My Ox Is Broken

Ox Notes: December 8, 2009

The Amazing Race ended on Sunday night with a seemingly inevitable win by Meghan & Cheyne. The winners chatted with E! and People, who also interviewed bickering brothers Sam & Dan. Reality Blurred summarized several other interviews with the TAR finalists.

After this lackluster season -- in which the most amusing part of the finale was a network PSA promoting Pap Smears as Christmas gifts -- I'm demoting TAR to DVR-only status. It's a glorified travel show at this point due to formulaic casting, and I no longer feel compelled to watch it live.

Dancing with the Stars pro Derek Hough dropped by the sets of British reality shows Strictly Come Dancing and X Factor.

Andrew McCarthy, star of '80s comedy classics like Mannequin and Weekend at Bernie's, will direct an upcoming episode of Gossip Girl.

On March 21, VH1 debuts its new series, Basketball Wives, which follows the exploits of Jermaine O'Neal's, Antoine Walker's and Eric Williams' significant others.

In January, ESPN picks up the show Sport Science, which explores technological developments in sports. In this clip from the show's Fox Sports Net days, golfer Padraig Harrington tests whether a Happy Gilmore swing really works:

Posted by Kathy (myoxisbroken@gmail.com) on 12/08/2009.

Comments

Jen C wrote (12/8/2009 1:03:00 PM EDT) …
What's sad is that TAR's casting was always formulaic, and yet they still found personalities in the past that would create an interesting dynamic rather than a lackluster one. I think the casting started to go downhill when you started getting racers who were promoting some agenda by being there and getting screen time. I wish the challenges were still as difficult as they used to be; even though the lackluster contestants can't handle the ones they have now. I think the worst thing is they promised us those Roadblocks of the past called 'Switchbacks' and then there was only one. I hate that TAR is following DWTS downhill.
Kathy wrote (12/8/2009 4:57:00 PM EDT) …
The Switchback bugged me, too, Jen. It was a little amusing to see the teams repeat a task from the past at the same location it was originally filmed. Then producers recycled a task for the finale -- the face first rappel from Season 4, Leg 11 -- but because it was done in Vegas and not Australia, it wasn't called a Switchback.

Acknowledging that the show repeats tasks by giving them a special title doesn't change the fact that they're just repeating tasks. You're right, Jen. They needed to do more than one Switchback per season in order for it to seem legit.

Just thinking back on Season 4 makes me miss teams like the Air Traffic Controllers, Kelly & Jon and Millie & Chuck.
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