Poll: Amazing Race, Family Edition: do you...

[Kimberle]

Poll coming....

 

[kaylajr]

It's OK
But I prefer The "normal" ones

 

[bicker]

We gave up after the first couple of episodes. Blech.

 

[Jackie0824]

I think its boring. Ive watched every season so far. The family show is just too boring for me. I like the thrill of them leaving the country, where they cant speak the language, the thrill of having to figure things out, to find their way around a strange city. I like when they showed different countries, some wonderful, some not so wonderful. This season is just lacking something fierce.

 

[bicker]

There are two things that really bother me about AR, and I think if they don't get rid of them next year, I'll probably give up on the series completely.

First, the begging for money. That should be prohibited. It's ridiculous, and especially when done in foreign countries, makes American television look pretty pathetic. If they want to have a non-elimination stop, then leave it at that -- a safe haven for the team that came in last that round. They already are at a disadvantage, starting out so late as compared to the other teams. If that's not enough, then get rid of non-elimination stops.

Second, the marital abuse. I think producers should assess substantial time penalties for any demeaning statements made from one partner to the other, and disqualify any team where there is an instance of physical contact that could conceivably be considered assault and battery, by the most liberal application of the concept. Barring that, go to a solo AR, instead of pairs.

 

[skuttle]

I watch, but it's not as much fun to watch as the others. I think it's because they stayed mostly in the US.

 

[Kimberle]

Don't forget, final show tonight! (Tues)

 

[Sandy22]

I like it. I wished all the teams had younger children in them though.

 

[Jimbo]

There are two things that really bother me about AR, and I think if they don't get rid of them next year, I'll probably give up on the series completely.

Here's a third: Corporate sponsorship. It's extremely cheesy. It's one thing when you can work a sponsor into a game seamlessly, like an airline kicking in a trip for the first team to reach the mat. But when an episode revolves around a sponsor, they begin to lose me.

It began with the pointless "you've got mail" stuff for AOL a few seasons ago, and that added nothing to the game. It was just an AOL commercial. They did that again this year. But the low point was having the families drive around Mississippi looking for a BP station.

I had help out hope for this season, because there's a lot of cool things that they could have done in this country. And the first episode was a good start. But it's really gone downhill since then. It's no concidence that the Panama and Costa Rica episodes were the best. Maybe they don't have BP stations there?

 

[Bob Slydell]

Another one who watched a couple episodes but lost interest. Four people yelling at each other is just twice as annoying as two people yelling at each other, I've realized.

 

[MamaLema]

First, the begging for money. That should be prohibited. It's ridiculous, and especially when done in foreign countries

I agree with this. It makes my skin crawl when they beg for money in a Third World country. That's the one thing I don't miss this season.

 

[ckmommy]

This is the first time watching AR (thanks to all of you who had got me interested in watching it). I am really enjoying watching it.

 

[Minnie824]

I don't like it, but am watching it cuz I love the amazing race. My issue with it is that they never seem to do anything! Regular races, they're really scrambling, and eating weird stuff, and running thru alley ways, etc...the last episode they went to get their picture taken. woo hoo, how exciting! (sarcastically, of course). They could have had a family edition and still made it exciting. I just hope the weavers don't win.

 

[jennyl772003]

We usually love the race, but we HATE this season.

Everything that usually makes the race good, is missing this year. It is hard to be motivated to watch this year.

We are just anxiously waiting this stinking pile to end, and for the next season to start.

I hope they never do another "themed" race!

 

[mtemm]

so far the only thing I like about it is they seem to have skipped the eating challenge. although I did miss a couple of eps, so maybe they did do one? I didn't mind them when they were normal amounts of exotic food from a different country, it was the huge amounts that made me ill. I don't watch fear factor for a reason, folks. The caviar in russia was disgusting...same with the meat in south america (can't remember what country they were in for it). Rob was brilliant with his maneuver of that challenge and I thank him from the bottom of my heart.

 

[cardaway]

I think I have a new poll option...

I think it was a great idea that was poorly executed. They also should have made it a different show and kept the schedule of original format seasons going.

I like the idea of families competing in a similar format, but they should have made sure they all had similar breakdowns of ages. Having families made up of 2 parents and 2 kids going against a team made up of adult sisters didn't make a lot of sense.

Basically I'll never miss it if they never do another AR Family, but I would be open to it if they did it right.

 

[Jimbo]

I think sometimes the producers don't understand what made the show so good. So they tart it up with a "special" season like this, or they cast lunatics, wrestlers, and professional reality show types. Or they add new "features" like the Yield and the begging. Or the go for the dollars and sell out to some corporation. But none of that is why we watch the show. In fact, we watch it in spite of this stuff.

I think Survivor got the same way. They had their All-Star season. They had a Home Depot tie-in that allowed the survivors to build some pretty comfortable shelter. But this season they sort of went back to their roots. The conditions were rugged and the survivors really suffered. And it was an excellent season (IMHO).

Survivor trusted the concept, and it paid off. The cast this year was kind of boring, to be honest with you. But the original theory behind the show was to see how normal people handled extreme adversity. And it still works.

I think if AR would just trust that people will tune in to watch real racing and competition, they'd be better off.

 

[WDWguru]

...Or they add new "features" like the Yield and the begging...

Actually, these two things were added a couple of seasons back. The Yield has never been really effectively used. I much prefer the fast-forward as opposed to the Yield, however, especially how it was done the first few seasons. There used to be a fast-forward on every leg of the race, but each team could only use it once, so you had to really decide where and when to use it, if at all. Now there is only one or two on the whole race, if at all. I like the fast-forward over the Yield, because to me the whole concept of AR is built around self-sufficiency. Generally you don't get ahead by backstabbing, building alliances or trying to screw the other teams. Your performance is based on your own wits and skill levels, which I love.

The begging I don't like either, but they added it a few years back because there wasn't really enough of a penalty to being last on a non-elimination leg. The first few seasons you just were lucky and got to stay. Then they started just taking all your money, but everyone just used that pit stop time to get money from other team members or the public. The next year they started giving the instruction that you had to start the next leg with no money to avoid that. THEN they added the thing where they take all your stuff away, too. I don't like the begging option either, and it doesn't really seem to hurt anyone to take away all their stuff, so I'd like to see another option. Maybe penalize them an hour or two of time?