There is something sadly frustrating in the fact that Star Trek: Enterprise will be ending at the end of its fourth season. The sad part is that they are ending the series just as many of the problems that have dogged it over the years are beginning to be remedied. It was probably too late - UPN had reduced the amount they were willing to pay for the show and had moved it to Friday nights. The frustrating part is that I'm not sure whether anyone at Paramount or Viacom really realises what was wrong in the first place. There's even a bit of irony in that, if the show had been cancelled after the third season I doubt that there'd be much regret; the dominant emotion might perhaps have been relief.
In looking at the various modern Star Trek provides a certain perspective on Enterprise (as the show was originally known). The first season started well enough. Indeed in my opinion (and let's face it,all I have to offer here is my opinions) the early episodes of Enterprise were better than most of the first season episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation. People looking at The Next Generation with rose coloured glasses that time provides tend to forget just how wretched much of that first season was. If the show hadn't been carried in so many markets and received such high ratings from people who were willing to cut it some slack because it was Star Trek on logic that "any Trek on TV is better than no Trek", the whole thing might have been written off as a very bad idea. The difference between The Next Generation and Enterprise is that the earlier show improved with age. The second season was better than the first and the third season and beyond gave us more strong episodes and fewer clinkers. Through it's first three years Enterprise didn't improve much and the ratio of poor episodes to good ones was depressingly bad. Many people have said the same about Star Trek: Voyager although even that show improved somewhat over time.
Star Trek fans, be they "Trekkies", "Trekkers" or people like me who just like to watch the shows without getting into philosophical discussions about the "big issues" (in Klingon of course) or dress up in pointy ears and home made uniforms, tend to point the finger of blame for the deterioration of the Star Trek franchise on Rick Berman and Brannon Braga. They were the Executive Producers - the "show runners" - for Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Enterprise after rising to leading positions on Star Trek: The Next Generation. They were also heavily involved with the writing process on all of Voyager and much of the first three seasons of Enterprise. By way of comparison, Berman and Braga had little to do with the other series in the franchise Star Trek: Deep Space Nine which I at least consider to be the best of the modern series. Although Berman carried an Executive Producer credit on Deep Space Nine the real "show runner" was Ira Steven Behr, who was also deeply involved in the writing process. In the fourth season of Star Trek: Enterprise, the "show runner" has been Manny Coto, who has also been highly involved in writing many of the fourth season episodes. The change has been visible.
A lot of fans of Doctor Who place the blame for that series decline squarely on the head of the show's final producer, John Nathan Turner. Turner stayed on Doctor Who as producer for nine years. Previously the longest period of time anyone had stayed on as producer of the show was five years and the average tenure was about three. The accusation made against Turner is that he stayed too long, well after his creative vision for the project had been exhausted. The same can be said about Berman and Braga with regard to Star Trek. Combining their periods on Next Generation, Voyager, and Enterprise they have been running the franchise on a day to day level for ten years and Berman has been doing it for closer to fifteen years. It is almost impossible not to believe that their creative vision on this particular front has long since been exhausted. If people with a different perspective on the property, like Manny Coto and Ira Behr before him, had been involved with Star Trek: Enterprise from the start, UPN might not have moved it to the Friday night "death slot" or cancelled it for failing to perform.
Saturday, February 12, 2005
Friday, February 11, 2005
If You Love 24...
...as much as I do, you'll love this piece from the Washington Post. Sure these TV satire memos are as common as dry leaves in October, but they're usually fun. Thanks to the guys at TVGeekSpeak.com for this one.
Jack Bauer in a Hawaiian shirt. BWAHAHAHA!
Jack Bauer in a Hawaiian shirt. BWAHAHAHA!
Survivor - Manhattan
I totally missed the first season of The Apprentice. Quite frankly the show didn't appeal to me any more than most reality shows have appealed to me. When you add in supreme egotist Donald Trump the show was definitely not on my list of shows that I had to see. A couple of things changed last Fall which allowed me to see most episodes of the second season of The Apprentice and I have to admit that I was intrigued.
