the coolest thing about this edition is the striking age disparities within the teams--nearly all the teams--which has almost never been true before. on nearly every team, the oldest member(s) of assumed the leadership, and it's fascinating to watch how on some teams their age makes them much stronger--than their children--while in others, it makes them much weaker than their adult daughters or sons in law.

do i feel for those people trying to lead their team, but knowing they're mainly dragging it down.

and the parents of children have such a different challenge: swallow the anger they must feel about their kid handicap, hold back the urge to lash out at the people dragging them down and encourage them instead. i am so utterly impressed by the gaghans and blacks and that christian family for doing that, so disgusted with the two families that pulled up the rear this week. and what a surprise that they were the last two.

(and it's nice to see an overtly-christian group on one of these shows actually act christian for once. so far, i'm really impressed with the way they treat each other.)

also no coincidence, i think, that the two teams with all four members closest in age came in near the top this week.

i liked episode two of the race nearly as much as the first, for mostly the same reasons.

but i've got to unload about the revolting families.

god. of course this show always casts several revolting teams, but rarely before have we had the chance to the horror that is one of these contestants, and the people who made them that way.

that bickering family from new jersey. are there words to convey the level of my disgust?

most of all for the mom. she constantly whines and complains about how they don't listen to or respect her, and she's right, it is disgustly to behold, but is the reason for it really beyond her vision?

look in the mirror, lady. all they're doing is mimicking your behavior. you have clearly been modelling it for them their entire lives, and they have grown up with all the values you instilled in them.

ugh. she does nothing but belittle and berate them, and respond precisely in kind. i don't even think they (only) doing it to get back at her, i'm guessing they treat everyone the way she does. she trained them, she's got to live with them.

unfortunately, so do we.

the only thing more galling than watching a woman destroy her family like that, though, is watching her then complain about it.

hideous. just hideous. can't parents like that have their licence revoked or something?

but . . .

while she appears to be the season's most horrifying character overall--so far--one of her peers actually outdid her on ep 2.

Most Nasueating Moment of the Week came right after the father in that horrible family eliminated this week put his son behind the wheel. dad put all the responsibility for finding the exit on the kid: you're the driver, you're in charge, it's all on you.

what? you've got three other people in the car, what the hell are you all doing? any decent team--most of the other teams--had all four people aggressively on the lookout. in fact, most successful teams over the years have put primary responsibility on the navigator, who is not driving, not dealing with all the mechanics of driving. the navigator is free to follow the map, watch what roads and landmarks they are passing and insure they're on course.

this was complete idiocy on the dad's part, but there was clearly much more going on. he was so obviously setting his son up. he grudgingly gave up his authority role at the wheel, and was practically drooling over the prospect of his son failing. his first act in the back seat was to pull back and do nothing, instruct everyone else to do nothing, and strand his son out there to fail, shaking the kid's confidence too by remarking steadily on how inevitable that failure was. he could just not wait for his moment, and then gleefully kicked him out of the front, took over again at his rightful position behind the wheel.

what a dispicable man.

maybe it's just a phase--where his son is finally coming of age, and for the first time in his life, he sees himself about to be surpassed in countless ways by his own progeny. maybe he's not always a dick, but he sure was here.

one of the most revolting displays i've ever seen on the show. right up there with that wife-beating dwarf with the blue hair and his blond wife the enabler. at least she was an adult, she was responsible for marrying the complete asshole. to see this kind of treatment of a kid. ugh.

and it was clear from the guy's many comments, and especially his post-loss interview that this was not an isolated incident. he's quite articulate about his dad being deaf to any ideas that come out of his mouth, but luckily he doesn't yet seem to see why. jealousy.

makes me feel grateful i never felt a hint of that from my dad. he's got his problems, for sure, but he's always been proud of me, never once seemed to worry about me overshadowing him. seemed to relish it.

thanks, dad. (maybe saying that here will atone a tiny little bit for almost never saying it to him in person. ugh. do i have to call him? don't you hate it when you see total jerks on tv and suddenly notice what a jerk you've been yourself in an entirely different way?)

---

it shows in the way they treat the people around them, too. did you notice how the bickering family just hurled the "wounded" guy they were carrying to the ground like a sack of potatoes when they hit the finish line? that was a person there, landing on his back on the hard lumpy ground with nothing but a sheet of burlap underneath. all they seemed to care about was their own relief.

meanwhile, the gaghans put their guy down a lot more gently, but still apologized.

