very occasional ALL Stars would be my choice.

New teams do not exclude interesting concepts like the pairing of singles in 29.

Well rachel, nicole, janelle, rupert count as celebrity since they are reality stars and many like "reality clash" theme including moi
S28 youtuber stars also great compare to S29 or S30 so this is a great formula to keep TAR on air, so:
S27 ordinary
S28 stars
S29 ordinary
S30 mix stars and ordinary
S31 returnee/stars
S32 might be ordinary?
S33 ??
mmmm cbs kinda like stars/celebrity trend
i dont have ill feeling but, some ordinary teams are so boring or worse they crack under camera/pressure
thats why better to have 1 season celebrity/returnee after ordinary season

[G.B.]

I don't think a U-Turned team should be allowed to use the second U-Turn when they first arrive at the U-Turn board. (Assuming the U-Turn is after the Detour)

When it first happened with Jaime & Cara back in UB, I was taken off guard. Both me and my dad said "They're not allowed to do that, are they?" It just seems a little strange, and maybe even unbalanced. The first target has been punished; prevented from bypassing the "checkpoint" represented by the U-Turn board. I just don't get why they are allowed to reap the fruits of this checkpoint before having fulfilled the requirements to properly reach it.

You know what I mean? It puts a lot of power into the first target's hands.

[Lemontail]

I'm just curious, would a TAR Battle of the Sexes season even work?

[Mandoli]

I want a season where there's no semi-famous or famous teams/people. No bringing on cast members of Survivor/Big Brother. There's a major need for a season full of diversity. I never cared about the blind date season. I never cared about the internet famous season. Bring back teams who are diehard fans.

I wanted to quote myself, because the part in bold really turned out well...

[G.B.]

Burning the U-Turn Board

It is a strong opinion of mine that this should not be allowed. I do not think a team should be allowed to U-Turn a team that they know is ahead of them. In essence, this would boil down to not being permitted to U-Turn someone whose picture is already on the U-Turn board, showing they've passed by it already.

When this was first used against Abbie & Ryan in Season 21, I remember thinking "Oh that's a pretty clever way to abuse a loophole, but the producers will probably adjust the rules accordingly in the future". But they didn't, and teams still do it to this day.

I don't think it's very fair, and it's a much too powerful move. It's pretty much a death sentence. It's such a strange methodology too, to look and say "We're going to knowingly U-Turn this team who is literally ahead of us and will not be affected by this", feels like such an abuse of the formula.

Patch this bug out, please.

[RachelLeVega]

Burning the U-Turn Board

It is a strong opinion of mine that this should not be allowed. I do not think a team should be allowed to U-Turn a team that they know is ahead of them. In essence, this would boil down to not being permitted to U-Turn someone whose picture is already on the U-Turn board, showing they've passed by it already.

When this was first used against Abbie & Ryan in Season 21, I remember thinking "Oh that's a pretty clever way to abuse a loophole, but the producers will probably adjust the rules accordingly in the future". But they didn't, and teams still do it to this day.

I don't think it's very fair, and it's a much too powerful move. It's pretty much a death sentence. It's such a strange methodology too, to look and say "We're going to knowingly U-Turn this team who is literally ahead of us and will not be affected by this", feels like such an abuse of the formula.

Patch this bug out, please.

I feel like a quick fix is to have only one picture of each team remaining on the race in stock, make the "courtesy of" picture lot the same size as the U-Turn victim. That way, teams won't be able to U-Turn the team who's already used the board. Of course, this fixes only one form of this usage.

[georgiapeach]

Burning the U-Turn Board

It is a strong opinion of mine that this should not be allowed. I do not think a team should be allowed to U-Turn a team that they know is ahead of them. In essence, this would boil down to not being permitted to U-Turn someone whose picture is already on the U-Turn board, showing they've passed by it already.

When this was first used against Abbie & Ryan in Season 21, I remember thinking "Oh that's a pretty clever way to abuse a loophole, but the producers will probably adjust the rules accordingly in the future". But they didn't, and teams still do it to this day.

I don't think it's very fair, and it's a much too powerful move. It's pretty much a death sentence. It's such a strange methodology too, to look and say "We're going to knowingly U-Turn this team who is literally ahead of us and will not be affected by this", feels like such an abuse of the formula.

Patch this bug out, please.

I feel like a quick fix is to have only one picture of each team remaining on the race in stock, make the "courtesy of" picture lot the same size as the U-Turn victim. That way, teams won't be able to U-Turn the team who's already used the board. Of course, this fixes only one form of this usage.

Good idea!

[georgiapeach]

Burning the U-Turn Board

It is a strong opinion of mine that this should not be allowed. I do not think a team should be allowed to U-Turn a team that they know is ahead of them. In essence, this would boil down to not being permitted to U-Turn someone whose picture is already on the U-Turn board, showing they've passed by it already.

