The Amazing Race 9: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, Episode 7: The Power of the Frog Hat

To correct a bit of an oversight from last week, when I said that any woman tiring of her inattentive, boorish jock should try a geek – the reverse is of course true. Men who grow tired of their self-centered beauties should give a geeky girl a chance. In either case, I don’t think you would be disappointed.

Speaking of geek, anyone in St. Louis should check out the ShowMe Con 4 at the Airport Hilton this weekend. Click on the link for all the info.

The Good:

And That’s All of Them!: It’s amazing. For the first time in reality show history, every single contestant that I hate has been eliminated, leaving a number of teams who I actually would like to see win! Well, I don’t particularly like Mojo, but I wouldn’t be upset if they win. Kind of in a Freddy & Kendra sort of way.

The favorites, of course, are still the Hippies. I’ve decided I don’t care if they’re mugging for the camera or not – I think they are to a degree, but they’re goofy enough in real life – they’re just too much fun not to root for. Even when they screw up, like this season, they support each other. Besides, who can root against the frog hat?

I’ll admit to a little bit of worry, as the previews show them struggling. The previews haven’t been accurate so far this season.

Hippie Wrestling Federation: They just keep providing great moments. You could tell, even the Greek wrestler was having fun wrestling with the Hippies.

No, I’m Not Going To Complain About It: The flight equalizer in this leg was actually good, as it bunched up the remaining teams in what was another linear leg. Besides, it made absolutely no difference in the order. If not for missed train stops and fast forwards, not to mention lost hippies, the finish times would have been a lot closer.

The Bad:

I May Have Heard of It: I love marketing, but I hate advertisers sometimes. You’ve got what’s sure to be the biggest movie of the year, at least up to now, starring one of the most bankable stars in the world. Just the mere mention of the movie name (no, I’m not going to promote it!) and the release date would be enough to make fans salivate. Isn’t the movie getting enough publicity between the ungodly sales figures of the (hack) book, the (conveniently timed) lawsuits, and every news outlet (being paid for) fawning over it?

So why the hell do you whore out a popular TV show in such a nonsensical way as the puzzle clue this week? It’s insulting to the viewing audience to do crap like this. I’m watching The Amazing Race to see the race. The onset of DVR has reduced broadcasters to annoying and invasive ads at the bottom of the screen, and we have tasks based around a movie?

If you’re going to force-feed ads to us this way, at least make them seamless. The movie screenings as rewards in Big Brother and Survivor is a good example. Or the Travelocity roaming gnomes earlier in the season, because that at least fits in with the show. The way it was promoted here was just lazy.

Of course, had they done this for the X-Men or Spider-Man movies, I’d have no problem.

I Hear That Train A Comin’: Well, actually, a bus, but I had to use that. The fifteen minute time penalty the three teams incurred was silly for a number of reasons, primarily that it didn’t do anything to improve their position. If anything, it made it worse!

And how about the dramatic swell while the Hippies waited out their time penalty, wondering if Lake & Michelle would make it to the mat before their time was up? Kind of makes you wonder what all the fuss was about, seeing that Lake & Michelle would have gotten the same penalty!

Sometimes, we don’t NEED to be spoon-fed the drama. We don’t always need to see the two last-place teams going down to the wire, even if that’s not the case. There was drama in wondering if it was a non-elimination leg, at least. As I said above, treating your viewers with a little intelligence couldn’t hurt. The Amazing Race is, in my opinion, the most intelligent reality show on television, in spite of weeks like this.

Speaking of the Hippies: Let’s hope that this was a one-week aberration, and the Hippies are back on top next week. I know a lot of people are tired of them, but my fiancé and I still love them, so there, nyah.

See what I mean about insulting our intelligence? Makes me go and do something like that. Sheesh.