(of course who knows about editing. maybe the bickersons apologized too at some point, but why do i doubt that?)

What's with this driving tour of PA and Jew Jersey?

I've already driven on that expressway. And hundreds like it. What happened to taking me to places I'd never been?

I don't get it.

And I understand most of this season is going to be that way. Ugh.

The absolute nadir of this element came in ep one, when the father-in-law expressed his wonder at getting to hand a costumed guy the guy the flag, and then watching him fold it up. Folding a flag? This guy needs to get out more. And what was with the long slow shot of the flag getting folded. That's a compelling visual? I could fold a flag at home. I have folded a flag at home. What were they thinking?

Not quite up there with the season contestants spent time in Nelson Mandela's cell. I have not been there. I am not likely to, though I have put it on my list ever since I saw that ep. One of the best things about this show is the places it takes us.

Further, please.

Update:

It's becoming clear that they have decided that instead of just taking us to faraway places this season, they will take us to faraway times. We're not just visiting the U.S. or its historical sites, but re-enacting the past.

Well, interesting idea. I give them props for thinking of it, trying it. And it's not completely unsuccessful so far. But they do seem to be demonstrating that contemporary cultural differences are much easier to bring vividly to the screen than American history--at least in this sort of entertainment TV vehicle.

But . . .

I am starting to see some upside to the historical re-enactments? While trite and routine in a lot of ways, perhaps they will add a bit of excitement to the challenge. I've been to a civil war re-enactment--for a feature story, for my college paper--and believe me, it's not that exciting. But as background to last week's challenge, it really added something. This time, it felt like more than nine teams running around doing some goofy task, they were doing it among a whole lot of . . . well, distracting movement and scenery, I guess. Distracting in a good way. Added to the sense of pandemonium. And color. And a lot of things. An all-around richer experience.

So that's some upside.

That should have been the title of the first ep of Amazing Race.

Sure gave me a good laugh. Prolly not out of context, but if you saw it . . . The sheer horror on the face and in the voice of that (woman?--I've already forgotten) as she realizes that nearing the elimination mat, the team only seconds behind her is the family with the two little kids. Priceless.

So I had my doubts about Amazing Race Family Edition. Big doubts.

But I tuned in anyway, and God did I hate the family crap.

Even worse than my worst fears. I had figured the change could go either way, and it went worse.

For the first hour.

Now (I scrawled much of this post while watching the first ep, over a week ago), I am outright giddy for the next installment.

Once again the Race producers illustrate their wisdom in opening with a two-hour ep. Not just a marketing manuever, it takes that long to start bonding with all these people. To see enough sides of them to begin to love them.

Some favorite moments from that ep:

The guy from jock family, getting into the car soaking wet in his best Pee Wee Herman impersonation, "I'm free-zing."

Then, just moments (in TV time), a shot of him all dried off, bravado back, imagining out loud his retardd come-on to the team of adult sisters: "Hey ladies. I love older women. HrrrRuffffff!" Luckily, he's not entirely serious and might turn out to be a playful guy. More luckily for him, his brother laugh at him. dimples blaring as soon as they smile. "You are so out your league right now."

Every shot of that little six-year-old girl from the Gaghan family. Just too adorable for words.

The terrified look on the young Black boy's face (wow, that sounded racist. But it's his name) when his parent were acknowledging to each other that they were completely lost. In all the hundreds of hours of reality show footage to-date, I don't believe there has been a reaction shot quite like that one before. (OK, on any of the good reality shows. I'm not monitoring most of the reality dreck, but I'd say odds are in my favor.)

Picture Richard Hatch on the first Survivor, making a ghastly blunder, and then a cutaway to his son, grasping the impact and distraught at the implications. Now picture the son actually competing as a teammate with him, and about to be brought down with him. Horrified at his own loss as only a young kid can be, and his image of his father as unbeatable hero simultaneously shattered.

Every kid has him heroic image of his father crushed, but we rarely get to witness it on television. Quite the powerful moment. (Of course it's not a life-altering crush, but for the moment . . . Well, if you saw the little Black kid gape, you know how deep that moment penetrated. For a moment there, there was much more than a million dollars at stake.)

This show brought out so many elements I never would have expected, that I've never really seen in a reality show before. Really something.

But by far my favorite moment, and apparently one of my faves in the short history of the series: