The Amazing Race will premiere season 32 with a special 2-hour long episode on May 20.
My biggest question is; do we know how the format of the premiere is going to work? Meaning, is it going to just be the first two legs back-to-back as two 1-hour long episodes, or is it going to be the first leg but extended to fit a whole 2-hour long episode? I'm personally hoping for the latter.
Survivor often does "2-hour premieres" like in seasons 17, 28, 34, 36, and 40, but it's just the first two episodes shown back-to-back. But for The Amazing Race, they've only done that once, for TAR15, over a decade ago. The difference though is that was likely planned as that was for a special twist (12 teams, starting line elimination, first time the first Pit Stop was a non-elimination, then leg 2 elimination) so that 2-hour premiere actually flowed together well.
The one and ONLY time Survivor has had a true 2-hour premiere was for season 20. Meanwhile, the last time The Amazing Race had a true 2-hour premiere was back in TAR9. Though the most recent extended premiere was TAR26, which was a 90-minute premiere.
If the TAR32 2-hour premiere is just the first two legs back-to-back, and they are both elimination legs, then for the first time in the history of TAR, we will already be down to 9 teams by the end of the first night. That's never happened before and it seems unnecessarily rushed, especially when there are a lot of holes in CBS's Summer (and even Fall) schedules due to the Coronavirus.
But also, is TAR32 even worth a full 2-hour long first leg? I know the TAR26 90-minute premiere is heavily criticized because it felt unnecessarily dragged-on, but I also argue it's mostly due to poor race design. The Detour for that episode is notoriously known as one of the most uneven Detours' ever, with one side taking barely ten minutes, and the other, taking several hours. If the TAR32 first leg is actually well designed, then I think a 2-hour long premiere could work.
What do we know for sure? Could leg 1 be a non-elimination? Could leg 2 be a non-elimination? Or are they both elimination legs? If they are both elimination legs, I just find it hard to believe that CBS would want to burn off 2 episodes in one night that fast and already be down to the final 9 that early, especially with all the holes in their scheduling. But I also find it hard to imagine CBS giving TAR a straight-up 2-hour premiere since it hasn't happened since TAR9. So the only other thing I can think of is if there's some TAR15-esque twist where airing the first two legs back-to-back actually makes sense (a leg 1 or leg 2 non-elimination/Keep on Racing twist).
So, what do we think; 2-hours for just one leg, or two 1-hour long episodes for both leg 1 and leg 2?
