Okay, here's the scoop from Ruth Myles of the Calgary Herald on the Blackberry crawl ad (run during the show) that ruined the ending of Ep. 3 of Amazing Race Canada by saying something along the lines of "This non-elimination leg of the race brought to you Blackberry" just before the last commercial break. Note the avid fan (and crime novelist) quoted in this story.
Apparently only Alberta was subjected to the in-episode spoiler, which is kind of ironic since all the tasks in the leg happened in Alberta. Good of Bell Media (the parent company for CTV) to apologize for the mistake.
As I said in the Herald, this was a great episode, save for the Blackberry spoiler. The teams started in Vancouver and had to head to Calgary, booking the Air Canada flights online at a internet cafe. The teams fly to Calgary, barely an hour apart on flights and then the excitement begins. The Hippies who made a deal in Ep. 1 to give their Express Pass to the team in their alliance that came in second behind them, decide to renege on the deal. Instead of giving to the Docs, they had it off to the Sisters. So much for all that positive energy, dudes. Evil Hippies it seems. Don't know why they picked the Sisters, maybe they bonded somehow in the Pitstops. Or maybe they see them as a weak team (they got lost a lot in this episode) and thus wish to compete against them in the final three. Or maybe they just happened to be the team sitting in front of them on the airplane. They didn't really explain why that well. They should have just stuck with their deal. I would have.
But the Docs take it in stride and just get rid of all the Calgary maps in the airport. Not a bad move but in the end it didn't really slow anybody down. Best just to get your map and move on instead of spending time trying to sabotage another team. I'm not 100 percent sure but there may be a rule if you take sabotage too far, so watch out Docs. Still, I loved Brett's reaction when Kristen told him they weren't going to honour their alliance. Being doctor, he said, he honours his promises but you do what you got to do. Funny stuff, but I really understand why she wanted to punch him. He kind of gets under the skin but heck, the Docs understand that it's a game and they are playing it well. They didn't seem to take the snub personally.
Although Holly's dancing skills aren't great. Especially line dancing. And since the teams are in Calgary, they have to do something cowboy related (forget that the city's a dynamic cosmopolitan place let's perpetuate the stereotype). So line dancing at Ranchman's it is. To be fair, this was a much tougher Road Block than the lame skating one in Vancouver. Most teams had a tough time, especially Holly, Tim Sr. and Jody. But Jody's got no ankles, which he states during the task. And if it's one player I really love in this race, it's Jody. Sure, he's got no legs below the knee and some tasks are tough but he just does it, without complaint or asking for special treatment. I also loved his comment on the coal task during the detour. Something about you when you gotta dig a hole, you know it's going to be hard but you just do it.
Back at the Ranchman's, Joanne from Body Break gets done in three tries, heading out to Drumheller for a Detour. Dave from the Bicep Bros also gets done in three tries (he's a cheerleader known for "chucking girls"). But they had trouble, not just finding the Ranchman's but also finding the clue for the Road Block. "Does exterior mean something different in Alberta?" one of them asks as they cluelessly stand right in front of the clue.
The cluelessness of these boys continue as they shovel piles of coal into the coal cart. That's the one half of the Detour in Drumheller; the other half is to build a dinosaur skeleton from memory. But the Bicep Bros don't read the clue and so they shovel coal, take out coal, shovel more coal, make fun of the guy judging the task, whine and complain about the situation and don't realize that you have to hang this little thing on a special hook. Which they hadn't done. So more coal shovelling and complaining. It was hilarious to watch them get all uppity about the situation when in reality it was all their fault. Rule # 1 about Amazing Race: Read the Clue. Rule #2? Read the Clue.
The Hippies also have a bit of trouble with clue reading but figure it out faster than the Bicep Bros. The Sisters, though, have huge trouble with the task. Sure, they've read the clue but they look so tiny and it was no doubt pretty tough for them to load that cart. After a really long time and much histrionics, they get it done. Only to get lost. Again.
The only team not doing the coal task was the Docs and it made sense they chose the dinosaur. But the pressure seemed to be getting on Holly because she was falling apart. Good on Brett not to harp on her. He just tried to keep her on task and centred. No Jonathan and Victoria from these guys; at least not yet. But boy, was he surprised when Jon told them were Team #6. I've seen every single English language version of Amazing Race and I've never seen a reaction like that. Pretty funny.
In the end, Body Break won the leg handily. They are like most married couples that age, calm, cool and connected. They will be a tough team to beat. Only a total meltdown will destroy them. That or a couple of bad cabs. The rest of the teams come in later, the Sister better thank whatever God they worship (or don't) for running into the Brothers on the way to the pitstops. These girls have terrible direction, map and listening skills. They got great directions from some stranger but neither of them heard a single thing he said. They were tough to finish the coal but will have to pick things up to survive.
Coming in last were the Timmies and thanks to some control room mistake, I and all of Alberta knew this was a non-elimination round. But until that point, it was a great episode. Great tasks, great drama, great team interaction and quotes. Things are starting to pick up and I hope they keep this momentum going.
But no more in-episode spoilers, please; that one really hurt.
Update: Forgot to give props to the producers for mentioning the flood in Calgary and how people could help or donate. The US show has done this a few times so it's good that the Canadian version is following in their footsteps in that manner. Nicely done.
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Monday, July 29, 2013
Amazing Mess Due to Blackberry Ad
I was really enjoying Ep. 3 of Amazing Race Canada, loads of drama, lousy dancing, teams fighting, teams being sneaky and backbiting, coal shovelling, not reading of clues and getting lost. It had the makings of a great episode, especially since we had no idea who would come in last.