When this was first used against Abbie & Ryan in Season 21, I remember thinking "Oh that's a pretty clever way to abuse a loophole, but the producers will probably adjust the rules accordingly in the future". But they didn't, and teams still do it to this day.

I don't think it's very fair, and it's a much too powerful move. It's pretty much a death sentence. It's such a strange methodology too, to look and say "We're going to knowingly U-Turn this team who is literally ahead of us and will not be affected by this", feels like such an abuse of the formula.

Patch this bug out, please.

My guess is that we won't be seeing this happen again.

[Xoruz]

I feel like a quick fix is to have only one picture of each team remaining on the race in stock, make the "courtesy of" picture lot the same size as the U-Turn victim. That way, teams won't be able to U-Turn the team who's already used the board. Of course, this fixes only one form of this usage.

I just want to make sure I understand what you said. Correct me if I misunderstood. If there are five teams left, there should just be the five large photos and no second set of smaller photos.

If that's the case, then doing that would be an additional punishment for a U-Turned team. For example, Bill & Cathi wouldn't have been able to U-Turn Laurence & Zac on TAR 19.

I agree that teams should be prohibited from U-Turning a team that already used the first U-Turn slot. I do acknowledge that it won't completely ban board burning, but it'll be extremely difficult in a final 5 scenario like 32's.

[stunami]

Burning the U-Turn Board

It is a strong opinion of mine that this should not be allowed. I do not think a team should be allowed to U-Turn a team that they know is ahead of them. In essence, this would boil down to not being permitted to U-Turn someone whose picture is already on the U-Turn board, showing they've passed by it already.

When this was first used against Abbie & Ryan in Season 21, I remember thinking "Oh that's a pretty clever way to abuse a loophole, but the producers will probably adjust the rules accordingly in the future". But they didn't, and teams still do it to this day.

I don't think it's very fair, and it's a much too powerful move. It's pretty much a death sentence. It's such a strange methodology too, to look and say "We're going to knowingly U-Turn this team who is literally ahead of us and will not be affected by this", feels like such an abuse of the formula.

Patch this bug out, please.

I feel like a quick fix is to have only one picture of each team remaining on the race in stock, make the "courtesy of" picture lot the same size as the U-Turn victim. That way, teams won't be able to U-Turn the team who's already used the board. Of course, this fixes only one form of this usage.

But the problem with that is now teams will know the order they are in. One thing with the U-Turn is not knowing what rank you are (unless you saw some pictures on the board). I remember in the first seasons of the U-Turn there was this issue of : we want to U-Turn a team but we are not sure who's behind us, so the risk is we should U-turn *random team * but maybe they already passed.

I guess a solution would be you can't U-Turn a team who used a U-Turn already. (And only their pictures would be out of the options, not those who already passed and didn't use the U-Turn)

[G.B.]

If that's the case, then doing that would be an additional punishment for a U-Turned team. For example, Bill & Cathi wouldn't have been able to U-Turn Laurence & Zac on TAR 19.

Huh? Why?


Honestly there's no need for any of these rules regarding pictures and stuff, all there needs to be is a written rule that if somebody has used the first U-Turn slot, you can't U-Turn them.

It might even add drama to things. There might be a group of teams in an alliance who want to work together and also want to burn the second slot of the U-Turn board. One member of the alliance uses the first slot. The next team in the alliance then has the task of burning the board, but if they can't U-Turn the first team, well then things become interesting. They COULD U-Turn someone else in their alliance in an effort to burn the board, but without knowing for sure if that team is ahead, then they risk accidentally U-Turning their own alliance member. This would make it a much, much riskier move.

My guess is that we won't be seeing this happen again.

You say that, but I thought the exact same thing back in Season 21 as I said...

[AFVet1982]

I haven't read the whole thread, but I agree with the posters who are advocating for a "return to the basics."  I like having teams read the clue at the start of the next leg, maybe a montage of teams reading the clue from start to finish (just a few words from each team spliced together so the entire clue is read -- I think that's been done, but not to the degree I'm suggesting).  I also agree regarding the local greeters, other reality stars, etc.  TRAUSAFan's post from back in 2016 I think is pretty much spot-on.  Two things to close on:  I like Phil's intros as mentioned (by TRUSAFan, I believe), they provide continuity from the last episode/leg, and I also think that burning the U-Turn board needs to be fixed, perhaps as simply as prohibiting a team from U-Turning a team that's already used that U-Turn. 

[Alenaveda]

AFVet1982! to the R.F.F.!

[G.B.]

Why has The Amazing Race never been to Dublin? It's like the last major, big, safe city in the world to visit at this point that everybody knows about.

[nrh2110]

Why has The Amazing Race never been to Dublin? It's like the last major, big, safe city in the world to visit at this point that everybody knows about.

Hasn't visited Oslo either IIRC (but I think Dublin would be more of an interesting leg).

[G.B.]

Why has The Amazing Race never been to Dublin? It's like the last major, big, safe city in the world to visit at this point that everybody knows about.

