(almost) jump the shark time...

Well, tonight marked the season premiere for the 11th run of The Amazing Race, this time the dreaded "all-star" edition. (Though in actuality, are we really talking about stars here?) As a person who normally despises the reality show genre as it is, AR has proven to be a smart, exciting, and mostly non-explotative show. That being said, my stomach was turning when I found out about the "all-star" edition, which features annoying Survivor-fame hacks Rob and Amber, the most vile team from the last season (the beauty queen slash nutcases), and a bunch of people who either weren't good but had somewhat of a personality (Myrna and Chmyrna, I have no idea who is who except one's a "Little Person", and Kevin And Drew who've parlayed fame from season one better than the rest, and the David & Mary "You've won a house" show), to people I don't remember racing (the John Vito-Jill, Oswald & Danny, Teri & Ian teams). My first impressions:

1) It wasn't as bad as it could've been. Nobody was really nasty to anyone, well, save for David and Mary trying to lie to the beauty queens, but since I don't like them anyways, it's a wash.

2) Rob and Amber, while egotistical maniacs, weren't as gruesome as they were in the past, and it seemed like the editing made them seem worse.

3) Danny & Oswald win out for the better of the two gay couples in the race. Just for being more peppy.

4) Teri & Ian are really likeable and I hope they stick around.

5) Myrna/Chmyrna are very lucky they weren't eliminated.

6) Ditto Kevin and Drew. In a fair world both of those teams would've been gone the first week.

7) No Roadblock? on the first leg? What gives?

8) This paying for a taxi to follow it has got to go. It's stupidly boring.

9) Why couldn't David and Mary just go to American? Did they make it so you can't buy more tickets? That's been done before.

10) I can't get enough of Phil Keoghan's eyebrow raise. Classy. The Tim Gunn of subtle gestures.

11) Nobody did the finding challenge (though Rob and Amber tried at first). Everybody's wised up.

Robo-model couple John-Vito and Jill were eliminated. Don't remember them anyways, so no hurt so far to the show. DOn't know how much more Kevin and Drew can last. If their in such bad shape, how'd they get picked for this?

peace out.