But then it happened. Some time before the last commercial break, just after the Timmies finished their task with the coal and there it popped on my TV screen: "This Non-elimination leg brought toyou by the Blackberry Q thingy.| I mean, what the fuck was that? I'm not sorry for my bad language because I'm a crime writer and ex-punk rocker. And I am really pissed that someone idiot ran an ad during the show, near the last few minutes, when we were all on the edges of our seats wondering whether the Docs would do their dinosaur in time, if the Sisters would find their way or would the Timmies push by them, an ad that tells me and all the almost 3 million Canadians that this is a non-elimination leg?
Not sure who's to blame, the producers Insight Productions, CTV, some master control switcher who pushed a wrong button, but it ruined what could have been a classic Amazing Race Canada episode. I'm so annoyed that I'm not going to post a recap tonight; I'll do that later in the week.
Don't make that mistake again folks.
But then it happened. Some time before the last commercial break, just after the Timmies finished their task with the coal and there it popped on my TV screen: "This Non-elimination leg brought toyou by the Blackberry Q thingy.| I mean, what the fuck was that? I'm not sorry for my bad language because I'm a crime writer and ex-punk rocker. And I am really pissed that someone idiot ran an ad during the show, near the last few minutes, when we were all on the edges of our seats wondering whether the Docs would do their dinosaur in time, if the Sisters would find their way or would the Timmies push by them, an ad that tells me and all the almost 3 million Canadians that this is a non-elimination leg?
Not sure who's to blame, the producers Insight Productions, CTV, some master control switcher who pushed a wrong button, but it ruined what could have been a classic Amazing Race Canada episode. I'm so annoyed that I'm not going to post a recap tonight; I'll do that later in the week.
Don't make that mistake again folks.
Tuesday, July 23, 2013
Always Move Forward
Sorry I'm a bit late for my recap. I'm in Moose Jaw for a Writers Festival and got the time change wrong. Although Moose Jaw is the same time as Edmonton, their TV channel is set for Central Time. So I missed the show. Managed to watch online at CTV's ARC site.
Last week the first ever ARC episode ended in Kelowna. Ratings were awesome with 3 million Canadians watching. That's up there with the Corner Gas series finale, which bodes well for future seasons. For EP. 2, they headed to the urban jungle of Vancouver. Or as Jon says, "Canada's supermodel city" or something like that. Jeez, who writes these things? Amazing Race Australia visited Vancouver in Season 2 so I was keen to see what they would do. Would they steal the tasks from that show? Or come up with their own?
Anyway, the race continued with some drama at the airport. Only three teams, the Hippies, the Docs, and the Bicep Bros made it in time for the first flight out. Although Body Break showed they are regular watchers of the US show and managed to book themselves on stand-by. Nice to see some of Hal's personality as he kind-of flirted with the ticket agent. "Is your heart pounding? Mine is," he said, with his wife standing right next to him. Reminded me of my buddy Gord, who flirts with everyone.
Hal's move leaves behind the Sisters, who are stuck on the next flight with their nemesis team, the Timmies, and the Brothers. Pulling up the rear, sadly, are the Gay Cowboys. And things don't look to good for them for two reasons.
First, they stopped at a bank machine on the way to the airport. Big mistake, boys. Always Move Forward is a key TAR mantra, especially when you have to get to the airport. Sure, in some countries you might not find a bank machine at an airport or you need to buy your tickets from an agent instead of at the airport, but this Canada. There are plenty of bank machines at the airport so there was no need for them to stop. It was a game killer for them, putting them all alone on a third flight, hours behind the first teams. Second, the producers added some background about Pierre losing his partner and trying to deal with the grief. Very sad and touching. However, in the Amazing Race world, whenever they feature some background information about a team, especially in an early episode, that's usually a sign that this is the team that will be eliminated. Not always but it's a TAR trope.
So in Vancouver, we get an ad for Air Canada as teams have to go to the Maple Leaf lounge, a place most of us peons never visit, in order to get their next clue. The Docs play a smart game but heck it's just looking on a map so I don't know why the other teams didn't do this. Even so, I'm beginning to like the Docs; they know what they are doing and they really can handle pressure.
The first task is a Roadblock and you gotta skate around an speed skating oval in less than 90 seconds. A lame task because it's short track speed skating and all the teams are Canadians! Even though the skates are different and spandex is tight, most Canadians probably know how to skate. And even those teams that say they don't, like the Docs, get done pretty quickly. They should have stole the Roadblock from the Australians which was to stand on top of one of the Grouse Mountain Gondolas (yes on the outside) and grab some flags as they pass. Miss a flag, ride the Gondola down and start over from the bottom. That would have been fun, especially for those teams who are afraid of heights. But I guess they did the height thing already.
But the Canadians had the onerous task of skating and all teams are done pretty quickly with little drama. Although the Hippies read the map wrong and get lost. Darren also freaks out on Kristen after the task. Man, not a good sign for them. Everything's all positive for them if things go their way but one small mistake of getting off at the wrong spot and he's freaking out. The task also provides the best line of the Episode. Cory complains about it being hard to walk on the skates but Jodi puts things into perspective by saying, "I might have an idea of how much it hurts to walk."
The next task, the first ever Amazing Race Canada Detour, almost makes up for the lame skating Roadblock. They either have to draw or dance. In Draw, each team member has to drink a cup of tea and spot a Chinese character on the bottom of their saucer. Then from memory, they have draw that character using a brush and rice paper. The second task is the get a list of store names, all in Mandarin, and then find those stores in Chinatown where they will pick up pieces of a costume for a dance. Then they have to learn and do that dance. I know my buddy Gord would have pick draw because he's an artist, but I can't draw worth a crap and my visual memory really sucks. So we'd probably be fighting over that one. Unless he promised to help me remember my symbol.