Hasn't visited Oslo either IIRC (but I think Dublin would be more of an interesting leg).

Oslo was in Season 6 and both Norwegian versions

[Traveldude1]

The Amazing Race needs to fix its editing issue as ever since TAR 24, every season has just felt rushed and we've had barely any time to get to know the teams and form any legitimate opinions on them. Very few well-rounded "characters" are to be found in modern day Amazing Race like you had in the early to mid era of the show. It's very hard to find clear villains and heroes in the current era and that's something that should be addressed by giving more time to the teams. The show must also stop with the themed seasons and just continue making regular seasons with normal people. That stretch from TAR 26 to TAR 32 was arguably the worst in its history.

Basically, they should fix their editing, lay off the themed seasons, and they should go back to the music they used in the middle teen years. It made the race more intense and exciting.

[RachelLeVega]

The Amazing Race needs to fix its editing issue as ever since TAR 24, every season has just felt rushed and we've had barely any time to get to know the teams and form any legitimate opinions on them. Very few well-rounded "characters" are to be found in modern day Amazing Race like you had in the early to mid era of the show. It's very hard to find clear villains and heroes in the current era and that's something that should be addressed by giving more time to the teams. The show must also stop with the themed seasons and just continue making regular seasons with normal people. That stretch from TAR 26 to TAR 32 was arguably the worst in its history.

Basically, they should fix their editing, lay off the themed seasons, and they should go back to the music they used in the middle teen years. It made the race more intense and exciting.

It's the adrenaline! The fast-paced editing strung together so well in TAR10 to 17 that I felt like I was neck-and-neck for last place.

The episodes in "that" particular season you mentioned have always felt off for me to an extreme, but it took a while for me to realize what had happened because I felt this shift since TAR22. I think the preview of whenever you search up TAR on Amazon Prime Video sums it up best. Exactly a fairly dull three-minute clip of Laura & Tyler seemingly on a vacation in Amsterdam with absolutely no sense of urgency or worry. It felt like the leaderboard did not matter. Earlier seasons had emphasized the leaderboard heavily. Even a 6th place Pit Stop arrival was celebrated. An 8th place clue find had its bells and whistles. Now, they barely even announce the placement unless it's 1st or last. It's the fact they are stripping away elements of the edit that were once highly celebrated and important to the nature of the race and replacing it with stylized moments that reflect more of a celebrity reality TV show than a competition one. They almost try to mimic a travel vlog now. Airport drama - little to none (besides Nicole & Victor's recent standby anomaly). Actual consistent Pit Start departures - one or none. Team placements en route - they recently started to care a little more, but they didn't during that wave of new seasons.

Going back to the TAR26 (Tyler & Laura) preview clip, it brought me back to the night I watched that episode live on CBS, and I genuinely did score the episode and editing an 8/10 at the time whether it was because I was naturally excited for the show itself or awed by the cinematography of the location, but moments like that don't make a collective season great. It's the impact of the show's stylings because I have not re-watched that episode since the live airing, but have rewatched other Amsterdam legs like TAR12's leg 2 and TAR15's leg 7, even my not-so-great legs in other locales between 10 and 17, multiple times because of how thrilling the editing is and how the leaderboard is not only still recalculating in your mind after each scene, but the teams are also visibly and verbally aware of it. I am bouncing off the walls watching these even more than a decade later. Heck, TAR32 even with a not-so-stellar overall race, I still rewatched the Manaus, Brazil leg because of how crazy the market-to-boat exchange was with every team being mixed and backtracked because of the urgency. For once in a new season, that portion of the episode left an impact on me and it felt awesome because I was reliving the old competitive nature of the series where all those team placements were relished in the editing. That sequence will forever be a high from that season.

This is long, but I can finally (cohesively) phrase aloud what I've been trying to see for the future of the show, but couldn't figure out why or how --- for my own sanity.

[ianthebalance]

I agree so much and hope an editor is reading this lol

[gamerfan09]

The problem with current TAR editing is that it's so task-based that if the task the episode focuses on is subpar, the episode immediately becomes boring. That said, 25 and 29 is proof that even with the current style there can be great seasons. Personally, if we were to return to an older-style edit, I'd have to go with the "middle era" (8-13) and it's not even close. I feel like this era was the show at its best showcasing tasks and travel equally.

That said, 25 and 29 are fantastic seasons that prove the modern editing can still work.

[Maanca]

Since all this of the past 2 years supposedly started from a wet market, I kinda wonder if it's gonna cause TAR to move away from those staple "search a market for this and that"-type tasks in future seasons. I know TAR loves those because it gets racers running around in chaotic spaces, but it's a different world now.

[RealityDaddy]

Why has TAR US never been to Israel when TAR AUS was there in their first season?
Is it security concerns, or thoughts that it would be too controversial in some way for US audiences?
The TAR AUS Israel segments were impressive (Tel Aviv, Masada).