Posted Nov 2nd 2009 12:41AM by Jackie Schnoop
Filed under: OpEd, The Amazing Race, Episode Reviews
(S15E07) Poor Ericka. In tonight's episode of
The Amazing Race, she didn't look quite like Miss America. Stress will do that to you. It seems each week a team or two make what might be a fatal error in the game. Oh, not something that could kill them -- just one which could lead to being Philiminated. This leg wasn't only tough on Brian and Ericka. One of the Globetrotters had to don a dress. Thankfully, it seemed to be specially tailored to fit him.
Continue reading Review: The Amazing Race - This is Not My Finest Hour
Posted Oct 26th 2009 12:34AM by Jackie Schnoop
Filed under: OpEd, The Amazing Race, Episode Reviews
(S15E06) One of the many things I learned tonight on
The Amazing Race is that Dubai is probably hotter than anyplace I really want to visit. Every team was sweating; every team was complaining. At least those teams who didn't have a clue about where the Persian Gulf is or whether it's a country in and of itself will remember it now. If nothing else but for the heat. Oh. And the way cool six-story water slide into shark infested waters. At least one team will really remember that water slide.
Continue reading Review: The Amazing Race - Do it for the Hood! Do it for the Suburbs!
Posted Oct 19th 2009 12:40AM by Jackie Schnoop
Filed under: OpEd, The Amazing Race, Episode Reviews
(S15E05) Once again in the NYC viewing area,
The Amazing Race suffered a huge delay in airing due to football. Tonight, it started an hour and fifteen minutes late. And, after all of that, the Jets lost! It's a miracle this show keeps receiving Emmy awards when the CBS Sunday night schedule is so fickle due to every sport under the sun or inside a stadium. Speaking of sports ... who are the Brinkley Tigers on Flight Time's t-shirt? They can't be Christie Brinkley's ex-husbands, can they?
Continue reading Review: The Amazing Race - I'm Like Ricky Bobby
Posted Oct 12th 2009 12:40AM by Jackie Schnoop
Filed under: OpEd, The Amazing Race, Episode Reviews
(S15E04) You'll have to bear with me tonight. You see, I'm cranky. Yes, I'm cranky about tonight's episode of
The Amazing Race. Perhaps I'd be a bit less cranky had the show started anywhere near on time. No, it's a Sunday show and here in the NYC viewing area, any sport played during the day can run over and delay the entire Sunday evening primetime line-up. On a night like tonight, delayed 45 minutes, it wreaks havoc with other shows I'd like to watch and my review writing time. But that's not the only reason I'm cranky.
Continue reading The Amazing Race: Sean Penn Cambodia Here We Come
Posted Oct 5th 2009 12:20AM by Jackie Schnoop
Filed under: OpEd, The Amazing Race, Episode Reviews
(S15E03) Gee, it doesn't seem like we're already three episodes into
The Amazing Race. But last week's two-hour season premiere with its two Philiminations, counted as two episodes. I'm still getting to know the teams. I think, so far, this season has more teams that I'd really like to see stick around for a while. There is only one team who really annoys me. With my luck, they'll be around for a good long while. I want them to implode. Nah, I'm not talking about Zev and Justin.
Continue reading The Amazing Race: It's Like Being Dropped on Planet Mars
Posted Sep 28th 2009 12:38AM by Jackie Schnoop
Filed under: OpEd, The Amazing Race, Episode Reviews
(S15E01) In this single two-hour season premiere, we were reminded why
The Amazing Race keeps snapping up those Emmy Awards for the best reality show on television. We're talking quality teams -- no Jerry Springer fans here! We're talking the adrenalin rush that viewers get just sitting on couches watching the show. We're talking a glimpse into other lands, cultures, and people we might never get the chance to experience in our own lives. We're talking simply amazing.
Continue reading The Amazing Race: They Thought Godzilla Was Walking Down the Street (season premiere)
Posted Sep 21st 2009 7:03PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: The Amazing Race, Survivor, Celebrities, Awards, Emmys
Survivor host Jeff Probst won Best Reality Host last night, but the big news was when he told reporters that
The Amazing Race has already won for Best Reality Competition Show seven times and
should take itself out of the running!
So, is this just sour grapes or does Probst have a point? Maybe Probst should go on
The Amazing Race and Phil Keoghan should go on
Survivor and see who can last the longest.
Posted Aug 4th 2009 9:04AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, The Amazing Race, Survivor, Celebrities
Romance on reality TV is rarely as real as the producers want us to think. However, at least one romance seems to be the real thing:
Rob and Amber from
Survivor.
They met on
Survivor, thrived on
The Amazing Race, flopped on their own show, but have remained a happily married couple four years after they wed. Now the game really begins for these two reality TV vets.
Rob and Amber Mariano are the proud parents of newborn Lucia Rose.
Little Lucia was born July 4 in Pensacola, and chances are she's going to be raised as a Red Sox fan. Considering how difficult
Survivor and
The Amazing Race are, and how well Rob and Amber did on both shows, raising a kid should be a piece of cake.
Continue reading Survive this: Rob and Amber have a baby
Posted Jul 23rd 2009 7:08PM by Michael Pascua
Filed under: OpEd, The Amazing Race
It was inevitable: the stereotype of the poker player is being tested on another reality show. First there was Jean-Robert on
Survivor. More recently America watched Annie Duke shrewdly translate her poker prowess as business savvy on the
Celebrity Apprentice.