The Apprentice has an excellent pedigree. It comes from producer Mark Burnett who created Survivor and before that the Eco-Challenge races. More recently Burnett has had some failures. The Restaurant which ran on NBC was a qualified success in it's first season but the second season was much less popular. His non-competitve "reality" show The Casino which ran last summer on Fox was at best dreadful. His attempt at a sitcom, Commando Nanny (based on his own experience as an former officer in the British Parachute Regiment who took a job as a nanny after leaving the service) was so terrible and trouble-plagued that while the WB Network actually bought it and put it on their schedule, it was cancelled without airing. Burnett is on much sounder footing when he sticks to what he knows which is people in competition in unfamiliar surroundings, like racing through the jungles of Borneo, trying to live on a deserted island in the South Pacific with a group of people that they have nothing in common with, or trying to succeed in business by really trying.
It seems apparent to me, and probably to just about anyone who thinks about it for more than a minute, that The Apprentice really is Survivor retooled for a different network. In Survivor disparate individuals are put together into teams, or "tribes", to live and work together and accomplish goals. In The Apprentice disparate individuals are put together in teams, in "corporations", tow live and work together to accomplish goals. In Survivor success brings reward and immunity from elimination, while failure means that one of the losing group will be taken out of the game. In The Apprenticesuccess brings reward and immunity from elimination (both for the group and potentially for the leader of the winning group if they lose the next challenge), while failure means that a member of the losing group will leave the game. In both Survivor and The Apprentice, while the tribes and corporations attempt to put display a united front of people who are working together, the truth revealed in individual interviews is frequently backbiting, disloyalty and open dislike and disdain for other competitors on their own team. In Survivor losing teams go to "Tribal Council"; in The Apprentice they face "The Board Room". The big difference between the two shows is that while eliminations in Survivor are decided by votes of the other members of the losing team and give vent to interpersonal rivalries and competing alliances, eliminations in The Apprentice are made based on the opinion of one man: Donald Trump. It is a change that makes the show both stronger and weaker than the original.
In The Apprentice the tasks that the teams have to accomplish are business oriented. Decisions on the team that wins and who loses are made by experts in those aspects of business. Where Trump comes into the mix is in deciding which member of the losing team will be eliminated. There is some input from team leaders - they choose who will go into the final board meeting with them - but it is Trump who makes the final choice with advice from his associates George and Carolyn, and by viewing videos of the teams during their tasks. Given that Trump is (supposedly) looking for someone to lead one of his companies, it isn't surprising that for him leadership ability is a major consideration. During all of the second series of The Apprentice and the first four episodes of the third Apprentice - a total of 17 competitions - "Project Managers" for failed teams have been eliminated 13 times, with one competition having two players eliminated and one player quitting during an episode. In short you have to screw up pretty badly to be eliminated when you aren't project manager. Almost inevitably this leads to the most qualified people being in the running to win the game. At the same time it undercuts the importance of interpersonal relationships within the teams. It doesn't matter who you like personally unless you are prepared to actively sabotage someone's efforts during a competition. The makes the backbiting and alliance building that is the hallmark of Survivor and vital in the way that show works, seem unimportant and petty in the world of The Apprentice.
The Apprentice has an excellent pedigree. It comes from producer Mark Burnett who created Survivor and before that the Eco-Challenge races. More recently Burnett has had some failures. The Restaurant which ran on NBC was a qualified success in it's first season but the second season was much less popular. His non-competitve "reality" show The Casino which ran last summer on Fox was at best dreadful. His attempt at a sitcom, Commando Nanny (based on his own experience as an former officer in the British Parachute Regiment who took a job as a nanny after leaving the service) was so terrible and trouble-plagued that while the WB Network actually bought it and put it on their schedule, it was cancelled without airing. Burnett is on much sounder footing when he sticks to what he knows which is people in competition in unfamiliar surroundings, like racing through the jungles of Borneo, trying to live on a deserted island in the South Pacific with a group of people that they have nothing in common with, or trying to succeed in business by really trying.