The Docs pick draw and using their memory skills, finish pretty quickly. Body Break and the Brothers also do pretty good. After one misstep, the Sisters finish up on the draw side. The Hippies unfortunately get hit by one thing you can't control in TAR, a bad cab. They get dumped in the wrong spot and have to get another cab to make up for it. And though they get lost a bit while finding their costume, they get it done and move on. However, the Timmies, the Bicep Bros and much later on, the Gay Cowboys, all switch detours. Never a good thing to do in TAR but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. Don't know why the Timmies and the Bicep Bros switched. That side of the task seemed a bit easier. Sure, the symbols were in Mandarin but they weren't in China. I'm sure there had to be someone around Vancouver's Chinatown who spoke English and Mandarin, and could have helped them. Can't believe the Bicep Bros were walking about for three hours looking.
The final task of the day was the head to the docks and climb a crane and look for the next pitstop. Not much of a task, more of a filler. Would have been cool if they had to jump from the crane after finding the pitstop. Or maybe operate the crane to load one container before looking for the pitstop. Or something. Anything. Just looking didn't seem that big a deal, especially when it seemed most teams got it done pretty fast. Especially the Brothers. But as Jodi said, he was an ex-sniper, so this was his kind of thing. I wondered if he could shoot that far? And the Hippies got hit with another bad cab (sure is not their day) and had to walk a long ways to the dock.
Not surprisingly, the Docs come in first, winning a really cool prize of a flight to anyplace in Asia. I'm really liking these guys because they seem to be TAR watchers and know how to play the game. Same with Body Break, who come in second. The rest of the teams come in, the Hippies in fourth, not doing as bad considering they got hit with two bad cabs. And Darren's gotta watch out for losing his cool when things go wrong. Interesting to see the Sisters coming in one place ahead of the Timmies again. That's gotta bug the boys cause they were ahead of them coming out of the airport.
But sadly, and not entirely unexpected, the Gay Cowboys come in last. They had some minor hiccups on the Detour but coming in last was entirely their own fault. Hard to make up all that time lost by getting on the third flight. If they would have kept moving forward instead of dawdling at the ATM before heading to the airport, it would have been a completely different scenario. I would have liked to have seen them in Calgary dealing with some of the cowboy stuff. And that's where the teams are heading, my old stomping grounds, good ole Cowtown. Looks like they'll be line dancing (big surprise there, not).
Overall, it wasn't a bad Ep. 2, not as exciting as Ep. 1, but with enough drama to move things forward. Some of the teams are coming into their own while others are still kind of dull. Montgomery is still a bit wooden but he's harmless. I do hope thought that things start picking up for the rest of the season and that this episode isn't typical of what's to come.
See ya in Calgary.
Last week the first ever ARC episode ended in Kelowna. Ratings were awesome with 3 million Canadians watching. That's up there with the Corner Gas series finale, which bodes well for future seasons. For EP. 2, they headed to the urban jungle of Vancouver. Or as Jon says, "Canada's supermodel city" or something like that. Jeez, who writes these things? Amazing Race Australia visited Vancouver in Season 2 so I was keen to see what they would do. Would they steal the tasks from that show? Or come up with their own?
Anyway, the race continued with some drama at the airport. Only three teams, the Hippies, the Docs, and the Bicep Bros made it in time for the first flight out. Although Body Break showed they are regular watchers of the US show and managed to book themselves on stand-by. Nice to see some of Hal's personality as he kind-of flirted with the ticket agent. "Is your heart pounding? Mine is," he said, with his wife standing right next to him. Reminded me of my buddy Gord, who flirts with everyone.
Hal's move leaves behind the Sisters, who are stuck on the next flight with their nemesis team, the Timmies, and the Brothers. Pulling up the rear, sadly, are the Gay Cowboys. And things don't look to good for them for two reasons.
First, they stopped at a bank machine on the way to the airport. Big mistake, boys. Always Move Forward is a key TAR mantra, especially when you have to get to the airport. Sure, in some countries you might not find a bank machine at an airport or you need to buy your tickets from an agent instead of at the airport, but this Canada. There are plenty of bank machines at the airport so there was no need for them to stop. It was a game killer for them, putting them all alone on a third flight, hours behind the first teams. Second, the producers added some background about Pierre losing his partner and trying to deal with the grief. Very sad and touching. However, in the Amazing Race world, whenever they feature some background information about a team, especially in an early episode, that's usually a sign that this is the team that will be eliminated. Not always but it's a TAR trope.
So in Vancouver, we get an ad for Air Canada as teams have to go to the Maple Leaf lounge, a place most of us peons never visit, in order to get their next clue. The Docs play a smart game but heck it's just looking on a map so I don't know why the other teams didn't do this. Even so, I'm beginning to like the Docs; they know what they are doing and they really can handle pressure.
The first task is a Roadblock and you gotta skate around an speed skating oval in less than 90 seconds. A lame task because it's short track speed skating and all the teams are Canadians! Even though the skates are different and spandex is tight, most Canadians probably know how to skate. And even those teams that say they don't, like the Docs, get done pretty quickly. They should have stole the Roadblock from the Australians which was to stand on top of one of the Grouse Mountain Gondolas (yes on the outside) and grab some flags as they pass. Miss a flag, ride the Gondola down and start over from the bottom. That would have been fun, especially for those teams who are afraid of heights. But I guess they did the height thing already.
But the Canadians had the onerous task of skating and all teams are done pretty quickly with little drama. Although the Hippies read the map wrong and get lost. Darren also freaks out on Kristen after the task. Man, not a good sign for them. Everything's all positive for them if things go their way but one small mistake of getting off at the wrong spot and he's freaking out. The task also provides the best line of the Episode. Cory complains about it being hard to walk on the skates but Jodi puts things into perspective by saying, "I might have an idea of how much it hurts to walk."
