The Amazing Race #8 starts tommorow, and it sure is going to be a great season! Instead of teams, they now have families consisting of four people. The ages in the new Amazing race range from eight (yes, I said 8) to 57.

Discuss TAR here.

I hope this season lives up to the past emmy-winning quality the show is known for, but I fear that the new 'family' format may drag it down. Not that I'm anti-family or anything, but one of the great things about this show was the quick pace of each episode. I often found myself on the edge of my seat while watching the episodes in previous seasons and I fear that the larger team groups may drag down the rapid tempo that the show is known for. Also, since some of the groups now include children I have a feeling that they may 'dumb-down' or simplify the challenges and/or eliminate some of the more exotic locales. For instance; I read on tonight's episode the teams travel from Brooklyn, NY to the Amish countyside in Pennsylvania, not quite as thrilling as previous seasons' first episode. I hope I'm wrong though and I'll definitely be watching.

I actually watched this last night. Never seen the show before and didn't even really know what it was. I don't know what it was like before, but it didn't look too dumbed down to me. Watching those little kids trying to row the boat was great.

Do they eliminate a team every week? If so, that's going to make a really short show. I like it though.

^ The team that comes in last gets eliminated....You could be in first at one point in the race then wind up in last...Seen that happen..

Right. I got that from last night's episode. What I'm asking is - do they eliminate a team every week? If so, that's only going to make for a 10 week show.

no they dont every week i think they have like 3 episodes that last team to arrive doesnt get elminated but they forfeit everything for the next day. money, clothes, everything.

Riven3d is correct, there looks to be 3 non-elimination legs this time around. There have been as many as 4 per race in previous seasons and last spring they instituted the policy of confiscating all a team's possessions when they finished last on a non-elimination leg. On the prior season's races (which consisted of two-person teams) they only took their money.

I must say I was pleasantly surprised with the start of this season's race. I was disappointed that the Black family was eliminated (I liked them), while the bickering Paolo family from NY somehow caught up to the pack after trailing for nearly the entire show. I thought for sure that they would have been penalized for leaving the clue behind after the Delaware river challenge since other teams were in past season’s.

My early favorites are the Bransen family (dad & 3 daughters) & I’m hoping the Paolo’s are eliminated soon. ( I don’t know how much more bickering I can take)

I'm with ya man. I liked the Blacks too but pegged them as early outs right out of the gate because they're so passive. They seemed like nice enough people but they also seemed to lack the drive necessary to stay competitive in something like this. I like the other family with the 2 little kids and the one with the widow and kids (their label, not mine). You know . . . the one that got run over

The Paolos drove me nuts too - if my kid talked to my wife like that, he'd've been stuck walkin' in Soho.

The Paolos really need to get some counciling... my favorite team now is the team without the dad.

They did seem to lack the urgency needed to compete in this type contest. While finishing first is not necessary until the last leg, a team must strive not to constantly be in the back of the pack. My feeling is that had the Black's not been eliminated this time they would have quickly drifted to the back of the pack in the 2nd or 3rd leg. Too bad, I really liked that family.

One thing of note that I picked up on during Phil's opening on the first show; on previous seasons Phil always mentioned that it was a race around the globe, he did not say that this time. Like I mentioned before, I think this race will stay closer to the US.

Week 2 Update: Sorry about being a few days late on this.

Kace's favorites, the Weaver family (widow & kids), stormed into the lead on Tuesday by not making the mistake that many teams did, misreading the clue and searching the Lincoln Monument reflecting pool instead of the correct one near the Captiol building. This error cost the Gaghan family (parents & young children) their big lead as they spent over 2 hours searching for the clue in the wrong area.

The Rogers family (specifically the dad) made a critical navagation error on the drive to Washington and were never able to catch up. They did meet up with the Paolo family at the 'battlefield' detour but were unable to pass them and were eliminated.

I liked the mix of challenges on this leg; the espionge-themed 'black bag exchange' roadblock and the choices at the 'battlefield' detour of either the physical 'wounded soldier carry' or the time consuming 'latern' task.

Yeah, I was really happy to see the Gaghan's pull such a lead on the road trip - they were the first to DC - but then 2nd to last to leave. They really should've gotten on a different track when it became clear that they weren't getting anywhere.

I was so hoping the Paolo's would get the boot this week and they were so close, but no luck - they just grate on me more and more . . .

I'm really liking the Aiello's too (son-in-laws with dad-in-law). Seem like good people and a good, strong team.

The 3 girls' dad is obviously going to drag them down in anything physical, and I noticed a bit of infighting amongst them on that subject. I think either they or the Paolo's will go next [or soon at least].

I found it amazing that so many of the teams did not read the clue....I mean you are in the car forever...then you are looking around for something and not finding it...