It seems apparent to me, and probably to just about anyone who thinks about it for more than a minute, that The Apprentice really is Survivor retooled for a different network. In Survivor disparate individuals are put together into teams, or "tribes", to live and work together and accomplish goals. In The Apprentice disparate individuals are put together in teams, in "corporations", tow live and work together to accomplish goals. In Survivor success brings reward and immunity from elimination, while failure means that one of the losing group will be taken out of the game. In The Apprenticesuccess brings reward and immunity from elimination (both for the group and potentially for the leader of the winning group if they lose the next challenge), while failure means that a member of the losing group will leave the game. In both Survivor and The Apprentice, while the tribes and corporations attempt to put display a united front of people who are working together, the truth revealed in individual interviews is frequently backbiting, disloyalty and open dislike and disdain for other competitors on their own team. In Survivor losing teams go to "Tribal Council"; in The Apprentice they face "The Board Room". The big difference between the two shows is that while eliminations in Survivor are decided by votes of the other members of the losing team and give vent to interpersonal rivalries and competing alliances, eliminations in The Apprentice are made based on the opinion of one man: Donald Trump. It is a change that makes the show both stronger and weaker than the original.
In The Apprentice the tasks that the teams have to accomplish are business oriented. Decisions on the team that wins and who loses are made by experts in those aspects of business. Where Trump comes into the mix is in deciding which member of the losing team will be eliminated. There is some input from team leaders - they choose who will go into the final board meeting with them - but it is Trump who makes the final choice with advice from his associates George and Carolyn, and by viewing videos of the teams during their tasks. Given that Trump is (supposedly) looking for someone to lead one of his companies, it isn't surprising that for him leadership ability is a major consideration. During all of the second series of The Apprentice and the first four episodes of the third Apprentice - a total of 17 competitions - "Project Managers" for failed teams have been eliminated 13 times, with one competition having two players eliminated and one player quitting during an episode. In short you have to screw up pretty badly to be eliminated when you aren't project manager. Almost inevitably this leads to the most qualified people being in the running to win the game. At the same time it undercuts the importance of interpersonal relationships within the teams. It doesn't matter who you like personally unless you are prepared to actively sabotage someone's efforts during a competition. The makes the backbiting and alliance building that is the hallmark of Survivor and vital in the way that show works, seem unimportant and petty in the world of The Apprentice.
Thursday, February 10, 2005
The West Wing, February 9
Most long term fans of The West Wing tend to divide the history of the show into the Aaron Sorkin Era and the John Wells Era. Or as they sometimes put it "when the show was good" and "now". The story of how Wells came to take charge of The West Wing is fairly well known, but in the first season that he had full control things did not go as well as he, Warner Brothers (which produces the show) and NBC (which airs it) had hoped. The shows were finally being delivered on time and - just as important - on budget, which had been a problem in the Sorkin Era, but the shows lacked a certain spark. What they didn't have was Sorkin's biting wit and rapid-fire dialogue. The show suffered because of this in terms of ratings. and there was some expectation that this would be the final year. Instead there was a turn-around in the fortunes of the show. Ratings have gone up and not all of that can be attributed to not having American Idol in the same time slot.
The biggest change in the show this season has been a major shift in focus indicted by a decision to shift the story line ahead a year. We are now in the primary season for the election the will replace President Bartlett. At the White House people are talking about "the Bartlet Legacy" while outside the White House candidates are positioning themselves to replace Bartlet. As a result you have two sets of story lines, with the added complications in the White House storylines of the decline in the President's health. The President's Multiple Sclerosis, which had been introduced in the first season as a way to allow Bartlet to comment on daytime television shows, has reached a crisis point which restricts the amount that he is able to do. At this stage, too much work can aggravate the disease. The series has, since December, split the episodes and the cast between White House episodes and Campaign episodes.