The next task, the first ever Amazing Race Canada Detour, almost makes up for the lame skating Roadblock. They either have to draw or dance. In Draw, each team member has to drink a cup of tea and spot a Chinese character on the bottom of their saucer. Then from memory, they have draw that character using a brush and rice paper. The second task is the get a list of store names, all in Mandarin, and then find those stores in Chinatown where they will pick up pieces of a costume for a dance. Then they have to learn and do that dance. I know my buddy Gord would have pick draw because he's an artist, but I can't draw worth a crap and my visual memory really sucks. So we'd probably be fighting over that one. Unless he promised to help me remember my symbol.
The Docs pick draw and using their memory skills, finish pretty quickly. Body Break and the Brothers also do pretty good. After one misstep, the Sisters finish up on the draw side. The Hippies unfortunately get hit by one thing you can't control in TAR, a bad cab. They get dumped in the wrong spot and have to get another cab to make up for it. And though they get lost a bit while finding their costume, they get it done and move on. However, the Timmies, the Bicep Bros and much later on, the Gay Cowboys, all switch detours. Never a good thing to do in TAR but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. Don't know why the Timmies and the Bicep Bros switched. That side of the task seemed a bit easier. Sure, the symbols were in Mandarin but they weren't in China. I'm sure there had to be someone around Vancouver's Chinatown who spoke English and Mandarin, and could have helped them. Can't believe the Bicep Bros were walking about for three hours looking.
The final task of the day was the head to the docks and climb a crane and look for the next pitstop. Not much of a task, more of a filler. Would have been cool if they had to jump from the crane after finding the pitstop. Or maybe operate the crane to load one container before looking for the pitstop. Or something. Anything. Just looking didn't seem that big a deal, especially when it seemed most teams got it done pretty fast. Especially the Brothers. But as Jodi said, he was an ex-sniper, so this was his kind of thing. I wondered if he could shoot that far? And the Hippies got hit with another bad cab (sure is not their day) and had to walk a long ways to the dock.
Not surprisingly, the Docs come in first, winning a really cool prize of a flight to anyplace in Asia. I'm really liking these guys because they seem to be TAR watchers and know how to play the game. Same with Body Break, who come in second. The rest of the teams come in, the Hippies in fourth, not doing as bad considering they got hit with two bad cabs. And Darren's gotta watch out for losing his cool when things go wrong. Interesting to see the Sisters coming in one place ahead of the Timmies again. That's gotta bug the boys cause they were ahead of them coming out of the airport.
But sadly, and not entirely unexpected, the Gay Cowboys come in last. They had some minor hiccups on the Detour but coming in last was entirely their own fault. Hard to make up all that time lost by getting on the third flight. If they would have kept moving forward instead of dawdling at the ATM before heading to the airport, it would have been a completely different scenario. I would have liked to have seen them in Calgary dealing with some of the cowboy stuff. And that's where the teams are heading, my old stomping grounds, good ole Cowtown. Looks like they'll be line dancing (big surprise there, not).
Overall, it wasn't a bad Ep. 2, not as exciting as Ep. 1, but with enough drama to move things forward. Some of the teams are coming into their own while others are still kind of dull. Montgomery is still a bit wooden but he's harmless. I do hope thought that things start picking up for the rest of the season and that this episode isn't typical of what's to come.
See ya in Calgary.
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Off They Go!
It was a moment that many Canadians had been waiting for: our own version of the Amazing Race. Episode One ran July 15th and no doubt, the ratings will be pretty solid because Canadians love TAR. And we've been waiting for our own version of the show for a long time. There were some surprises in Episode 1, a great dramatic ending, but at the same time, a bit of clunkiness. Overall, it was a pretty good episode, not one of the best in the TAR canon, but entertaining.
Host Jon Montgomery had a lot riding on his performance and he was, well, I guess the only term that fits is, Mostly Harmless. It was pretty obvious right from the onset that TV hosting isn't his best skill. His presentation was a bit wooden, reminiscent of Allan Wu, the Amazing Race Asia host, especially when describing tasks, etc. But thankfully it didn't take away from the show. However, his work on the mat, greeting teams at the end, was up to snuff. In fact, the way he eliminated the losing team was quite shocking. He didn't hold back, didn't pause from dramatic effect, he just cut to the quick and eliminated the losers in a ruthless fashion. It was jolt to watch, probably even more so for the teams involved. I thought it was great and based on that and other moments on the mat, have some hope for improvement in Jon's performance as the series progresses.
But back to the start of the race. Niagara Falls, one of Canada's iconic geographic features, was the perfect start for our first ever Amazing Race Canada. Visually stunning with some great shots of the teams riding the jet boats to the start. The team introductions were short, but props to the producers for giving us viewers a decent look at the teams in such a short period of time. This kind of quick storytelling is hard to do and those folks did an excellent job. The background bits, especially for Brothers and Sisters, were quite fascinating. The Gay Cowboys were funny, especially how they completely understand the juxtaposition of their team and how they'll use that to their advantage. My wife liked the Hippies (they were bit bland but cool), correctly predicting they would win the leg. And like his wife predicted, I didn't like Brent from the team of Doctors when I first met him. He may grow on me as the show goes on because he seems to be the most strategic player out there.
The first task, grabbing a couple of envelopes out of various terrariums in a butterfly farm, seemed innocuous, but had devastating effects on the rest of the leg. Obvious this was no accident on the producers part. They probably hoped that the teams would be all hyped up from the start so that some of them would forget the most important rule when competing in the Amazing Race: Read the Clue. But they didn't and the Bicep Friends chose a terrarium with less dangerous creatures and lost a chance at getting on the flight to Kelowna that landed 90 minutes earlier. Other teams also didn't read the clue and suffered greatly as a result. More on that later.