You would think you'd give that clue another look...One team, I don't remember which one, were there for 2 HOURS before they decided they should look at that clue again....

dumb

I really like the team from cincinati,OH they seem to be doing well, they were among the teams that actually read their clue!

Week 3 update:

How lucky can the iritating Paolo family get? After booking the latest flight to Charleston (1/2 hour behind everyone else) they were able to catch-up & pass both the Weaver & Aiello families by opting to de-head shrimp instead of 'mud-boggin' like the latter teams chose at this week's detour. Talk about getting stuck in the mud, both teams had a difficult time on this challenge and it had to be disheartening when the Gaghan family (parents & 2 young children) was able to complete it on the first try. The Aiello family (man & sons-in-law) attempted this challenge at least 16 times before eventually completeing it while he Weavers bailed out on this one earlier and completed the Shrimp-boat challenge instead.

These 3 teams were on the later bus to Huntsville's Space Camp road-block where 2 team members had to experience 3.2 Gs in a centrafuge. Since this was a first-come first-ride road-block and the Aiello's were the last in line they were the last team to arrive at the pit stop and were eliminated.

ya that (word automatically removed) that the paolo family caught up (said in irritating voice" nobody listens to me")

The Weavers are still my favorites! I really hoped the Paolo family would get the boot, but I guess not...

Oh well, maybe they will improve.

Week 4 Update:

This week opened with Phil stating that the teams would be traveling through Mississippi & Louisiana and that episode was filmed a few weeks before the area was devestated by hurricane Katrina. Phil then directed viewers to Web sites where they could offer assistance. Nice touch! Oddly, one of last season's legs traveled through Sri Lanka shortly before the country was damaged by a tsunami.

This week teams were directed to Talladega (through Aniston, AL) from the pit stop where the last place Gaghan's (parents & 2 young children) quickly overcame the annoying Paolo family putting them in last place (sadly not for the whole show ). Once at Talladega, sentimental favorites, the Weaver family (widow & 3 children) overcame their anxiety & fears when they completed a 2.5 mile speedway lap on an odd-looking multi-person party bike. From here teams were directed to a Hattiesburg, MS mobile home sales lot where teams were able to pick a trailer-home for the night. Inside each trailer was a departure time for the next day (2 early, 2 middle, 3 late) and some teams made the mistake of not checking all available trailers for the best time. Although the Paolo's arrived last they got one of the middle departure times, 20 minutes ahead of three other teams.

The next morning teams were directed to a state park in the 'Pelican State' (Louisiana) and this leg's detour. Once at the detour teams had the choice of 'Work' (manually sawing logs) or 'Play' (blackjack on a river-boat). The 'Play' choice involved all four team members beating the dealer on the same deal 3 times. Some teams had bad luck with the cards & switched to sawing logs. Once completed teams were directed to the pit stop in New Orlean's French Quarter. Oddly enough, the team from this region, the Schroeder family, got lost on the way to the state park, were the last to complete the detour, last to arrive at the pit stop and were eliminated. If only they would have looked at few other trailers the night before.

Boy, I've got a few comments from this one.

1. Those freakin' Paolo's are not only still here, they're now in 1st. Rarely has a group of people grated on my nerves so much and how they manage to get anywhere while sniping at each other is beyond me.

2. Mr. Schroeder seriously screwed up on missing that state park he used to work minutes from. Unacceptable. You do NOT get lost in your own backyard. That should have been home field advantage and given them an edge - rather than capitalizing, he botched it.

3. The second I saw that challenge I told my wife "there's no way I'd take that blackjack over the sawing." I like blackjack, but 4 people having to win the same round against the dealer? Nuts! Doing it 3 times? More nuts! Sawing a log is cake.

4. What's up with the laziness of not looking for a good time at the Colonel's? Several of them just walked in and grabbed the first one they saw - why not take a couple of minutes and look for something better? I realize that they didn't know what their options were (at least it didn't look like it) so they don't really know if 8:00 is good or bad, but why not take a couple minutes and see what else there is before just grabbing one?

5. I'm glad the Ghagan's are still in it but they're making some less-than-great choices and really need to wake up a bit if they're going to stay.

Kace, while the Paolo's did move up quite a bit this episode, they only finished in second place this leg behind the first place Bransen family (father & 3 daughters).

They also won a trip to Orlando! I can't wait til they get here, those daughters are very attractive.

A serious note before this weeks update: Although The Amazing Race prefaced this & last weeks' episodes with a note regarding the devestation to Mississippi & Louisiana caused by hurricane Katrina, they did not mention that the Schroeder Family lost their home & nearly all of their possesions to this storm, as reported this week in USA Today. My heart goes out to that family & all the others that were affected by the storm.

