Variety: The Amazing Race Picked Up For Season Six

[inturnaround]

According to Variety, CBS is apparently so pleased with the fifth season of "The Amazing Race" that they greenlit a season six barely a month into production in March.

This fuels speculation that CBS is planning to launch an all reality Saturday night.

No word yet on when TAR6 will air, but it will most likely be midseason or next summer depending on the ratings for TAR5.

I'm so glad this show, which I came to rather late, is coming back with new installments. It's a rare classy reality show and one that certainly deserves a spot on the air.

(I did a search for TAR here to see if anyone had posted this news (as the Variety article is from Tuesday), but I couldn't find any mention of it, so apologies if this is a duplication of already-announced news. I, at the very least, tried to see if it was a rerun.)

[Matt Ottinger]

That's wonderful news.  Even critics who don't have much nice to say about reality shows in general will usually single out Race as being a high-quality exception.  Nevertheless, it was at death's door several times in the last couple of years.  For CBS to already commit to a sixth season before season five has even aired yet  is a great sign.  For them to pair it up with the tacky but more popular Big Brother is a necessary evil.

[brianhenke]

I hope there are more enjoyable teams on TAR, like the clown team from last season.  

   At least this is quality reality, not repulsive shows like The Swan, Are You Hot?, I'm a Celebrity..., etc.  (and the new Entertainment Weekly's cover story is "Reality TV Nation: Why we...Love it! Hate it!")

   Brian
 
   Iowa is the North Star State?

   We want some more pro wrestling (STILL) and NASCAR questions!

[weaklink75]

[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' date=\'May 14 2004, 01:12 PM\'] That's wonderful news.  Even critics who don't have much nice to say about reality shows in general will usually single out Race as being a high-quality exception.  Nevertheless, it was at death's door several times in the last couple of years.  For CBS to already commit to a sixth season before season five has even aired yet  is a great sign.  For them to pair it up with the tacky but more popular Big Brother is a necessary evil. [/quote]
Well, there are a couple of reasons they paired it up with Big Brother....The main one was the runner-up from Big Brother last season and her boyfriend is one of the teams this time around. On another note, I consider TAR a pretty good show for families to watch, so I really question why CBS decided to give them a 10PM slot. But apparently their Tuesday dramas don't rerun well in the summer, so that's why the decision was made to put it there.

[Timsterino]

[quote name=\'inturnaround\' date=\'May 14 2004, 10:36 AM\'] According to Variety, CBS is apparently so pleased with the fifth season of "The Amazing Race" that they greenlit a season six barely a month into production in March.

This fuels speculation that CBS is planning to launch an all reality Saturday night.

No word yet on when TAR6 will air, but it will most likely be midseason or next summer depending on the ratings for TAR5.

I'm so glad this show, which I came to rather late, is coming back with new installments. It's a rare classy reality show and one that certainly deserves a spot on the air.

(I did a search for TAR here to see if anyone had posted this news (as the Variety article is from Tuesday), but I couldn't find any mention of it, so apologies if this is a duplication of already-announced news. I, at the very least, tried to see if it was a rerun.) [/quote]
That is great news. The Amazing Race is by far, my favorite reality show. I am thrilled to hear of a 6th installment, I can't wait to watch AR5.

Tim :-)

[That Don Guy]

[quote name=\'inturnaround\' date=\'May 14 2004, 09:36 AM\']This fuels speculation that CBS is planning to launch an all reality Saturday night. [/quote]
The networks are supposed to announce their fall schedules next week - I know NBC will on Tuesday (because of all of the "what's going to be on Thursdays now?" hype).

-- Don (who thinks it will be Joey, Father of the Pride, The Apprentice 2, and ER, with Will & Grace moving to Frasier's old Tuesday slot)

[Peter Sarrett]

I know I've mentioned this before, but I'd like The Amazing Race a heck of a lot more if it weren't structured so that all teams bunch up at the airport, making each leg effectively a standalone mini-race with no real advantage to finishing well in previous legs.  I think I'd prefer it if standings were cumulative, and instead of starting times for each leg being determined by arrival time at the pit stop they were determined by the cumulative standings.  Then it's no longer a matter of just not coming in last, but of coming in as early as possible to get better pole position.

