TV and Movies

[gardenman]

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@granddi wrote:

Just a general comment about the show.

Sometimes you see the contestants running through the streets with full back packs and other times back packs off.

I'm guessing that they are told when they may leave the packs with the cab or production team?

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I suspect that's the case. There's probably more information in their clue than we ever hear. We hear them read part of the clue, but I suspect they have other instructions in there also about retaining the cab or not, keeping their backpacks or not, and how to act, dress, or behave in certain situations. It's also possible their camera operator has instructions for them that he passes on to them. They probably meet with a producer or member of production before each leg also to go over certain details. Just the driving rules in various countries vary so much that if you just dropped them down in a country with no explanation they'd likely end up in trouble.

When they leave an airport or train station these days you just see the players emerge in a pack with no camera operator with them, then their camera operator magically picks them up as they search for a cab and race off to their next destination. We have seven teams now and when they emerged from the train station last night you just saw the players emerge and race for the cabs, so the camera teams were stationed near the cabs and then reunited with each team. Someone in production was obviously holding them in a cluster inside the train station then unleashed them in a pack when everyone else was ready.

The show has evolved into a more production-friendly format than it used to have. Pretty much everyone takes the same plane, train, or boat these days which regroups the field for each leg. That's great for the slower teams and production, but tough on the fastest teams. Build a big lead and poof, it's gone.

[patbz]

I asked DH last night how could any contestant on this show not know how to drive a stick shift? If I were a contestant I'd immediately practice my shift skills (this happens every year).

[candyagain]

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@patbz wrote:

I asked DH last night how could any contestant on this show not know how to drive a stick shift? If I were a contestant I'd immediately practice my shift skills (this happens every year).

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Agree! I feel that way when a contestant doesn't know how to make fire on Survivor. Have they never watched the show?

[gardenman]

Alas! The cute little blonds are gone and I'm left with no team to root for. They ran into more taxi trouble then the five team alliance yielded them twice (twenty minutes each time) to be sure they were gone. That's tacky. I'm not a fan of people ganging up on others. Kudos to the blonds though, they handled it all with good grace and humor. I don't like any of the final five teams, but I'll enjoy watching their smug selves get the boot. 

[gardenman]

I'm really hating this season with the team play. They just gang up on another team to get rid of them each week and then celebrate their success. 

Production needs to rethink things a bit if they have another season. The grouping everyone up at the start of each leg, while easier for production, makes it too easy for teams to form and attack the outliers. TAR should be an individual event, but this season it's all about the teams. I'm not a fan. They need to rethink the comps, rethink grouping everyone up, and end this team nonsense. It's just ruining one of my favorite shows.

[CelticCrafter]

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@gardenman wrote:

I'm really hating this season with the team play. They just gang up on another team to get rid of them each week and then celebrate their success. 

Production needs to rethink things a bit if they have another season. The grouping everyone up at the start of each leg, while easier for production, makes it too easy for teams to form and attack the outliers. TAR should be an individual event, but this season it's all about the teams. I'm not a fan. They need to rethink the comps, rethink grouping everyone up, and end this team nonsense. It's just ruining one of my favorite shows.

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The alliances don't bother me but I've found some of the challenges soooo boring or chaotic that I've had to fast forwarded through quite a few of them.

[CLHS68]

I am just not enjoying this show as I have in the past. Now there is no one to root for to win in my opinion. So I am losing interest.

[Alter Ego]

For some reason, I didn't mind the alliance until last night.  The blondes were lucky to make it as far as they did and I even disregarded the beards burning the uturn board last week because the brother/sister weren't really a strong team either.  Somehow, I talked myself into thinking it was part of gameplay because they were uturns, etc.But last night was more blatant.

I didn't like the episode.  I tend to dislike the last episode because things tend to move in linear fashion.  This was like that - missed really seeing the city and really digging into the culture. Sure, there was a little bit, but not as much as when they really need to perform a challenge. Just wasn't an exciting day, ending in a bummer challenge that ended up really not mattering because the three teams worked together.

I also disliked DeAngelo's comments on the mat, but he was likely frustrated as he ran all that way, only to lose in that manner.  They had no chance so quit, which likely particularly hurt a professional athlete.

[chiclets]

I have always enjoyed this show.

However I am not a fan of teams helping each other.  I do think alliances should be eliminated.  When you are racing you are racing against everyone in that race, you do nothing to aide the competition.

[gardenman]

I think 'blatant" is the key word for this season. Teams have helped one another in past seasons but it's typically done more subtly. Teams don't typically openly conspire directly in front of the team they want to get rid of. They're not even trying to hide who they're targeting this season.

Maybe I wouldn't mind it so bad if it was the weaker teams ganging up on the stronger teams, but this has been the stronger teams ganging up on the weaker teams week after week. The blonds were not a threat to win the game. I'd have kept them around as long as possible because they're not a threat to win. With five teams united against them and two U-Turns ahead of them, they had no chance to survive.

Gary and DeAngelo this week were in the same spot. Three teams united to get rid of them and openly working against them. It's just tacky and unsportsmanlike.

I'm pretty much down to Hung and Chee as the only team I'd like to see win, and I'm not a big fan of theirs. It's just been a bad season for me.