The Amazing Race

Thoughts on the Fall 2009 TV Lineup

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I just peeked at TV Guide’s Fall 2009 TV lineup to see what Prairie and I might be interested in using to rot our brains with in the evenings. Most of the week looks doable, with only a few potential conflicts. (Oh, and we are old and crotchety and go to bed at 10pm, so I’m not paying much attention to the 10-11pm block.)

  • Mondays

    While we like both How I Met Your Mother and Big Bang Theory, as CBS has put one show we’re not likely to be interested in (Accidentally on Purpose) and one show we know we dislike (Two and a Half Men) in between the two, we probably won’t bother watching either one until the season DVDs show up on Netflix. This leaves us without anything we’re terribly interested in watching on Mondays until the mid-season switchup when Chuck comes back. Looks like Mondays will be TV-free for us until spring.

  • Tuesdays

    NCIS is a definite, with NCIS: LA a maybe. We’ll probably give NCIS: LA a couple weeks out of curiosity to see if they can pull off a successful spinoff, but we’re reserving judgement, as the NCIS episodes from last season that introduced the new team weren’t our favorites. Plus, once Dancing With the Stars (ugh) ends (hooray!), the Scrubs/Better Off Ted combo will (for us) be a strong contender — NCIS: LA will have to be really strong to pull us away once that switch happens. I am worried about ABC putting V up against NCIS in November — not only does NCIS already have a strong fanbase, but it’ll have had two months to set up any season-running plotlines to hold onto its fans. I really, really want to see this new take on V…but I also really enjoy NCIS. That’s going to be a difficult choice — one of them will have to get pushed to Bittorrent or some other form of online delayed viewing.

  • Wednesdays

    Law and Order: SVU and/or Criminal Minds are the only things that look interesting at all, and they’re both shows that we can watch or not watch depending on our mood. Wednesdays look pretty TV-free for us.

  • Thursdays

    While I’m curious enough about FlashForward to look for it on Bittorrent, Hulu, or some form of online watching, I’m not curious enough for it to win out over Survivor: Samoa (I’ll admit it, it’s one of two “reality” shows that Prairie got me hooked on). After that, it’s Fringe…or CSI (if I choose, it’ll be Fringe, if Prairie chooses, it’ll be CSI — either way, we’ll both enjoy what we watch, and the other will get the Bittorrent/Hulu/whatever treatment later in the week). Ugh. This one worries me. I really enjoyed season one of Fringe, and I’m not happy that FOX is putting it up against CSI. CSI has such an entrenched presence and fanbase, I’m not sure if the sci-fi, alternative reality weirdness of Fringe can pick up enough numbers to compete long-term. While I’m glad that Fringe is at least getting a second season, I worry that in putting it against CSI, FOX is just practicing a form of “delayed cancellation” — this way, FOX can just say Fringe didn’t get the market share it needed when they cancel it, even though if they’d moved it to a less competitive night (or left it where it was, though I can understand them not wanting to try to battle the NCIS juggernaut either), it might have done fine.

  • Fridays

    Prairie’s a fan of Ghost Whisperer, so we’ll keep watching that, even though last season kept annoying us (the ‘ghost of the week’ stories were fun and what kept us watching, the stupid ‘romance’ plotline with her husband in the body of the new guy is annoying, dragging on too long, and has enough WTF moments for a post of its own…but then I’d have to publicly admit that I watch Ghost Whisperer). Nothing else looks interesting.

  • Saturdays

    A wasteland of dreck. TV-free, for sure.

  • Sundays

    The Amazing Race is our favorite “reality” show, so that’s a definite. Nothing else that night is a must-see.

So that’s our lineup. Agree/disagree? Attempts to convince me to try a show I’m ignoring? Lemme know!

Kynt and Vyxsin

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A Q-and-A from the Gothic Charm School (sort of a Goth Miss Manners):

The other thing that was recently brought to the Lady of the Manners’ attention is the fact that there’s apparently a gothy couple on The Amazing Race. (The Lady of the Manners had to have The Amazing Race explained to her. The Lady of the Manners watches TV by viewing complete seasons of shows on DVD, and so is somewhat behind on current pop culture and reality shows.) One reader (who asked not to be named) queried:

I don’t know if you watch reality television, but I have some questions about the self-styled “Gothic” team Kynt and Vyxsin from The Amazing Race. I get that they wear weird makeup and fishnet T-shirts, but they seem to be way too happy (not to mention wearing way too much pink) to really be Goths. Surely no self-respecting Goth would be this interested about running around in the scorching heat in Africa, grinning from ear-to-ear with hot pink hair! Can you settle once and for all on whether these two are the biggest posers since Gumby, or is hot pink as Goth as Hot Topic?

Oh dear oh dear. People aren’t really still clinging to the false notions that Goths can never be cheerful, or never wear pink? Good heavens, the Lady of the Manners thought those cliches were put to rest ages ago! Yes, Goths can, and frequently are, very happy and cheerful. Goth is about appreciating the off-kilter, the darkly humorous, the (as the sainted Lydia from Beetlejuice said) “strange and unusual”. Goth is not about maintaining a seamless facade of woe and gloom, and never has been. Goth is more about embracing a dark and decadent aesthetic while simultaneously being able to laugh at oneself for sitting around wearing black velvet and reading Dracula by candlelight.

As to the “wearing way too much pink” comment: hot pink has been a wonderful accent color for black Gothwear since the early days of Deathrock and Batcave. (The Lady of the Manners personally prefers cupcake pink, but to each their own.) Goth fashion, while predominately black-hued, frequently dabbles in other colors. The Lady of the Manners thinks that the hot pink and black color scheme that Kynt and Vyxsin have adopted is striking, and also makes them slightly more approachable than an all-black wardrobe would. Which is a very clever move on their part, since they will need every advantage they can get to go forth and win this race thing.