Week 5 Update:

From New Orleans teams were directed to fly (on one of two designated flights) to Panama City where they were to go the the Smithsonian Inst. Center and find a researcher in a hammock with the next clue. Although the flights left at different times, the Institute's hours of operation created a six-way tie for first. Once the Institute opened the next morning the teams took boats to an island in the center of the Panama canal to find the researcher whose clue led to this week's detour (and this season's only FAST FORWARD). Some teams were stuck with slower boat drivers & some completely missed the dock on the return trip and had to double back. This helped to split the teams up a bit.

Both the Paolos & the Gaghans went for the FAST FORWARD (a tandem bungee jump above the canal for all team members), with the Paolo's arriving & completing the task first, which led them directly to the Pit Stop (and first place; much to everyone's chagrin ) at the Miraflores Locks on the Pacific side of the canal.

The other teams had a choice of either Rhythm(finding & delivering 4 musical instruments) or Coos (bird spotting) at the detour. I assumed that the bird spotting would be much more difficult, but both teams that chose it had little problems with it and completed it quickly, as did the teams that chose the rhythm detour. The Gaghan family was well behind after being turned away at the FF and had to catch up to the rest of the teams already completing the detour tasks.

Once completed the teams were directed to this week's Road Block which involved a team memeber getting a hit against a little league baseball team. While most teams completed this with little trouble, Sharon Godlewski had a terrible time, and her team was past when the Gaghan's father, Bill, got a hit before her.

As they traveled to the pit stop trailing the other teams, the Godlewski sisters wisely put on all their extra clothing, hoping that this was a non-elimination leg, which it was. Finishing in last, the sisters, while not eliminated, did lose all their money and possessions except for the clothes on their backs and will start the next leg with no money.

Until next week.

I found this episode infuriating on many accounts. The Gaghan family got totally ripped off as their boat pilot was soooo much slower than everybody else. They also got reamed when their bus was halted by a vending truck in the middle of the road for what seemed like several minutes at least. How they managed to NOT be last with thes problems plus the fact that after the Paolo's finished the fast forward they had to goa ll the way back and do the other challenge, is beyond me. That Godlewski girl must have really been swinging at that ball a long time. A couple of the other teams had boat pilot problems when thier pilots either completly missed the dock (intentionally, it seemed) or, in at least one case, just sat and idled in the water, apparently waiting for other teams to catch up.

Having never seen the show before, what kind of a race is this if the teams have only occasional control over how well they are doing? What's the point of racing to the dock if all the teams have to wait until 7:00 am for it to open? Almost this entire episode hinged on the perfomance of outside people rather than the races themselves; they took shuttle, boat, taxi, plane, and bus - all driven by other people. The only parts they actually controlled was how long it took to actually complete the challenges which, honestly, weren't very challenging.

Why don't they make the teams drive the bus, and the boat, and drive themselves around? It would seem more race-like to me.

And what's up with that Weaver lady? She and her daughter have been cold and kvitchy to the other teams the entire time and she had the nerve to complain about the guy trying to rattle her kid while batting? Pfft! It's a competition, lady. Deal.

Oh yeah, and what about the guys' and girls' teams "working together?" Dumb guys fetching and hauling around all the girls' stuff for them . . . you're supposed to be against them! I can see the point of being civil, but why help out an opposing team?

I think the show uses "hours of operation" and "travel delays" (waits for flight times, trains, etc.) as a way to keep the teams grouped together. Otherwise one or two teams could gain an insurmountable lead over the others. Since the mandatory rest time at the pit stop is only 12 hours, it's possible that a team could start the next leg before some teams even arrive at the pit stop; something the producers want to avoid.



That's something I've never liked either. I prefer it when they have their own vehicles to drive. Of course, traffic jams happen and that's just bad luck.

On to the Week 6 Update:

The teams started this leg by taking one of three buses (each 30 minutes apart) from Panama to San Jose, Costa Rica. Once in San Jose teams had to find a marked vehicle in a near-by parking lot (which caused some teams trouble) and drive to a National Park at a volcano. The volcano park's "hours of operation" created a six-way tie for first and the clue led to this week's Roadblock at a local coffee plantation. Also at the coffee plantation was a Yield, (a recent addition to the race that I'd like them to get rid of) which the Paolo's used against the Weaver family. The Weaver's strange behavior has irked just about every other team so this was bound to happen. The roadblock involved finding a lone red coffee bean in a huge pile of white ones. The only person to have trouble with this task was the Gaghan's mother (she started second but finished last, even after the Weavers yield time).
After leaving the coffee plantation, the teams were directed to a surf shop in Jaco, Costa Rica which led them to this week's Detour - Relic (search rainforest for Mayan ruins) or Ripe (haul 15 heavy bunches of bananas). All the teams, except the Paolo's who whined while hauling the bananas, chose to complete the less taxing Relic challenge, with teams completing the task in roughly the same order that they started. Once completed the clue led to this leg's Pit Stop on the beach at Quepos, Costa Rica. Well behind the other teams due to the coffee plantation task, the Gaghan family was last and eliminated.