The Amazing Race

Summertime TV watching is usually about having the opportunity to catch reruns of missed episdoes of your favorite shows, as well as checking out shows you've never taken time to watch before (thus finding new favorite shows). For example, my wife and I have become big fans of Without a Trace this summer. It's a show we don't normally watch because I believe it's on at the same time as CSI.

Summertime TV has also brought me one of my favorite shows of the year- The Amazing Race. It's no surprise to me that this show has won the Emmy for favorite reality TV series. Compared to most of the other "reality" shows that are out there, this one is miles apart in terms of entertainment value and in terms of being worthy of taking up an hour of my busy life each week.

I don't know if any of you out there are Amazing Race fans but if you haven't checked it out, I highly recommend that you do so. Next to 24, NYPD Blue and CSI, the Amazing Race is the fastest hour of television that I've ever sat down and watched.

My only complaint about the show is that they have not yet had a leg of the race through Canada (at least I don't think they have). I'm not sure why this is but I for one would love to see some of these American participants have to ski the slopes in beautiful Whistler, or perhaps join the squeegee kids in washing windshields in downtown TO. Even better, bring 'em out to Saskatchewan for some gopher hunting :).

Anyways, just wanted to make a quick plug for the show that gets me speeding home from work every Tuesday night. They are down to the final 5 couples now and they've added a very cool twist to the game. They have pitstops that mark the end of each leg of the race (the end of each episode). Most of these pitstops are elimination stops where the last team to arrive is eliminated from the race. Every few episodes though one of the pitstops is not an elimination stop, meaning the last team to arrive gets a second chance to stop sucking.

BUT, this year what they've done is that if you're the last team to arrive at a pitstop that's not an elimination point, you still get to continue BUT you have to turn in all your money and start the next leg of the race with no cash.

That's what happened this past week and the two twins, Kami & Karli (The Amazing Race's version of the Olsen twins- they weigh like 75 pounds combined), were the last to arrive at a non-elimination check-point. So next week they get to start the next leg of the race with no money, and the race kicks off from the middle of the desert (can't remember which desert though). It's one thing to be stuck in a big city with no money- at least you can panhandle- but what do you do in the middle of the desert? Sucks to be the twins.

Anyways, check out The Amazing Race 5 if you haven't already, it is just what the title suggests, Amazing.

Peace out,

Mike