Wednesday's show was a White House episode. As usual there is a crisis (so what else is new?). The Iranians have shot down a British passenger plane and needless to say the Brits are pissed. The problem is that the President needs his sleep and the question becomes, when do you wake the President? The answer, it seems, is far too early for Dr. First Lady and far too late for the guy who actually has the job and just about anyone else involved in the crisis. This includes the British Ambassador and his country's Prime Minister, the government's pipeline to the Iranian government (Chet, or as Leo McGarry puts it the new Phil), the media, and several of the candidates running for the Presidency. The latter is symbolized by a TV clip of Alan Alda's character criticizing the current Administration's lack of action which prompts Bartlet to say that it's easy to have a position when you don't have to deal with the realities of the situation. Caught in the middle of all the conflicting interest is Chief of Staff C.J. Cregg Eventually, of course, the crisis is resolved in a 40-something minute (plus commercials) day, although there is fall-out in the form of a First Lady who is angry at just about everyone. A "B" Plot about writing a new constitution for Belarus is handled as part comic relief, part elementary education on how democracy can be developed in a country by influencing a handful of men if they're the right men. The major comic relief concerns the visit of the new "Miss World" from Bhutan - something that Leo always looked forward to when he was Chief of Staff but which C.J. has handed off to Communications Director Toby Ziegler. She's instrumental in keeping the most persistent member of the media from pursuing the story of what he President knew and when did he know it that Bartlet's people don't want getting out.
Tonight's episode probably wasn't the best of the current batch of White House shows but it is illustrative of what Wells is trying to do with the show, and there are some rather nice scenes. There is a contrast between the President, who wants to be treated like the paralyzed but otherwise healthy Franklin Roosevelt, and his wife, who expects him to be treated like the stroke afflicted Woodrow Wilson and bothered as little as possible with the business of government. The solution lies somewhere in the middle and it's left to C.J. to find the right balance. The final scene of the episode, in which we cut from Bartlet and his wife engaged in an increasingly loud argument to C.J.'s office is tremendously effective. As the voices grow louder C.J. rises from her desk and closes the door, incredibly like a daughter closing the door so as not to hear her parents fighting. This sort of scene is the type of thing that gives long time viewers some hope for the continued life of the series. It may not be what Sorkin would have done but it is an approach that's improving as time goes on.
The biggest change in the show this season has been a major shift in focus indicted by a decision to shift the story line ahead a year. We are now in the primary season for the election the will replace President Bartlett. At the White House people are talking about "the Bartlet Legacy" while outside the White House candidates are positioning themselves to replace Bartlet. As a result you have two sets of story lines, with the added complications in the White House storylines of the decline in the President's health. The President's Multiple Sclerosis, which had been introduced in the first season as a way to allow Bartlet to comment on daytime television shows, has reached a crisis point which restricts the amount that he is able to do. At this stage, too much work can aggravate the disease. The series has, since December, split the episodes and the cast between White House episodes and Campaign episodes.
Wednesday's show was a White House episode. As usual there is a crisis (so what else is new?). The Iranians have shot down a British passenger plane and needless to say the Brits are pissed. The problem is that the President needs his sleep and the question becomes, when do you wake the President? The answer, it seems, is far too early for Dr. First Lady and far too late for the guy who actually has the job and just about anyone else involved in the crisis. This includes the British Ambassador and his country's Prime Minister, the government's pipeline to the Iranian government (Chet, or as Leo McGarry puts it the new Phil), the media, and several of the candidates running for the Presidency. The latter is symbolized by a TV clip of Alan Alda's character criticizing the current Administration's lack of action which prompts Bartlet to say that it's easy to have a position when you don't have to deal with the realities of the situation. Caught in the middle of all the conflicting interest is Chief of Staff C.J. Cregg Eventually, of course, the crisis is resolved in a 40-something minute (plus commercials) day, although there is fall-out in the form of a First Lady who is angry at just about everyone. A "B" Plot about writing a new constitution for Belarus is handled as part comic relief, part elementary education on how democracy can be developed in a country by influencing a handful of men if they're the right men. The major comic relief concerns the visit of the new "Miss World" from Bhutan - something that Leo always looked forward to when he was Chief of Staff but which C.J. has handed off to Communications Director Toby Ziegler. She's instrumental in keeping the most persistent member of the media from pursuing the story of what he President knew and when did he know it that Bartlet's people don't want getting out.
