Topic: TAR 35 LIVE STREAMS AND COMMENTARY HERE! EP 1 9/27/2023 8:30-10PM CENTRAL TIME

[Maanca]

To be fair, we're not used to them having to introduce 13 teams. A lot of confessionals is understandable, even in 90 minutes. Now with that out of the way, it'll get better the next episode.

[stunami]

Unfortunately, the EPISODE itself was okay as far as editing goes. They still have trouble explaining why certain teams fall behind, why certain teams jump ahead — too often they just cut to the next location. No suspense whatsoever. Way too many confessionals, it seriously takes you out of the episode

I agree, the two times I said the same thing in my mind was when Andrea and Malaina were in first place (after deciding not doing the express pass task) but then they showed up like 4 or 5 in the boat. Or pretty much Robbin and Chelsea in Thailand

[kyleisalive]

The locations in Bangkok were too similar to each other. Every single location visited other than the message shop was park or temple    Can't we have something else for Bangkok?

Bangkok is three things: temples (wats), the river, and underpasses.  They show a lot of temples because nearly everything there is a temple, and they would be missing out if they weren't visiting them.  Wat Pho and Wat Arun are some of the most amazing landmarks I've ever seen.  Going further out of this core part of the city means missing out on what most people view as Bangkok.  And it looks like we're getting the other side of it next week.

[RachelLeVega]

On paper, this premiere LEG had a lot going for it: good physical/mental RB, self driving in LA, no more charter!, gross eating challenge, Detour on Leg 1 (last time there was a RB and Detour on Leg 1 was TAR 28 I believe?), TAXIS!, Tuk tuk, boats

Unfortunately, the EPISODE itself was okay as far as editing goes. They still have trouble explaining why certain teams fall behind, why certain teams jump ahead — too often they just cut to the next location. No suspense whatsoever. Way too many confessionals, it seriously takes you out of the episode

Looking back at a more cooled-down time, I definitely agree the use of confessionals and teams' background info still is too much (even though it's noticeably diluted from 34's excessive instruction repeating). A lot of the time spent on this during the broadcast could be used more toward focusing on how teams interact with Bangkok and each other out on the course to drive their journey. All of the "formal" team introductions could've been done in the L.A. portion of the episode and abridged like pre-TAR26 style. The word scramble really didn't need to be the driver of the first quarter.

[ianthebalance]

I’ve never really been sure why around 27 or so they stopped having all the team introductions before the starting line. Plus I’ve never seen any fan praise that change, only complaints if ever mentioned.

And at least for me, I always preferred the quicker team intros over the longer ones they do nowadays when a team is “introduced”

[Pi]

I'm sure I'll be echoing a lot of points already made but here's my takes on the episode:

- I love the 90 minute runtime, especially when there's 13 teams to be introduced. So much would have to be cut to make it an hour episode. I hope that when the race is whittled down to just a few teams, the legs are packed with transportation and tasks in order to flesh out the full hour and a half.

- Ugh, seeing teams sharing the answer during the first task of the season is disappointing - reminiscent of TAR 32. However, I admit it was a good strategic move by Todd to do it, so... it's fine, I guess. (I loved seeing Rob get it before the group did <3)

- Telling teams about the Voting U-Turn at the starting line introduces a social angle to the race before Phil has even raised his eyebrow and said "Go!". This isn't Big Brother or Survivor. Before, if you didn't want to get U-Turned, you raced harder. Now, if you don't want to get U-Turned, you spend race time trying to convince others that you're not the threat. If a team races well in the first several legs, other teams will be able to just U-Turn them instead of figuring out how to outrace them. I don't like that.

- I like how they implemented a task in order to get the Express Pass, but IMO there should be even more risk involved in the decision. It's a fairly safe choice to try for the EP when you can complete the task and move on before the second flight teams even get there. Ideally, the task would be farther away or more challenging in order to increase the leverage of the decision. The Express Pass is powerful and should require a substantial sacrifice in order to obtain it.

- "I've never even been to Asia" *remembers that Iraq and Kuwait are in Asia* "... unless you count Iraq or Kuwait."

- Detour: Watching other people get a massage isn't the most gripping thing ever, although I would have LOLed if someone had to restart at like 29 minutes and 55 seconds. I think the judging on the sword task seemed lenient enough given that the other Detour was so straightforward.

- Usually a team at the back would tend to opt for the riskier Detour rather than the fixed-time option, but Elizabeth & Iliana didn't. It worked out for them because of Alexandra & Sheridan taking too many tries to do the sword task (I don't think the producers expected that anyone would need that many tries).

- Alexandra & Sheridan seemed like good people, but they didn't have the killer instinct that so many highly successful teams possess.

Thank you Rachel for the updates!

[Theo]

Really enjoyed the premiere. Just glad that TAR is back, I almost cried when I heard the theme and watched the intro

[georgiapeach]

Really enjoyed the premiere. Just glad that TAR is back, I almost cried when I heard the theme and watched the intro

ME TOO!! So very happy to have them BACK!!

[ianthebalance]

One thing I would’ve done differently is having only three pairs of massage therapists available at a time at the Spa Day task. With that change there is a more likely chance you have to wait for an opening (if you’re not in the lead), increases the chances of having to wait for a new station if you mess up, and makes the other task more desirable

[RachelLeVega]

I'm sure I'll be echoing a lot of points already made but here's my takes on the episode:

- I love the 90 minute runtime, especially when there's 13 teams to be introduced. So much would have to be cut to make it an hour episode. I hope that when the race is whittled down to just a few teams, the legs are packed with transportation and tasks in order to flesh out the full hour and a half.

Thank you Rachel for the updates!

Thank you! And it did not occur to me until just now that the fewer teams there are, the more they would NEED to show to fill up 90 minutes. The last 3 episodes will be very interesting to see how they handled it. Not a lot of wiggle room to keep jumping to different teams if the courses aren't at least lengthened.

[Xoruz]

A return to form that was needed after 3 years. Very much took advantage of the 90 minutes to give us a good sense of all 13 teams. We'll still get team backgrounds in subsequent episodes, but this one did a lot of heavy lifting. This thread will be broken record in that there could have been tweaks like having fewer massage therapists or having the Express Pass in another location, but it didn't bother me too much.