Now rumors are
flying in that two poker players will be on
The Amazing Race. Poker players Maria Ho and Tiffany Michelle have been spotted around LAX's airport ready to race around the world. What is it about poker players that are so appealing? Can the ability to bluff succeed with foreigners?
Continue reading More poker player reality stars?
Posted Jun 26th 2009 1:04PM by Nick Zaino
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, OpEd, The Amazing Race
I'm not a fan of reality shows. I know that's not a bold statement to make, and that reality shows are a fairly easy target. But I think they're boring after the first episode, for the most part. You pretty much know how it goes from there. Which one of the needy, self-esteem deficient bachelorettes the arrogant bachelor ends up with doesn't interest me (nor the opposite - which arrogant idiot catches the fancy of the bachelorette). Talent shows are usually just as bad, preying on their contestants' desperate need for recognition, and with wildly erratic and cynical judging.
So it's a surprise to me that there are two reality shows I actually do enjoy. There is
The Amazing Race on CBS, which is currently in between seasons, and
So You Think You Can Dance, which is in the beginning third on Fox. Generally, I don't feel stupid watching these two shows. I don't feel like I'm wasting my time. In fact, every once in a while, I feel like I'm learning something.
Continue reading Reality shows for people who hate reality shows
Posted Jun 24th 2009 5:02PM by Michael Pascua
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, OpEd, The Amazing Race
After the separation of
Jon and Kate Gosselin, one is left wondering: what will happen to the children?
Jon and Kate Plus Eight isn't the first reality show to feature children, but many including Jon and Kate, place their children in questionable situations.
What makes exploiting children the same as a twenty-something who wants to win
Big Brother? Family reality shows have done everything as well, including
swapping mothers,
adventure races,
fixing houses, and
general living with life. There's got to be a point where the legal guardian has to say enough is enough. Aren't child labor laws in effect with the 24/7 families?
Continue reading Should children be allowed on reality TV?
Posted Jun 11th 2009 3:00PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, OpEd, The Amazing Race, American Idol, Survivor, Big Brother (US), Dancing With The Stars, Celebreality
Considering how prevalent reality television is these days, it's got to be a pretty daunting task to try and put together a comprehensive list of the best and worst of all time. But
Entertainment Weekly thinks they've done just that. They've compiled the
top 20 reality shows of all time, but also the
ten worst reality shows of all time. All in all, they did a pretty damned good job.
I completely agree with the top six, but they lose me with
Jackass at number seven. I have never understood the appeal of filming morons doing stupid things on purpose just to be stupid. But there were some shows missing from the list completely, like
Little People Big World, So You Think You Can Dance and
Beauty and the Geek. Surely those shows are better than
The Hills and
The Real Housewives of Sesame Street, or whatever franchise they're spinning now.
Continue reading EW declares the all-time best and worst of reality television
Posted May 21st 2009 11:03AM by Michael Pascua
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, OpEd, The Amazing Race, American Idol, The Apprentice, Survivor, Dancing With The Stars, So You Think You Can Dance, America's Got Talent
With the latest seasons of
Survivor,
The Amazing Race, and
American Idol wrapping up, fans patiently have to wait until the fall or spring 2010 for their favorite shows to return. But why wait? Several reality TV shows debut in the summer both as lighter fare than fall shows and a way to test for target audiences.
If one recalls, several summer reality TV shows have eventually moved to prime real estate in the fall or spring. If rumors are true the summer favorite
So You Think You Can Dance will be the next to move, airing in the summer and fall.
Here are some alternatives for your favorite reality TV shows.
Continue reading Summer reality TV alternatives
Posted May 20th 2009 10:59AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Industry, The Amazing Race, CSI, Survivor, How I Met Your Mother, NCIS, Upfronts, Reality-Free, The Mentalist, The Big Bang Theory
Coming off a strong 2008 season, CBS is taking some bold moves with their new season program schedule. As we wrote earlier, there are four new dramas, a sitcom and a reality show in the mix.
The big news is how it's shifting around some hit shows on Monday and Thursday, while standing pat on Wednesday. Here's what we know right now...after the jump.
Continue reading The Upfronts: CBS
Posted May 13th 2009 7:04PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Other Comedy Shows, Programming, OpEd, The Amazing Race, The Apprentice, CSI, House, Lost, Smallville, Grey's Anatomy, The Office, 30 Rock, Reality-Free, Fringe, The Big Bang Theory, Parks and Recreation
Do the American people really like watching their favorite shows this way? Assuming you have more than one or two shows you enjoy following, this week is daunting to say the least and beyond exhausting. Just last night I had a three-hour finale of
The Biggest Loser and that awesome
Fringe finale. In the past few days we've said goodbye to
The Amazing Race,
The Apprentice,
Cold Case,
The Unit,
Brothers & Sisters,
The Big Bang Theory,
House and
Castle. And that's just on the major networks.
Over the next two days we have
America's Next Top Model,
Lie to Me,
Lost,
Bones,
My Name Is Earl,
Smallville,
Parks & Recreation,
CSI,
Grey's Anatomy,
Hell's Kitchen,
The Office,
Supernatural and even
CSI: NY on a special night. And it goes on through the weekend. In an era where ratings are slipping, how can it make good business sense to put all of these finales on against one another all within a few days of each other. I know they've always done that, but I just don't think it makes sense anymore.
Continue reading We're barely halfway through and I've already got finale fatigue!
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