Of course, if they still bunch up at the airport, pole position remains irrelevant.

I also hope we see more interesting Road Blocks and Detours, with activities that allow clever players to race ahead of the pack or catch up.  Too many from previous seasons took a uniform amount of time for all teams, or prevented teams from competing in parallel (ziplines, getting dragged by a bull, and other serial activities with single-team bottlenecks).  Blech.

[Matt Ottinger]

I agree that the games could stand to be a little more creative.  I'm also not a big fan of bunching everybody up at the airport, but I certainly understand the need.  On a practical level, only after a few legs you could reach the point where teams are literally days apart.  That removes any excitement about the competition.

It helps for me when I think of each leg of the competition as a separate race.  Kind of like Jeopardy, where no matter how well you did in the last episode, you still have to prove yourself in the next one.  The better competitors will still tend to rise to the top.

[Fedya]

The estimable Matt Ottinger wrote:

That's wonderful news. Even critics who don't have much nice to say about reality shows in general will usually single out Race as being a high-quality exception.

Might this have anything to do with TAR focusing more on the 'game' aspect (ie. the race), while most other 'reality' shows seem to be focused on appealing to people's prurient interests?  While there may be a game aspect to "Big Brother" or "Survivor", I get the feeling that's not really why people watch them.

[Matt Ottinger]

[quote name=\'Fedya\' date=\'May 15 2004, 11:59 PM\'] The estimable Matt Ottinger wrote:

That's wonderful news. Even critics who don't have much nice to say about reality shows in general will usually single out Race as being a high-quality exception.

Might this have anything to do with TAR focusing more on the 'game' aspect (ie. the race), while most other 'reality' shows seem to be focused on appealing to people's prurient interests?  While there may be a game aspect to "Big Brother" or "Survivor", I get the feeling that's not really why people watch them. [/quote]
 I probably wouldn't use the word "prurient", which suggests that these other reality shows are only about sex, but beyond that I think you hit the nail on the head.  You see the infighting and the backbiting and the rest of it on Race, but that's not the focus.  Another appeal to the show is that it's much more visually interesting than shows like Big Brother or Survivor, since its "set" is basically the entire planet.

[Matt Ottinger]

This has been mentioned in passing in another thread, but fans of The Amazing Race have reason to rejoice today.  Not only do we get Race 5 this summer, but Race 6 is part of CBS's fall lineup.  We don't have to wait until winter, or even next summer.  Two Races, one right after the other.  Race 6 will start shooting in August.

It'll air on Saturdays, where a lot of us thought a regular TPIR slot would make sense.  As far as I'm concerned, this is better.

[Craig Karlberg]

Actually, CBS announced that they'll do 5 more TPIR MDS specials next season so all is not lost for tradditional game show fans like me anyway.

[Gromit]

[quote name=\'Peter Sarrett\' date=\'May 14 2004, 05:17 PM\'] I know I've mentioned this before, but I'd like The Amazing Race a heck of a lot more if it weren't structured so that all teams bunch up at the airport, making each leg effectively a standalone mini-race with no real advantage to finishing well in previous legs.  I think I'd prefer it if standings were cumulative, and instead of starting times for each leg being determined by arrival time at the pit stop they were determined by the cumulative standings.  Then it's no longer a matter of just not coming in last, but of coming in as early as possible to get better pole position.
 [/quote]
 I know what you're saying Ed, but it just can't work that way. First of all, you've got the production problems. We saw in season 1 with the one group ending up 24 hours behind just how much trouble it caused. The crews can't be in two places at once. It was no longer a race.

It's still the best teams that win, those that think things through well, don't panic etc.