Then we had a few ads for Air Canada, Interac, Chevy, the sponsors for the show, as the teams made their way to find a Blue Bear in Kelowna, BC. The pre-loaded Interac card instead of cash was an interesting concept. But I wonder how that's going to work in places where teams have to pay cash. Or if the Interac card will not be used in every leg. Might be a moot point because this is Canada and Interac machines are used almost everywhere.
So as the teams found the Blue Bear in Kelowna, it was pretty obvious that the kiosk for the jet skis was going to be closed for the night. Thankfully, teams had to grab a number so that getting on an earlier flight would have made little difference. They then settled for the night and an alliance was made. Just like in Season 22 of TAR, the first four teams decided that if one of them would come in first and win the two Express Passes, they would give the second one to whichever team came in second. We'll see if the alliance holds and the Express Pass is given according to the agreement. And if the alliance continues throughout the race. Nice move on Brent for coming up with this plan. It might help his team.
Once the sun rose and the kiosk opened, one by one the teams headed out with jet-skis onto Okanagan Lake to find Ogopogo. They actually had to find a diving place, get fitted up with gear and head underwater to search for statue of the mythical creature which held their next clue. Some teams did this pretty fast, while others struggled, either with the task itself, or in the case of the Gay Cowboys and the Twins, in finding the diving area. They both got lost. It's a pretty big lake (135 klicks long and 4-5 wide) so that's understandable. Good thing they didn't go too far.
But two things struck me while watching teams do this task. First, the Hippies did something that seemed unexceptional but was probably an Amazing Race first. What usually happens if a mixed team has to drive something like a jet-ski, motorcycle, quad, or some other vehicle like that, the male member drives. Just like the Doctors and Body Break did. But with the Hippies, Kristen drove the Jet-Ski while Darren hung on. Both ways. Not a race changing event, but I thought it should be mentioned. It also got me thinking that my wife is probably right about these guys. And maybe they won't end up being too bland.
Also, because Jodi from the Brothers had to remove his prosthetic legs to ride the jet-ski, you got a true sense of the extent of his injuries, how much he's probably had to overcome since he was injured in Afghanistan, and how his brother has been a major support for him. That scene where Cory piggybacked Jodi to the jet-ski was quite touching. That was further driven home in the next task when Jodi had to walk across the skinny, swinging beam on his prosthetic legs to get the hanging clue. I hope those competitors who complained about being so afraid of heights, and how walking across the beam was one of the toughest things they ever done, were humbled when they watched the episode and saw Jodi walking along that beam on his prosthetics. They had it easy compared to him. And compared to Tim Sr. of the Timmies. You could him shake because of his Parkinson's but he didn't complain at all. In fact, he was probably one of the most steady ones up there.
It was in this task though where the show got bogged down, save for the scenes of Jodi and Tim Sr. The editing in some parts of this section was so contrived that it was frustrating. First, you had one player on the beam, complaining of the heights and the commenting that she couldn't finish the task. Then commercial break, intimating that this situation might make or break them. Then when they come back, the previous scene is rerun but she just jumps off, showing that there was no real cliff-hanger here. Just a contrived one. And that's okay because that's typical Amazing Race editing. But then they do it again. Almost exactly the way it happened before, breaking for commercial after another play says she can't do it. But after commercial, she jumps almost without hesitation. And then another scene of the exact same situation with another team. thankfully they didn't break for commercial a third time at the same point.
So after the teams finished jumping off the beam, it was a race to the Pit Stop. The Hippies were in control of the situation and with some good map reading, along with some fake Phil-style pointing from the Mat by Montgomery, were Team # 1. They won an Express Pass for themselves and one for another team. They were part of the alliance but we'll see if they pass it onto the Doctors, who came second. I'm guessing they will. They also won round trip airfare for two to Sydney Australia. Only airfare though, no hotel or spa (or Spah as Phil pronounces it), but still pretty cool. So was Montgomery's use of the Canadian "eh" in his conversation with them. A nice accidental touch.
The rest of the teams dribbled in, Body Break and Bicep Friends coming in together, and then the drama began. The Timmies beat the Sisters but because the boys didn't take two clues from the butterfly place, they were given a 30 minute penalty. The reaction by Vanessa, calling the Timmies "suckers" for screwing up while she celebrated beating them was outstanding. And Tim Jr.'s retort — "Time will tell, baby." — showed there's gonna be some interplay between those two.
The Brothers came in afterwards, and finally, the last race to the Mat between the Gay Cowboys and the Twins. Since the twins were track athletes, they were supposed to beat anyone in a foot race. But one cowboy beat one of the twins so maybe their track skills have faded over time. Still, they got to the mat as a team first so it looked like the boys were last. But since the twins also didn't get two clues from the butterfly place (an odd mistake since both their jobs rely on an attention to detail), they were penalized. So the Gay Cowboys were in and the Twins were out. A shocking ending, made even more so but Montgomery's quick and deadly elimination style. I thought the Cowboys showed that great Alberta character to be just as saddened as the Twins by the turn of events. The hugs were sweet. But I didn't mourn because I didn't warm up to the Twins as a team. No doubt if the tables were turned and they beat the Cowboys, they would have celebrated before offering their condolences. But it's homeward for them, although in reality, they probably stayed at the winery/resort for the rest of the race.
Next week, the teams must navigate the metropolis of Vancouver. The promo makes it look like some kind of crazy ordeal but it's Vancouver, not Seoul or Mumbai. Shouldn't be overly difficult. Then again, you never know.