Tonight's episode probably wasn't the best of the current batch of White House shows but it is illustrative of what Wells is trying to do with the show, and there are some rather nice scenes. There is a contrast between the President, who wants to be treated like the paralyzed but otherwise healthy Franklin Roosevelt, and his wife, who expects him to be treated like the stroke afflicted Woodrow Wilson and bothered as little as possible with the business of government. The solution lies somewhere in the middle and it's left to C.J. to find the right balance. The final scene of the episode, in which we cut from Bartlet and his wife engaged in an increasingly loud argument to C.J.'s office is tremendously effective. As the voices grow louder C.J. rises from her desk and closes the door, incredibly like a daughter closing the door so as not to hear her parents fighting. This sort of scene is the type of thing that gives long time viewers some hope for the continued life of the series. It may not be what Sorkin would have done but it is an approach that's improving as time goes on.
Tuesday, February 08, 2005
Put Another Race In The Books
There's plenty of good stuff on tonight: NCIS, the nicely rated but little discussed military criminal investigation series from the creator of Magnum PI and JAG, House, the show about the curmudgeonly doctor who would be English of only Fox would let the lead actor use his real accent, and NYPD Blue which is having a solid final season creatively if not in the ratings (only four more left). But for me the big one is the finale of the sixth Amazing Race. I love this show!
The Amazing Race has had a remarkable rocky history. Created in the wake of the surprise success of Survivor it debuted on September 5, 2001, a singularly inauspicious date for a show that was focussed on international travel to appear on given what happened six days later. The show wasn't a great success in post 9/11 America but it did pick up steam, and in an example of quality winning out it outlasted Lost which came from Conan O'Brien's production company. This piece of drek featured six randomly paired Americans left without any money at all begging and doing just about anything else to get back to the United States for some godforsaken foreign place (in the one I saw it was Mongolia). The Amazing Race did well enough to get a second series that aired in March 2002. That series did well enough that the third series was on the fall schedule opposite The West Wing. It finished a solid second opposite what was then regarded a show that was regarded as nearly invincible. The third series of The Amazing Race was set to debut in the same time slot in February 2003 but CBS panicked when faced with the juggernaut that was American Idol and pulled the show to replace it with a hastily conceived version of Star Search. The Amazing Race was delayed until the end of May 2003. A fourth series was produced for the summer of 2004 to fill Survivor's Thursday time slot, but there were open musings that there wouldn't be another one. That was until the 2002-03 Emmys. Nominated in the new "Best Reality Series" - a category that not only included Survivor and American Idol but also an AFI special and a tribute to the 100th birthday of Bob Hope - The Amazing Race 3 won. That was enough to earn the series a reprieve and a summer run in 2004 - this time on Tuesdays was produced. It performed extremely well in the ratings, and as an added bonus The Amazing Race 4 won the Emmy in the revised "Best Reality Competition" category against Survivor, American Idol, The Apprentice, and Last Comic Standing. Between the ratings success of the fifth Amazing Race, the two Emmys, and critical acclaim it was decided that the sixth Amazing Race, which had been scheduled for the Saturday night death slot was put on hold until another series from the Fall 2004 series died. That show was Tuesday's Clubhouse.
So what makes The Amazing Race into the show that Canada's National Post newspaper calls "the reality show for people who hate reality shows. It seems to be a combination of things really. One big one is that it is a trip around the world, taking viewers to places that a lot of them are likely never to visit. Like any reality show, casting is key and The Amazing Race has had superlative casting over the years. You need interesting people and this season alone has included a 70 year old doctor and his wife, a husband and wife who are professional wrestlers, a model who is a pampered princess and a bit bigoted to boot, and a father and daughter team where the daughter is a teacher and the father was a former CIA agent who was the first person to fly to the North Pole in an open cockpit airplane. Of course personality isn't the only thing - all reality shows cast based on personality (and then they manipulate those personalities based on editing - and the producers of The Amazing Race are no different on that score). In my opinion there are three things that sets The Amazing Race apart from the crowd. The first is that, despite the efforts of some of the competitors, you don't get ahead by lying and backstabbing or by allying with the other guy. Within teams, it is essential that the people work together because they have places to get to and tasks to complete, but working with another team at best gives only a temporary gain and there really aren't many opportunities to attempt to actively sabotage another team - and until the fifth Race and the addition of the Yield there weren't any. That hasn't stopped teams from trying though. A second factor is that there is a tangible reason for surviving to the next episode. Teams don't have to please their fellow players, impress a group of judges, or win a telephone poll - if you are the last team to reach the Pit Stop at the end of a stage, most of the time you will be eliminated. The goal is clear from the start and any mistakes can be fatal in terms of survival in the game. Finally I think that The Amazing Race may be the most accessible of the reality shows. You don't have to be extra fit or extraordinarily gifted to succeed on The Amazing Race. You need endurance and quick wits because you are travelling around the world in 30 days. You also need a willingness to experience new things, and a lot of patience with the person that you're going with. It is the latter which produces the best drama in the show. People come face to face with their fears. Personalities clash both between teams and within them, although the teams that do best tend to be the teams where personalities mesh rather than clash.
