May The Best Race Win

... Spoiler Alert! ... Spoiler Alert! ...


If you haven't yet seen (and you intend to see) episode 1 of The Amazing Race Series 8 - Family Edition (TAR 8), do not read any further!


--------------------



The last season of TAR that was screened here in Australia was the ninth season of this exceptional show. Just to be confusing, Channel Seven decided to air them out of order. Not that it matters much, unless people from overseas (naturally) assume that we've seen season 8 if we're already watching season 9.

However, just as other countries around the world are starting to see episodes of season 10, we're now starting to see episodes of season 8. Confused? Let me make it simple for you:

Channel Seven is stupid.

I don't want to harp on this too much, however, because at least we're seeing The Amazing Race in some form! Hopefully this time we'll run straight into season 10 when they finish airing season 8. You'll know the difference because season 8 is the only season not to follow the 'couples' format. This time the teams are four family members. Word has it that it didn't rate as well in the States as the other seasons have, but going from tonight's episode, I can't see that it's any different (quality-wise). Maybe I've just been starved for TAR fun since July.

Anyway, for anyone reading this who hasn't read my TAR 9 synopses (and as a refresher course for those who have), here's how this works:

I'll be recapping/reviewing the TAR 8 episodes on Fridays (or possibly sometime over the weekend) following each Thursday night screening. Your feedback is welcome (of course), and friendly debate if you disagree with anything I've said (particularly if you can't stand my favouite team or vice versa) is also encouraged.

At the end of each episode, I'll make certain predictions on what will happen in the following episode, and at the end of the season I'll give the totals of accurate versus inaccurate predictions. This is just for fun; nothing rests on it at all (except perhaps for my reputation / your devotion to my words of wisdom / etc).

I'll list each team in the order they finished the leg (or the episode, if it's a "To Be Continued" two-parter), so be warned: Don't read my post about the show if you've taped the episode and are yet to watch it. (I know that's pretty obvious, but I want to be sure everyone understands that basic concept.)

Most importantly: If you're already ahead of the episode I'm reviewing where you live, please refrain from giving any spoilers to the rest of us in the comments. Thank you.

There's one exception this time around to what I normally do in these reviews: I won't be creating amusing little nicknames (and acronyms) for each team. This is because they're all families, so the differences between each team's 'makeup' is minimal in that sense. It'd be best to use their actual surnames, for ease of remembering who's who. Don't worry, I'll include each family's photo as I discuss them, so you won't have to strain anything too much!

Let's get to it, shall we?


--------------------


1. The Godlewski Family


These girls didn't annoy me as much as I thought they were going to. I'm not sure that they played the best 'game' throughout this first leg and deserved to win the $20,000 (although, technically, the very fact that they reached the pit stop first means that they actually are deserving of the cash; I realise that's the very definition of who deserves the money), but they were considerably less irritating than they otherwise could have been. Perhaps that's just because we can only see so much of any one team per episode while there are still ten teams in the race. The Godlewski family may very well have their chance to annoy the crap out of me further down the track. Due to a minor moment of miscommunication, Sharon (who was driving) started to crack it with Christine or Tricia (one of the two) and it got really nasty for just a second. It's just worth noting because I think these girls have the potential for a majoy blow-out when things get more stressful and they're having a bad day on the road. Other teams gave them nicknames such as 'The Pink Ladies' and 'The Desperate Housewives', but I've already told you my stance on nicknames for this season. *stomps away and sulks in the corner*




2. The Gaghan Family


I quite like the Caghan family at this point. Yes, the family with the overly precocious, show-off, smartarse kid and the golden-haired daughter. The family of runners who believe they can outrun grown-ups (and then proved it when they successfully raced the Weaver family – all of whom are older than either of the Gaghan kids – to the pit stop). When Billy and Carissa were singing, “We’ll be comin’ ‘round the mountain, we’ll be comin’ ‘round the mountain, we’ll be comin’ ‘round the mountain” as Bill and Tammy pushed their buggy passed the exhausted Linz family’s buggy, I knew others would be pissed off with that behaviour, but I laughed for them. Good work. It wasn’t exactly taunting, but it wasn’t exactly not taunting, either! After seeing how having kids could be a hindrance in the rowing challenge, we were now seeing how having kids could be an advantage in the buggy challenge. I realise I may polarise my readership by enjoying the antics of the Gaghan family's very self-assured behaviour, but I liked them. For now. It should be noted that Carissa was one of the first people to help other teams put up their tents (along with her Dad and the Aiello boys).




