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hr_macgirl and I watched the season finale on Monday night.
My thoughts on the season just past:
Speed Bump: Finally, something that I like as a non-elimination penalty. No penalty at all didn't work; taking money gave us the spectacle of rich Americans begging around the world; taking money and stuff did the same but more so; the "first or 30-min" rule kinda worked, until other teams figured out that all they had to do was follow the non-eliminated team and arrive right behind them.
The non-non-elimination überleg just tends to just lead to a new bunch point (notably in TAR6) and thereby reduces to "no penalty".
Admittedly, the Speed Bump tasks were pretty lightweight, but they gave the team a chance to hustle and make up the time (keeping them competitive) without being a complete non-penalty.
U-Turn: Better than a Yield, which isn't saying much. I still don't like the "screw other teams" factor it introduces, but at least this way the team can power through it rather than standing there arguing while the timer runs out (and continuing to argue after it's over, since they're not paying attention).
My suggestion: give each team one "courtesy of" picture, like they have now, but force them to use it for either a Yield/U-Turn or a Fast Forward; if they U-Turn another team, no FF for them! Then add back a couple more Fast Forwards. We'll really see the "most advantageous" aspect return if that happens.
Challenges: We had animal challenges (donkeys, camels). There were only two food challenges (and neither of them gutbusters): the camel milk and the hot tea. Brain/navigation challenges: the Teach It/Learn It Detour on leg 3, the package delivery Roadblock on leg 5, the taxi driver Roadblock on leg 9, and the final Roadblock, plus parts of a lot of other ones (the propane delivery, for example). This was a really good mix: none of them seemed stupid or too contrived or too much "Fear Factor".
Teams:
Ah, the teams. In order of elimination:
Ari/Staella: Team Asses with the Ass. A well-deserved first out.
Kate/Pat: I liked what I saw of them, especially the comment "I don't think God cares if we win or not." A shame they went out so quickly. They reminded me of the Bowling Moms and the Air Traffic Controllers (both TAR4): both older teams, with a sense of humor and an easy companionability.
Marianna/Julia: They were a team. They were in the race. Then they weren't.
Lorena/Jason: I had trouble early on keeping track of which team was this one and which was TK/Rachel. Then these two got eliminated, and it no longer mattered.
Shana/Jennifer: You know what? Every other team that's come on the show and said "we're going to flirt our way around the world" has lost. Sense a pattern yet? Dustin/Kandice (TAR10/TAR:AS) actually raced, and actually used their brains, and actually made it to the final four twice and the final three once. You two? Not so much.
Azaria/Hendekea: We've had plenty of brother/brother and sister/sister teams, but only two brother/sister teams: TAR2's Blake/Paige and TAR3's Tramel/Talicia. (I'm ignoring TAR: People Driving Around New Jersey Screaming At Each Other Edition.) They seemed like a pretty good team that fell victim to TAR's equivalent of going up against a Sicilian when death is on the line: not checking their plane tickets.
Kynt/Vyxsin: I'd like to buy a vowel. I think Killer Fatigue finished them off, because they had a shot at staying ahead even without the U-Turn mistake but not following the Roadblock instructions doomed them. Doom doom doom in pink.
Nate/Jen: Like Wil/Tara (TAR2) without the maturity. That elimination was soooooo overdue.
This meant that for the first time ever there's been a final three where I wasn't rooting against at least one team. There was Ron, but he did well enough the last couple of legs that I was only half rooting against him, so I was 3/4 rooting for them.
Nick/Don: Don will have some great stories to tell his grandkids. Oh wait, Nick's already heard them! I think they did a great job of supporting each other and balancing their weaknesses. Nick never complained, just grabbed the bags and ran; Don kicked butt at a fair number of the tasks along the way.
Ron/Christina: I think (I hope!) that Ron really turned around. If he didn't, I hope watching the show reminded him to. Gus/Hera (TAR6) are still my favorite parent/child team though.
TK/Rachel: Stay cool, keep going, and never give up no matter how bad things look. You could do a whole lot worse as a philosophy for life.
hr_macgirl and I watched the season finale on Monday night.My thoughts on the season just past:
Speed Bump: Finally, something that I like as a non-elimination penalty. No penalty at all didn't work; taking money gave us the spectacle of rich Americans begging around the world; taking money and stuff did the same but more so; the "first or 30-min" rule kinda worked, until other teams figured out that all they had to do was follow the non-eliminated team and arrive right behind them.