Host Jon Montgomery had a lot riding on his performance and he was, well, I guess the only term that fits is, Mostly Harmless. It was pretty obvious right from the onset that TV hosting isn't his best skill. His presentation was a bit wooden, reminiscent of Allan Wu, the Amazing Race Asia host, especially when describing tasks, etc. But thankfully it didn't take away from the show. However, his work on the mat, greeting teams at the end, was up to snuff. In fact, the way he eliminated the losing team was quite shocking. He didn't hold back, didn't pause from dramatic effect, he just cut to the quick and eliminated the losers in a ruthless fashion. It was jolt to watch, probably even more so for the teams involved. I thought it was great and based on that and other moments on the mat, have some hope for improvement in Jon's performance as the series progresses.
But back to the start of the race. Niagara Falls, one of Canada's iconic geographic features, was the perfect start for our first ever Amazing Race Canada. Visually stunning with some great shots of the teams riding the jet boats to the start. The team introductions were short, but props to the producers for giving us viewers a decent look at the teams in such a short period of time. This kind of quick storytelling is hard to do and those folks did an excellent job. The background bits, especially for Brothers and Sisters, were quite fascinating. The Gay Cowboys were funny, especially how they completely understand the juxtaposition of their team and how they'll use that to their advantage. My wife liked the Hippies (they were bit bland but cool), correctly predicting they would win the leg. And like his wife predicted, I didn't like Brent from the team of Doctors when I first met him. He may grow on me as the show goes on because he seems to be the most strategic player out there.
The first task, grabbing a couple of envelopes out of various terrariums in a butterfly farm, seemed innocuous, but had devastating effects on the rest of the leg. Obvious this was no accident on the producers part. They probably hoped that the teams would be all hyped up from the start so that some of them would forget the most important rule when competing in the Amazing Race: Read the Clue. But they didn't and the Bicep Friends chose a terrarium with less dangerous creatures and lost a chance at getting on the flight to Kelowna that landed 90 minutes earlier. Other teams also didn't read the clue and suffered greatly as a result. More on that later.
Then we had a few ads for Air Canada, Interac, Chevy, the sponsors for the show, as the teams made their way to find a Blue Bear in Kelowna, BC. The pre-loaded Interac card instead of cash was an interesting concept. But I wonder how that's going to work in places where teams have to pay cash. Or if the Interac card will not be used in every leg. Might be a moot point because this is Canada and Interac machines are used almost everywhere.
So as the teams found the Blue Bear in Kelowna, it was pretty obvious that the kiosk for the jet skis was going to be closed for the night. Thankfully, teams had to grab a number so that getting on an earlier flight would have made little difference. They then settled for the night and an alliance was made. Just like in Season 22 of TAR, the first four teams decided that if one of them would come in first and win the two Express Passes, they would give the second one to whichever team came in second. We'll see if the alliance holds and the Express Pass is given according to the agreement. And if the alliance continues throughout the race. Nice move on Brent for coming up with this plan. It might help his team.
Once the sun rose and the kiosk opened, one by one the teams headed out with jet-skis onto Okanagan Lake to find Ogopogo. They actually had to find a diving place, get fitted up with gear and head underwater to search for statue of the mythical creature which held their next clue. Some teams did this pretty fast, while others struggled, either with the task itself, or in the case of the Gay Cowboys and the Twins, in finding the diving area. They both got lost. It's a pretty big lake (135 klicks long and 4-5 wide) so that's understandable. Good thing they didn't go too far.
But two things struck me while watching teams do this task. First, the Hippies did something that seemed unexceptional but was probably an Amazing Race first. What usually happens if a mixed team has to drive something like a jet-ski, motorcycle, quad, or some other vehicle like that, the male member drives. Just like the Doctors and Body Break did. But with the Hippies, Kristen drove the Jet-Ski while Darren hung on. Both ways. Not a race changing event, but I thought it should be mentioned. It also got me thinking that my wife is probably right about these guys. And maybe they won't end up being too bland.
Also, because Jodi from the Brothers had to remove his prosthetic legs to ride the jet-ski, you got a true sense of the extent of his injuries, how much he's probably had to overcome since he was injured in Afghanistan, and how his brother has been a major support for him. That scene where Cory piggybacked Jodi to the jet-ski was quite touching. That was further driven home in the next task when Jodi had to walk across the skinny, swinging beam on his prosthetic legs to get the hanging clue. I hope those competitors who complained about being so afraid of heights, and how walking across the beam was one of the toughest things they ever done, were humbled when they watched the episode and saw Jodi walking along that beam on his prosthetics. They had it easy compared to him. And compared to Tim Sr. of the Timmies. You could him shake because of his Parkinson's but he didn't complain at all. In fact, he was probably one of the most steady ones up there.
It was in this task though where the show got bogged down, save for the scenes of Jodi and Tim Sr. The editing in some parts of this section was so contrived that it was frustrating. First, you had one player on the beam, complaining of the heights and the commenting that she couldn't finish the task. Then commercial break, intimating that this situation might make or break them. Then when they come back, the previous scene is rerun but she just jumps off, showing that there was no real cliff-hanger here. Just a contrived one. And that's okay because that's typical Amazing Race editing. But then they do it again. Almost exactly the way it happened before, breaking for commercial after another play says she can't do it. But after commercial, she jumps almost without hesitation. And then another scene of the exact same situation with another team. thankfully they didn't break for commercial a third time at the same point.
So after the teams finished jumping off the beam, it was a race to the Pit Stop. The Hippies were in control of the situation and with some good map reading, along with some fake Phil-style pointing from the Mat by Montgomery, were Team # 1. They won an Express Pass for themselves and one for another team. They were part of the alliance but we'll see if they pass it onto the Doctors, who came second. I'm guessing they will. They also won round trip airfare for two to Sydney Australia. Only airfare though, no hotel or spa (or Spah as Phil pronounces it), but still pretty cool. So was Montgomery's use of the Canadian "eh" in his conversation with them. A nice accidental touch.