3. The Weaver Family


I have no problem with the Weaver family; I’m certainly not going to get stuck into them simply for the fact that they have a strong faith in God. I’m happy for them. They recently lost their husband/father, for crying out loud. I’m definitely not going to have a go at them and discriminate against them for their beliefs. Unlike certain others in the blogosphere (who I won’t name here) whose intolerance towards that kind of thing is surprising – especially as the reason behind their anger is spouted as the perceived intolerance of the other party), I respect the Weavers for that and will not join the ‘trendy bandwagon’ of Christian-bashing. Of course, if they turn out to be a family of tossers and morons, then I’ll definitely get stuck into them. But it won’t be because of their chosen belief structure. That all being said, this family sometimes had me groaning in embarrassment, but mainly because they were so excitable and so jovial (how many times are you going to high-five each other?), that I occasionally felt like I was an embarrassed teen in the family ... except that the teens in this family didn't seem overly embarrassed, so I don't know what I was worried about. The crash in the buggy was a frightening experience - I'm not surprised the girls screamed and later cried when asked about it on camera; losing their father and then thinking they'd killed their mother by running over her would have been no fun at all. I'm not mean; I didn't find it amusing to watch. But I did laugh when Linda asked the truckie who gave them his map if he knew Jesus. "Yes I do. He's my friend." High-fives all round.




4. The Rogers Family


You know what? I have absolutely nothing to say about this family. They barely registered as a blip on my radar. The only thing I remember from any of them was the kids racing Rolly (from the above Weaver family) to the hot dog stand, and although Brock beat him there, Rolly grabbed the first clue and took off with it. Oh, and Denny said something about the man being "the authority of the house", so he probably alienated half of the viewership right there. What Not To Say On A Reality TV Show 101, right there. But was Renee even in the episode? I didn't see her.




5. The Schroeder Family


Although Mark is being made out to be a bit of a jerk, I'm willing to wait and see if he just wasn't over-excited in this first leg to think before he speaks. I know his wife mentioned that he says inappropriate things that might upset people, but I still want to wait and see. I didn't mind these guys too much at all; again, you might all hate them. And I might grow to loath them as time goes on and they prove themselves to be a pack o' tools. The most surprising thing about this family is that Char, the stepmum, is the only step- anything to be featured on the entire race. With so many marriages ending in divorce in the US (and elsewhere, of course), I would have expected more of the families represented in the race to be from second and third marriages, etc. Maybe fewer step-families applied because the family unity and harmony isn't what it could be ... and they knew it? (Being a typical nuclear family doesn't necessarily mean everything will be cuddles and ice creams, though ... as demonstrated below.)




6. The Paolo Family


Oh boy - what to say about the Paolo family? (Without swearing, you see.) Initially, I wanted them gone when they started screaming at each other, but after a while I must admit that it became entertaining to watch (the wacky music playing underneath their screaming matches didn't hurt, either). Then, towards the end of the episode, it stopped being entertaining and started being offensive. How those boys can talk to and treat their mother that way is beyond me. But even more mystifying is how the father can permit them to talk to and treat her that way! If I was their father, I’d be smacking them upside the head until they learned to respect their mother. Even if she is a bit of a loon and an embarrassing frustration to boot. They knew that before the race started, and yet they still chose to enter the race as a foursome. Some families simply can’t handle stress together. I hope I never get stuck next to the Paolo family on a plane. Somebody might get hurt. (Oh, and at the risk of going back on what I said earlier about nicknames, does anyone else think that DJ looks a lot like Finch from American Pie?)

Incidentally, despite all of this family's shortfallings, son Brian was the only person to collect the clue from those two cheeky hot dog vendors in New York who recognised the pair for who they were: 'Frat Brothers' Kevin & Drew from the very first season of The Amazing Race, and now minor celebrities in their own right.

Kevin (left) and Drew were apparently
understanding about not being recognised
by the majority of the racers. "As a racer,
I don't know that I would have recognised
Gandhi if he was giving me the clue," laughed
Drew. (Quote courtesy of TV Week.)




7. The Bransen Family


This is another family that barely registered on my consciousness. They just didn't do anything too impressive. They got a little lost at one point (but most teams did), and they were annoyed that the Gaghan family ("those kids") beat them to the tent task. But so what? They weren't anything special in this episode. Wally needs to exercise more (look who's talking!) and relax when directing his daughters on how to row. That being said, if I was on the race and had three daughters rowing a boat with me, I'm sure I'd be barking orders at them as well. The girls are all smiles and blonde hairstyles at the moment. They'll need to impress me in the coming episodes if I'm going to be more generous about them here.