The non-non-elimination überleg just tends to just lead to a new bunch point (notably in TAR6) and thereby reduces to "no penalty".
Admittedly, the Speed Bump tasks were pretty lightweight, but they gave the team a chance to hustle and make up the time (keeping them competitive) without being a complete non-penalty.
U-Turn: Better than a Yield, which isn't saying much. I still don't like the "screw other teams" factor it introduces, but at least this way the team can power through it rather than standing there arguing while the timer runs out (and continuing to argue after it's over, since they're not paying attention).
My suggestion: give each team one "courtesy of" picture, like they have now, but force them to use it for either a Yield/U-Turn or a Fast Forward; if they U-Turn another team, no FF for them! Then add back a couple more Fast Forwards. We'll really see the "most advantageous" aspect return if that happens.
Challenges: We had animal challenges (donkeys, camels). There were only two food challenges (and neither of them gutbusters): the camel milk and the hot tea. Brain/navigation challenges: the Teach It/Learn It Detour on leg 3, the package delivery Roadblock on leg 5, the taxi driver Roadblock on leg 9, and the final Roadblock, plus parts of a lot of other ones (the propane delivery, for example). This was a really good mix: none of them seemed stupid or too contrived or too much "Fear Factor".
Teams:
Ah, the teams. In order of elimination:
Ari/Staella: Team Asses with the Ass. A well-deserved first out.
Kate/Pat: I liked what I saw of them, especially the comment "I don't think God cares if we win or not." A shame they went out so quickly. They reminded me of the Bowling Moms and the Air Traffic Controllers (both TAR4): both older teams, with a sense of humor and an easy companionability.
Marianna/Julia: They were a team. They were in the race. Then they weren't.
Lorena/Jason: I had trouble early on keeping track of which team was this one and which was TK/Rachel. Then these two got eliminated, and it no longer mattered.
Shana/Jennifer: You know what? Every other team that's come on the show and said "we're going to flirt our way around the world" has lost. Sense a pattern yet? Dustin/Kandice (TAR10/TAR:AS) actually raced, and actually used their brains, and actually made it to the final four twice and the final three once. You two? Not so much.
Azaria/Hendekea: We've had plenty of brother/brother and sister/sister teams, but only two brother/sister teams: TAR2's Blake/Paige and TAR3's Tramel/Talicia. (I'm ignoring TAR: People Driving Around New Jersey Screaming At Each Other Edition.) They seemed like a pretty good team that fell victim to TAR's equivalent of going up against a Sicilian when death is on the line: not checking their plane tickets.
Kynt/Vyxsin: I'd like to buy a vowel. I think Killer Fatigue finished them off, because they had a shot at staying ahead even without the U-Turn mistake but not following the Roadblock instructions doomed them. Doom doom doom in pink.
Nate/Jen: Like Wil/Tara (TAR2) without the maturity. That elimination was soooooo overdue.
This meant that for the first time ever there's been a final three where I wasn't rooting against at least one team. There was Ron, but he did well enough the last couple of legs that I was only half rooting against him, so I was 3/4 rooting for them.
Nick/Don: Don will have some great stories to tell his grandkids. Oh wait, Nick's already heard them! I think they did a great job of supporting each other and balancing their weaknesses. Nick never complained, just grabbed the bags and ran; Don kicked butt at a fair number of the tasks along the way.
Ron/Christina: I think (I hope!) that Ron really turned around. If he didn't, I hope watching the show reminded him to. Gus/Hera (TAR6) are still my favorite parent/child team though.
TK/Rachel: Stay cool, keep going, and never give up no matter how bad things look. You could do a whole lot worse as a philosophy for life.
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no subject
Date: 2008-01-25 05:18 (UTC)I agree with pretty much everything you said here. I was really impressed by Ron in the last few legs -- I was rooting against these guys for most of the show, he was pissing me off so much.
I liked TK & Rachel a lot, except that I was slightly distracted by their being slightly inferior to the last hippie team (Tyler & James from TAR 9), who remain one of my favorite teams ever.
Someone should organize a mini version of this around Boston some time...
no subject
Date: 2008-01-25 13:03 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-25 14:09 (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-01-26 00:23 (UTC)They should always have some animal challenges in the first couple legs, because it weeds out the excitable teams who never learned that you behave gently and quietly around critters.
My friend Kate Salter bought me a Harlequin Romance novel set in a thinly-disguised TAR -- haven't read it, but just the idea makes me grin....