The rest of the teams dribbled in, Body Break and Bicep Friends coming in together, and then the drama began. The Timmies beat the Sisters but because the boys didn't take two clues from the butterfly place, they were given a 30 minute penalty. The reaction by Vanessa, calling the Timmies "suckers" for screwing up while she celebrated beating them was outstanding. And Tim Jr.'s retort — "Time will tell, baby." — showed there's gonna be some interplay between those two.
The Brothers came in afterwards, and finally, the last race to the Mat between the Gay Cowboys and the Twins. Since the twins were track athletes, they were supposed to beat anyone in a foot race. But one cowboy beat one of the twins so maybe their track skills have faded over time. Still, they got to the mat as a team first so it looked like the boys were last. But since the twins also didn't get two clues from the butterfly place (an odd mistake since both their jobs rely on an attention to detail), they were penalized. So the Gay Cowboys were in and the Twins were out. A shocking ending, made even more so but Montgomery's quick and deadly elimination style. I thought the Cowboys showed that great Alberta character to be just as saddened as the Twins by the turn of events. The hugs were sweet. But I didn't mourn because I didn't warm up to the Twins as a team. No doubt if the tables were turned and they beat the Cowboys, they would have celebrated before offering their condolences. But it's homeward for them, although in reality, they probably stayed at the winery/resort for the rest of the race.
Next week, the teams must navigate the metropolis of Vancouver. The promo makes it look like some kind of crazy ordeal but it's Vancouver, not Seoul or Mumbai. Shouldn't be overly difficult. Then again, you never know.
Saturday, July 13, 2013
First Look, Sneak Peak
Those folks at Amazing Race Canada have released a sneak peak of the first episode, which is set to air on July 15 (same day as my kid's birthday so that's going to be a fun day for us). It's a typical Amazing Race vignette: one teammate on a high ledge of sorts, looking afraid, thinking and saying that they can't do it with the other teammate cheering them on. Can't really tell what exactly the task is, except that it looks like a Roadblock, they're on a girder high above a forest (BC, I'm guessing), they have to retrieve a clue and then do something, maybe jump or swing over to another girder on the other side. Typically, the video has a cliff-hanger ending, although whatever it is they are supposed to do, I'm pretty sure the task gets accomplished by the team featured. I really hope that's not the high point of the show, though. There should be more drama than that.
The video features the twins from Ottawa and I'm not sure if this is a hint that are eliminated in the first episode or what? It's never too good to read too much into such a video so I'll leave it at that. I am going to make no predictions on who will win the race. I've taken a good look at all the teams and can't really tell how they'll all do. Sure, some teams look more physical than others, etc., etc., etc., but you never know with the Amazing Race. You only have to look at the Beekman Boys on TAR Season 21. Or better yet, the Frat Brothers of TAR Season 13. Andrew and Dan were one of the most inept teams in TAR history, but somehow they still made it to the Final 3. So while my fav team is the Body Break team of Hal and Joanne (only because they're close to my own age), that will probably change once the show airs and the season progresses.
However, just like in the sneak peek video, I'm going to go out on a limb (which is probably how the producers worded the clue for this Roadblock) and predict that the first leg of Amazing Race Canada will be a non-elimination one. Why? It's all due to history. In Amazing Race Asia and Amazing Race Australia (the other non-US English versions of the show), all but one of the first legs were non-elimination. Not sure why, although I guess the producers wanted keep the contestants around much longer because they spent a lot of time and effort picking them. So while I could be wrong, I won't be surprised if Leg #1 is non-elimination. Remember you read it here first. Forget it if I'm wrong.
Also, the producers have added a bunch of digital content to go along with the race, to make the whole thing more interactive. There are prizes from the various sponsors as well as behind-the-scenes info and video that didn't make it to air. Some of this stuff can be interesting (especially the prizes and the play along games), but only to a point. There's a reason why certain scenes don't make it to the actual show and onto the cutting room floor (Yes, I know the editing is all digital now but it's a metaphor). Some folks like to look at deleted scenes, but I don't. Maybe it's because I'm a novelist and understand that if a scene doesn't do anything to propel the story forward or give new insight into the characters, it's unimportant.
What I hope they do have in this digital content is something similar to Phil's Diary, which ran on the CBS TAR site during a number of seasons. It was really interesting to get a behind-the-scenes look at the race from Phil's point-of-view, especially when Phil and the producers are racing to a pit-stop because the teams are right behind him. Or when Phil's feeling a bit tired. He never lashed out at anyone but you can tell that his job isn't as easy at it looks. And you got a slightly deeper look into his personality. I really hope they don't include a Canadian version Elimination Station. TAR ran that web series for a few seasons and the whole point of that was to show what happened to the teams after they were eliminated. For the most part, they were sent to some wonderful resort or rented mansion in a tropical location, hanging out with the other eliminated teams as they arrived. Sometimes there was a bit of drama but all-in-all, it wasn't that intriguing. Mostly, it showed that if you were eliminated early from the race, you still had a really nice holiday with a few day trips thrown in.
Although I'm getting really excited about Amazing Race Canada, this will be my final post until July 15 when I'll do a recap of the show, along with other stuff. My posts can also be seen here. Unlike some, I won't be live tweeting; I'd rather watch the show and save my comments for later.
I'll see you at the starting line. Can't wait!
Wednesday, July 3, 2013
First Promo! Exciting!
I was watching an old version of Canada's Worst Driver today, and lo and behold there was a promo of Amazing Race Canada. It was my first view of such a thing and I have to say, it got me pretty excited. For years I've been hoping for an Amazing Race Canada (even suggested they do an Amazing Race Commonwealth) and now it's less than two weeks away!