Tonight's final episode is two hours long. There are four teams remaining: Hayden & Aaron (dating, models from Los Angeles), Freddy & Kendra (dating, models from Miami), Adam & Rebecca (formerly dating, personal trainers from Los Angeles), and Kris & Jon (long distance dating, a Geography student and waitress from Long Beach and a restaurant owner from Scottsdale respectively). One team will be eliminated in the first hour and the three remaining teams will race for the finish line somewhere in the United States in the second hour of tonight's show. My personal favourites are Kris & Jon, because they've worked together as a team efficiently and of the remaining teams they've been the least argumentative and the least insulting to the people they've encountered along the way. The team I don't really want to win is Freddy & Kendra, largely because Kendra has behaved like a true pampered princess throughout the Race and has made some remarks which, presumably with the help of editing, make her seem like a serious bigot.
The Amazing Race airs tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern - 8 p.m. Central.
The Amazing Race has had a remarkable rocky history. Created in the wake of the surprise success of Survivor it debuted on September 5, 2001, a singularly inauspicious date for a show that was focussed on international travel to appear on given what happened six days later. The show wasn't a great success in post 9/11 America but it did pick up steam, and in an example of quality winning out it outlasted Lost which came from Conan O'Brien's production company. This piece of drek featured six randomly paired Americans left without any money at all begging and doing just about anything else to get back to the United States for some godforsaken foreign place (in the one I saw it was Mongolia). The Amazing Race did well enough to get a second series that aired in March 2002. That series did well enough that the third series was on the fall schedule opposite The West Wing. It finished a solid second opposite what was then regarded a show that was regarded as nearly invincible. The third series of The Amazing Race was set to debut in the same time slot in February 2003 but CBS panicked when faced with the juggernaut that was American Idol and pulled the show to replace it with a hastily conceived version of Star Search. The Amazing Race was delayed until the end of May 2003. A fourth series was produced for the summer of 2004 to fill Survivor's Thursday time slot, but there were open musings that there wouldn't be another one. That was until the 2002-03 Emmys. Nominated in the new "Best Reality Series" - a category that not only included Survivor and American Idol but also an AFI special and a tribute to the 100th birthday of Bob Hope - The Amazing Race 3 won. That was enough to earn the series a reprieve and a summer run in 2004 - this time on Tuesdays was produced. It performed extremely well in the ratings, and as an added bonus The Amazing Race 4 won the Emmy in the revised "Best Reality Competition" category against Survivor, American Idol, The Apprentice, and Last Comic Standing. Between the ratings success of the fifth Amazing Race, the two Emmys, and critical acclaim it was decided that the sixth Amazing Race, which had been scheduled for the Saturday night death slot was put on hold until another series from the Fall 2004 series died. That show was Tuesday's Clubhouse.
