The Amazing Race

An avid viewer of the first installment of CBS' OTHER reality-based television show, I was quite happy to see The Amazing Race 2 had managed to appear in my TV Guide listings this year.

The Amazing Race follows 11 teams of 2 people with some sort of pre-existing relationship (mother/daughter, best friends, etc.) on a race around the world. Teams must follow clues to discover the next destination, and how to get there is often up to them to figure out. Along the way are various "pit stops." Be the last to arrive at most of these, and your team is eliminated from the race. No fuss, no muss...the quickest survive. NO tribal councils, NO voting!

That is what makes this show so wonderful. Contestants are forced to use not only their strength and wits, but also their (deep breath) intelligence in order to survive. The Race becomes the sole arbitor of who remains, and the viewer ends up having as much fun following the contestants as they do following the ever-surprising route. This is competition at its most basic, and simple is wonderful!

Keep this series alive...it's quite simply the most entertaining of the entire genre.

All in all, I would start with Season 1, 5 and 31. 28 and 29 were good too

So, it really depends on what season you're watching. Some are good, some are aweful (Season 26 Blind Date twist for example as well as Family Edition of Season 8)

At times there is a team that makes it worth watching, but other teams are bleh like Season 9. BJ asnd Tyler and Eric and Jeremy were the best part of the season and bluntly the bulk of airtime was for BJ and Tyler because they were awesome

Sometimes the season will fall flat depending on what you like. So take each season with a grain of salt. Casting may be ON like in Season 31 or OFF like in Season 4 which is forgetable but only stands out because the first gay couple won it

Watch each season, see what you like and discard the rest. Binge it, watch it on PLUTOTV online or Google search it. Season 6 was tough to watch because of an abusive husband.

Season 36 was even worse than Family Edition, and the producers had to really try to beat that season for worst. It was clear 'Team Ringer' was going to win in the first 5 minutes of the first episode, and boy the season didn't disappoint. Let's see, a flamboyant team with a native Spanish speaker, check. Travel exclusively around South America, check. Some real life familiarity with every challenge, check. Never get lost (native Spanish speaker), check. End in the home city of Team Ringer, check. I only finished because we've watched every season. At this point, when Amazing Race gets canceled it's the producers fault. I'll watch next season because I love the show, but this will be my last season if it's rigged again. Certainly this wasn't the first rigged season, but it was by far the worst.

WOW! This tv show is good enough to beat Survivor but they belong in the same network so... Anyway, I like how they put it together--[11 teams with 2 people in each team]. The one that really gives colour to the show is the contestants and their personality. The editing was really great & I think they should win an Emmy for this. There's alot of action in it and great games. After watching an episode you just can't wait for the next one. Right now I heard its the second best reality show next to Survivor so again GOOD JOB CBS! One thing I love about this show is the places, every episode they go to different country. >

I gotta say I hate reality TV. Sure "Survivor" had it's moments, but it got tiresome after awhile. The Amazing Race? Now HERE's a show with variety and personality to match the frantic, fast-paced action with such ingenious use of game set-pieces I couldn't help but dig this show. I watched this series for nine years and it still never fails to entertain me. That's something that can't be said for most reality TV programs; well at least for "American Idol". One of the most moving moments of the show was when they had one of the contestants was a female dwarf but despite her physical limits, she managed to get far near the end of the race. I can vividly recall the the emotions of the host who greeted them at the pit stop; however coming in last place eliminated them from the race. Sorry if that sounded a little poetic but I couldn't help but be touched by his reaction. Still, it's a great show, filled with a surprising amount of suspense. Yes, SUSPENSE. In a reality show; a rarity. Never in the history of TV has a series been this gripping, this entertaining, heartwarming and exciting, and above all, original as The Amazing Race.