Sure, there should have been more diversity on the show - not only is there no First Nation person but no team from Canada's Maritime provinces - but I'm still very excited to see how the show progresses. I'm really hoping that the producers will make up their lack of diverse teams by showing the diverse landscape and cultures of Canada. We live in an amazing country, us Canadians, but I know there were some who were annoyed that Amazing Race Canada was going to stay within the boundaries of our home and native land.
First, let's look at the logistics of that. Compared to scripted shows, reality shows are much cheaper to produce. But The Amazing Race format is known to be one of the most expensive reality shows to produce, especially the US one. I've read that every season of TAR needs to hire over 2,000 production workers, most of them from various countries they visit. And don't forget all those flight costs to fly everyone, not just the teams, but Phil and the production team, around the world. But the US version averages around 10-11 million viewers in key demographics that advertisers like. And they are able to sell their versions of the show to Amazing Race-mad countries like Canada, Australia and the UK (which is one reason I suggested an Amazing Race Commonwealth). So they have the possibility of making back some of that production money.
The Amazing Race Canada doesn't have that luxury. Sure, it will be have huge Canadian ratings and they've already booked in some great sponsors. But they probably won't sell this version to another country. Also, look at the Amazing Race Australia. That show was quite popular in Australia and like the US version, travelled to other spots in the world, even to Canada in Season 2. But there is great doubt that there will be a Season 3 of Amazing Race Australia. Mostly because of the costs of production. So if we want to see more seasons of ARC, they need to keep the costs down. Which is one reason why it's only going to be run in Canada.
But Canada is the second largest country in the world. I've travelled a lot through Canada as a writer and a musician, and for personal reasons. But there is so much of the country that I haven't seen. I've never been to the Maritimes (shocking, I know but I plan to make up for that next summer with a family trip) and the farthest north I've been is Yellowknife. So there are so many great spots in this country, many of them undiscovered, that the producers should have no problem keeping things interesting for many seasons of the ARC. And unlike the terrible US Family Version (officially Season 8), you probably won't see a lot of driving in campers. We don't have the highway system that the US has, and to get to many places, you have to fly, either via airlines or charter flights.
And besides, the Amazing Race is a great reality show format not just because of the places it visits. On the Amazing Race, you aren't voted off by other competitors or a group of judges. How a team fares on the race pretty much has to do with how they function and react to the race itself. A huge part of the success of the Amazing Race has to do with the teams. While I've been a bit hard on the team selection, mostly on the diversity part, I'll admit that I've superficially judged the teams. And superficially, they are a bunch of good looking folks. But when July 15th comes along, I'll be one of the couple million of Canadians watching the show. I'll have my favourites and I'll think that I could have done better, just like the way I do with all the other Amazing Race format's I've seen. The difference is that it's in Canada and all the teams are Canadians. Pretty cool, if you ask me.
And I'll write all about that here. And here. So I'll see you all at the starting line on July 15th.
Sure, there should have been more diversity on the show - not only is there no First Nation person but no team from Canada's Maritime provinces - but I'm still very excited to see how the show progresses. I'm really hoping that the producers will make up their lack of diverse teams by showing the diverse landscape and cultures of Canada. We live in an amazing country, us Canadians, but I know there were some who were annoyed that Amazing Race Canada was going to stay within the boundaries of our home and native land.
First, let's look at the logistics of that. Compared to scripted shows, reality shows are much cheaper to produce. But The Amazing Race format is known to be one of the most expensive reality shows to produce, especially the US one. I've read that every season of TAR needs to hire over 2,000 production workers, most of them from various countries they visit. And don't forget all those flight costs to fly everyone, not just the teams, but Phil and the production team, around the world. But the US version averages around 10-11 million viewers in key demographics that advertisers like. And they are able to sell their versions of the show to Amazing Race-mad countries like Canada, Australia and the UK (which is one reason I suggested an Amazing Race Commonwealth). So they have the possibility of making back some of that production money.
The Amazing Race Canada doesn't have that luxury. Sure, it will be have huge Canadian ratings and they've already booked in some great sponsors. But they probably won't sell this version to another country. Also, look at the Amazing Race Australia. That show was quite popular in Australia and like the US version, travelled to other spots in the world, even to Canada in Season 2. But there is great doubt that there will be a Season 3 of Amazing Race Australia. Mostly because of the costs of production. So if we want to see more seasons of ARC, they need to keep the costs down. Which is one reason why it's only going to be run in Canada.
But Canada is the second largest country in the world. I've travelled a lot through Canada as a writer and a musician, and for personal reasons. But there is so much of the country that I haven't seen. I've never been to the Maritimes (shocking, I know but I plan to make up for that next summer with a family trip) and the farthest north I've been is Yellowknife. So there are so many great spots in this country, many of them undiscovered, that the producers should have no problem keeping things interesting for many seasons of the ARC. And unlike the terrible US Family Version (officially Season 8), you probably won't see a lot of driving in campers. We don't have the highway system that the US has, and to get to many places, you have to fly, either via airlines or charter flights.
And besides, the Amazing Race is a great reality show format not just because of the places it visits. On the Amazing Race, you aren't voted off by other competitors or a group of judges. How a team fares on the race pretty much has to do with how they function and react to the race itself. A huge part of the success of the Amazing Race has to do with the teams. While I've been a bit hard on the team selection, mostly on the diversity part, I'll admit that I've superficially judged the teams. And superficially, they are a bunch of good looking folks. But when July 15th comes along, I'll be one of the couple million of Canadians watching the show. I'll have my favourites and I'll think that I could have done better, just like the way I do with all the other Amazing Race format's I've seen. The difference is that it's in Canada and all the teams are Canadians. Pretty cool, if you ask me.
And I'll write all about that here. And here. So I'll see you all at the starting line on July 15th.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)