Prairie got me hooked on The Amazing Race last year, and we’ve been having a lot of fun watching this season. The season started with a lot of teams that we liked, and while we’ve been a bit frustrated that we’ve lost some good teams while others that we’d like to see go keep hanging on, we’re thrilled that ‘the hippies‘ and ‘the goths’ are still part, and we’re really rooting for one of those two teams to win.

One of the things we’ve really noticed about both TK and Rachel and Kynt and Vyxsin is how markedly more mature their relationships are — with both teams, even when they’re behind, stuck somewhere, risking losing their spot, tired, hungry, or frustrated, they rarely if ever take it out on each other. They’ll express their frustration and anger, sure, but they don’t turn on each other and attack the other player. Even Kynt and Vyxsin’s ‘meltdown’ on last Sunday’s episode was worlds away from the regular abuse that Nate and Jennifer heap on each other in their good moments.

While sure, I’ll admit that part of the ‘drama’ of reality programming is the relationships (good and bad, but often bad) between the contestants, it’s been nice to see that at least two of the final five teams in this race actually treat each other like people should be treated — and it’s more than a little thrilling that it’s the two ‘counter-culture’ teams that have the best relationships.

Go weirdoes! ;)

Fall ’06 TV Plans

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Shows that Prairie and I (either together or individually) plan on doing our best to keep up with this season (though, admittedly, our schedules will be busy enough that it may occasionally be difficult):

  • Sundays:
    • The Amazing Race 10 (CBS): Prairie’s been a fan of this one for a couple years now, and this is my first time actually watching it. Generally speaking, I’m no big fan of “reality” TV (most of what I’ve heard of and seen of “reality” programming has little or nothing to do with reality), but I’ve actually been enjoying this one so far. I’m a bit bummed that some of the more interesting teams were eliminated so soon (though, as some commenters have pointed out, my geopolitical placement skills leave something to be desired), and we’ve been surprised that so many teams have been eliminated so quickly — apparently there will be a few stretches later in the season where eliminations don’t come quite so fast and furious. At this point, our current favorites are Lyn and Karlyn and David and Mary.

    • Desperate Housewives (ABC): I missed the first year of broadcast (though Prairie often gleefully filled me in on some of the more outrageous moments over IM sessions before she and I moved in together) and had to catch up via DVD before season two started. Season two hooked me, and we thoroughly enjoy watching the weekly over-the-top shenanigans on Wisteria Lane (and I get to tease Prairie about being the perfect [i.e., non-psychotic] mix of Susan and Bree).

  • Mondays:

    • Heroes (NBC): This one’s just me, and I’m not entirely sure I’ll stick it, but I heard just enough to make me curious (a group of ordinary people suddenly discovering not-so-ordinary abilities) and snagged the first three episodes via BitTorrent. So far I’m not entirely hooked, but it’s caught enough of my interest to keep me checking it out for bit, at least. At this point, Hiro is by far my favorite character.
  • Thursdays:
    • Grey’s Anatomy (ABC): Originally, I just tuned into a couple episodes to laugh at the goofy Seattle geography and then shrugged it off. However, it was in a broadcast slot just after Desperate Housewives, and Prairie and I just kept getting sucked in when we didn’t turn the TV off fast enough. A few weeks of that, and we were hooked (it’s Prairie’s “new ER“). Unfortunately, with their move to Thursday nights, when I’m often working and Prairie teaches ’til late, we’re not able to keep up with it at broadcast, so we’ve been using BitTorrent to watch it on Wednesday evenings.
  • Fridays:
    • The Ghost Whisperer (CBS): This one’s all Prairie’s — her “silly ghost show”. I’ve not seen any of it yet, as I tend to be at work when it’s on.

    • Battlestar Galactica (Sci-Fi): I’ve babbled about it often enough that this shouldn’t surprise anyone. Still hands-down the best show around (admittedly, I pull from a very small pool, but it’s really good). Prairie and I are just about done watching Season Two on DVD (I’d already seen it via BitTorrent while it was broadcast, she waited for the DVDs to come out), and now I’m BitTorrenting Season Three as it appears (I know, I could get them legally via iTunes, but…[sigh]…the quality still just isn’t quite there). The season premiere? Oh, so very good.

So that’s the TV plan for the next few months. A lot more than I used to do, and all subject to being preempted by school, work, or other major life events…but it’s nice to have some downtime every so often.

iTunes “An American in Paris” by San Francisco Symphony Orchestra (Seiji Ozawa) from the album Panorama: George Gershwin (1977, 18:01).

Amazing Race 10 Premiere

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Two quick thoughts on the season premiere of The Amazing Race (which I may not watch any more of, but we figured we should at least watch the first one since they started off here in Seattle):

  1. Is the toughest thing they could think of to do in Seattle to get from Gas Works Park to SeaTac Airport?

    (That said…I’m not honestly sure that I’d know the best way to get to I-5 from Gas Works off the top of my head, and I live here in Seattle. Don’t drive much, sure, but I do live here.)

  2. Did anyone else notice that with the two eliminations in the first show, they managed to eliminate all the Middle Eastern countries right off the bat? The Muslim friends were the first to go, then the Indian couple. And you all thought Survivor was racist!

iTunes “Flexible/Just Can’t Get Enough (Hot S)” by Depeche Mode from the album Fifth Strike, The (1990, 6:27).