“Do it Like a Madman”
October 26th, 2008
As a race, the thirteenth season of The Amazing Race isn’t all that compelling. The show made very little effort to make the conclusion suspenseful, as they knew as well as we did that there was no other option.
What the episode did demonstrate, though, is that this season’s group of racers is trying their darndest to make a compelling episode of television at every turn. Whether it’s broken down boats, paranoid directions asking, extremely poor hand cranking or an editor’s wet dream of an ironic talking head to start the leg, this group is quite poor at actually running the Race in a way that’s less annoying than it is charming. When even those teams who looked like they could grate, just a little, have managed thus far to prove largely inoffensive, you’ve got the recipe for an edition of the Race that, if not reaching the heights of the show’s best, could prove fun to watch without having to hate someone.
Cultural Learnings 