So what makes The Amazing Race into the show that Canada's National Post newspaper calls "the reality show for people who hate reality shows. It seems to be a combination of things really. One big one is that it is a trip around the world, taking viewers to places that a lot of them are likely never to visit. Like any reality show, casting is key and The Amazing Race has had superlative casting over the years. You need interesting people and this season alone has included a 70 year old doctor and his wife, a husband and wife who are professional wrestlers, a model who is a pampered princess and a bit bigoted to boot, and a father and daughter team where the daughter is a teacher and the father was a former CIA agent who was the first person to fly to the North Pole in an open cockpit airplane. Of course personality isn't the only thing - all reality shows cast based on personality (and then they manipulate those personalities based on editing - and the producers of The Amazing Race are no different on that score). In my opinion there are three things that sets The Amazing Race apart from the crowd. The first is that, despite the efforts of some of the competitors, you don't get ahead by lying and backstabbing or by allying with the other guy. Within teams, it is essential that the people work together because they have places to get to and tasks to complete, but working with another team at best gives only a temporary gain and there really aren't many opportunities to attempt to actively sabotage another team - and until the fifth Race and the addition of the Yield there weren't any. That hasn't stopped teams from trying though. A second factor is that there is a tangible reason for surviving to the next episode. Teams don't have to please their fellow players, impress a group of judges, or win a telephone poll - if you are the last team to reach the Pit Stop at the end of a stage, most of the time you will be eliminated. The goal is clear from the start and any mistakes can be fatal in terms of survival in the game. Finally I think that The Amazing Race may be the most accessible of the reality shows. You don't have to be extra fit or extraordinarily gifted to succeed on The Amazing Race. You need endurance and quick wits because you are travelling around the world in 30 days. You also need a willingness to experience new things, and a lot of patience with the person that you're going with. It is the latter which produces the best drama in the show. People come face to face with their fears. Personalities clash both between teams and within them, although the teams that do best tend to be the teams where personalities mesh rather than clash.
Tonight's final episode is two hours long. There are four teams remaining: Hayden & Aaron (dating, models from Los Angeles), Freddy & Kendra (dating, models from Miami), Adam & Rebecca (formerly dating, personal trainers from Los Angeles), and Kris & Jon (long distance dating, a Geography student and waitress from Long Beach and a restaurant owner from Scottsdale respectively). One team will be eliminated in the first hour and the three remaining teams will race for the finish line somewhere in the United States in the second hour of tonight's show. My personal favourites are Kris & Jon, because they've worked together as a team efficiently and of the remaining teams they've been the least argumentative and the least insulting to the people they've encountered along the way. The team I don't really want to win is Freddy & Kendra, largely because Kendra has behaved like a true pampered princess throughout the Race and has made some remarks which, presumably with the help of editing, make her seem like a serious bigot.
The Amazing Race airs tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern - 8 p.m. Central.
So Why Do I Think I Know Anything?
I grew up with television in my life. Indeed, in the city where I live television and I are almost exact contemporaries. When I was born in August 1956, the one local TV station had been in operation for just over a year and a half. Television as a mass medium in Canada had only existed for four years. Colour television would only appear in Canada nine years after I was born, and it didn't become the choice for another five years. I remember when the second station opened in Saskatoon in the early 1970s, when cable appeared later the same decade, and when the third station opened in the mid-1980s.
As far as shows go, I can't say that I've seen them all - you don't in a one channel town that doesn't have cable - but I have seen a lot of the memorable ones when they first appeared. I remember seeing and hating Doctor Who in 1964 (the hatred was largely because the show had replaced The Bugs Bunny Show - never get between a kid and his cartoons). I remember when westerns and private eye shows dominated the airwaves. My oldest memories are of watching television. In other words I'm an Old Fart.
What this Old Fart brings to the table is summed up in the description I gave to this blog - "I know what I like" and I like television. I don't like all of the shows and will say so which makes me a critic in the same way that it makes all of us critics. And in the end why shouldn't I have a blog that lets me be a critic. For that matter why shouldn't you?
As far as shows go, I can't say that I've seen them all - you don't in a one channel town that doesn't have cable - but I have seen a lot of the memorable ones when they first appeared. I remember seeing and hating Doctor Who in 1964 (the hatred was largely because the show had replaced The Bugs Bunny Show - never get between a kid and his cartoons). I remember when westerns and private eye shows dominated the airwaves. My oldest memories are of watching television. In other words I'm an Old Fart.
What this Old Fart brings to the table is summed up in the description I gave to this blog - "I know what I like" and I like television. I don't like all of the shows and will say so which makes me a critic in the same way that it makes all of us critics. And in the end why shouldn't I have a blog that lets me be a critic. For that matter why shouldn't you?
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