8. The Aiello Family


These guys seem the most awkward of the family groups that have been assembled for this race. And it's not surprising. I get along very well with my Out-Laws (as I call Wifey's parents), but there's no way I'd feel comfortable going on TAR with her Dad and my other brothers-in-law. It'd just be too weird. It'd play on my mind the whole time, distracting me from playing my best, and generally being an added stress I wouldn't need. And it's clearly playing on these guys' minds, too (already). Tony is pretty unfit, too. I don't think they'll get very far in the race, even though the other team members are three fit young men. I think they'll drop the ball at some point and whoever ends up being at fault for them coming in last will have to suffer that humiliation for the rest of his relationship with his father-in-law. I don't envy the guys that situation, but they willingly placed themselves in the position, so I guess it's on their heads. (And it's not son-in-laws, Tony! It's sons-in-law!)




9. The Linz Family


I found this family to being partly annoying and partly amusing throughout the episode. They alternated between the two, for me. Megan seemed to have a lot to prove to her three brothers, and I felt a bit sorry for her for growing up as 'the fourth brother' to them. I hope she gets her chance to shine and that the boys treat her like their heroine accordingly. I'm not saying they mistreated her at any stage, but it was clear when one of them (Alex? Nick? I forget now) was telling her to speak when spoken to ("You only got one rule ..."), that she felt embarrassed and belittled. I didn't like it (partly because I saw something of how I used to treat my own sister when we were younger in the way she was spoken to, for which I've always hated myself and can't stand seeing it in the behaviour of other people). I guess another incident was right at the end when they were having a mini-squabble about the wisdom (or not) in choosing to break away from the Black family (who they were following at the time) and head in a different direction to find the pit stop. A risky move by anyone's standards, and I was with Megan on questioning how smart it was to head off another way. It turns out that this move probably kept them in the race, but it still seemed like a foolish decision. And it was made with Megan registering her objections the whole way (and basically being ignored). I'm saying quite a lot about a relatively small section of the episode, and hopefully it won't be something we see in the Linz boys again, but in case we do, this might explain why I turn off them as a family (if I do). And it's a shame, because apart from that mean behaviour, they seemed like a fun bunch of people. I didn't know who I wanted to reach the pit stop first; the Linz family or the Black family. But when I saw the red shirts appear in front of host Phil Keoghan, I felt my stomach drop and knew I'd actually been hoping the Black family would stick around. Oh well.




10. The Black Family: ELIMINATED!


I was amused (for all the wrong reasons, natch) by the name of the Black family. It sounded more like a bunch of racist producers had attributed to them a description, rather than calling them by their name. “The Blacks” and “Go Blacks!” and “Team Black! Team Black!” and “The Black family” were phrases used throughout the episode ... and I confess to initially thinking each time that it was a reference to their skin colour rather than their surname. I know what that says about me, but I’m being honest here. I’m just saying it jarred with me and felt out-of-place. Has political-correctness gone too far when someone's surname sounds like an offensive term? (But I suppose it could have been worse.) I quite liked Kenneth and Austin's good-natured and basically happy approach to the race. I liked their spirit, and they seemed like a nice family. I also thought Kimberly was a 'sweet' Mum, and was looking forward to seeing them do better at come of the challenges they'd face in the coming episodes than some of the older, more repugnant families. But it was not to be. I'm not above admitting that I got a little teary during their "good-bye" message. It was very sweet, and I think even Phil found it hard to have to tell those gorgeous smiling faces that they'd been eliminated (that was the first time he's had to tell children they were out!). I felt very sad for the boys in particular. They seemed like such bright, happy boys. (But I've gotta ask; is it just a coincidence that the only 'black' family in the race was the first to be eliminated? I smell a racist conspiracy at work!)


--------------------


At the risk of choosing an obnoxious and embarrassing family before I’ve really had a chance to get to know any of them very well yet, I’m gonna pick the Gaghan family as my early faves. I also quite liked the Black family, but it’s no good picking them.

And I’m not just picking the families with the small kids, either. The Gaghans and the Blacks seemed to be genuinely nice people (as far as we can tell at this point) and decent competitors, whereas some of the other families were either too boring or too mean and spiteful.


--------------------


Next week's tips:

First Team: The Gaghan family.
Last Team: The Paolo family.
Yield? No.
Fast Forward? No.
Elimination Week? Yes.
Biggest Argument: Fish in a barrel. The Paolo family.
Smartest Team: The Gaghan family.


.