I've sort of accidentally discovered a great little travel show -- Long Way Round on Bravo. As an Ewan McGregor fan, I knew he had gone on an ambitious motorcycle trip with his buddy, Charlie, over several months last year. I also knew they had taken film footage, but I did not know it was as elaborate a trip nor that it was backed by the BBC. When I saw the promo pop up on Bravo a few weeks ago, I immediately put the show into my Tivo season pass list.
Unfortunately, I missed the first episode, but it wasn't hard to jump in for Day 17 of the trip. The two episodes I've seen remind me of Michael Palin's travel shows (Around the World in 80 Days, Circumnavigating the Pacific Rim, etc), and that's a good thing. While Ewan and Charlie have two support vehicles, those travel on different routes, leaving the two guys with just one other motorcyclist (the camera man) to travel the world. Their purpose is to lay low and just experience the culture and people of the countries they travel through. In some places it works out better than others -- who knew the people of Khazakstan were such Star Wars fans?
The trip still has a long way to go, as the guys travel East from the UK, through part of Europe, southern Asia and up through Russia. They'll cheat a bit by flying from there to Anchorage, then go down through Canada and the northern United States before ending up in New York. Try to catch an episode or two while it's still going. (I'm just hoping to find a rerun of the premiere!)
With the new season of The Amazing Race starting tonight, let's visit the state of reality tv, shall we? As anyone who has glanced at this site knows, tivogirl LOVES The Amazing Race. By far, it is the best reality show -- and one of the most entertaining shows of any kind -- on television.
But none of these shows is really "reality", so let's just call them unscripted. You'd have to be a dolt not to believe the outcome (either episode by episode or the ultimate) is not influenced by at least some outside source -- be it a producer, a network, a host or even a mouthy camera operator. That's not always a bad thing, if it makes for more interesting competition.
The key to any unscripted program is not just a good premise, but great casting. Mark Burnett has had the upper hand in that department for some time with Survivor; at least he did until this season. For the first time since its debut, I'm considering bowing out of Survivor before the finale. Oh, sure, I'll tune in for the last 10 minutes and see who won, but I simply don't care that much anymore. There were few compelling people to begin with on this season and those I did like are all gone. I don't even have a villain to root against. They're all just boring. Boring and stupid. Bad combination.
The Apprentice is also following along the path. I enjoy the show premise enough to keep watching, and the tasks bring out different personality traits in contestants each week, but I still don't have anyone I'm really rooting for. Perhaps Burnett should go back to just one show at a time?
The verdict is still out on Branson's Quest, and of course we'll have to see who stands out tonight on AR.
Networks have become so paranoid of offending a few viewers that some affiliates refused to air the special broadcast of Saving Private Ryan last night. The special broadcast was for Veteran's Day. A film that realistically shows the sacrifices made by our parents and grandparents to ensure the freedom of our country is being censored. How ironic.
Further, how moronic, sanctimonious and scary are those people who backed the threatened protest? A half-second flash of boob and suddenly sensibilities have violently overcorrected to the point of absurdity. The same folks who soak up the idiocy of soap operas and daytime talk shows are trying to get Desperate Housewives yanked off the air. A little too close to home, perhaps?
Not that I think Housewives is great television, but if I want to watch it, I should be able to do so. If you don't like it, there's a great feature built into every television ever made. No, it's not the V-chip (although almost every tv made in the last five years does have one of those). It's the OFF button. See something you don't like? Use it, but leave my set alone.
The Rebel Billionaire: Richard Branson's Quest for the Best premiered last night on Fox. Branson is a hoot -- a thoroughly British entrepreneur with an American attitude all the way. The previews made the show look more like Fear Factor than The Apprentice, so I was more than a little scared. However, the first half hour sucked me in.
Branson, in cheesy makeup, posed as the cab driver taking contestants to his estate as they arrived. In groups of three, the 16 people were driven, and Branson simply watched and waited. He wanted to see how these folks dealt with a "regular person" and it proved wise. They say true judge of character comes from how you act when you think nobody is watching, and Branson got plenty to judge from. Right off the bat, he called out three contestants and booted two of them, strictly based on their behavior in the taxi. It was great!
From there out, the show was mixed. The first task was pure character and the second pure business. As long as it sticks to at least a 50/50 blend, the show will be entertaining. The daredevil stuff is important to Branson, since he runs his companies on about half guts-n-glory. It can also be quite telling. But without the business tasks, it's worthless information.
Most interesting are the twists he puts into the challenges, like offering the teams a trip to visit a Hong Kong landmark in the middle of their tightly timed task. That's a true test of business sense -- how distracted do you allow yourself to be, and does that help or hurt your result?
I'll keep this show in the to do list unless and until it tilts too far to one side.
It's taken a few days, but my Tivo list has finally been narrowed down to just one screen. I'm a bit sorry to say I didn't miss much on my two week hiatus. The season finale of Dead Like Me did not disappoint, but it seems like everything else (Apprentice, Survivor, Lost) is holding on to the good stuff for this month's sweeps. At least Father of the Pride appears to be headed off the air, proving that sometimes good DOES triumph.
One big announcement did come out -- Amazing Race 6 will start November 16th! Between that and Fox's season finally starting up this weekend, we have lots to look forward to in the next few weeks.