FOR . . .YOU . . .THE . . .HUNT . . .IS . . . OVER. So Mrs. Earthling and I took in NBC's adventure race show "Treasure Hunters" Sunday night. TAR it is not. But it's not bad, and we're going to give Hour 3 a shot next week.
The premise is, of course, very TAR-ish. Ten teams of three race is solve puzzles and get clues to their next destination and, ultimately, to win some prize worth millions (no doubt two millions), by solving clues to race to destinations to obtain more clues. Five teams started on a boat off of Maui and have to work their way off the boat to a staged airplane wreck. There, they have to find a box and figure out how to open it. The key, however, is in two pieces in an screwtop staff, so it takes a moment to work the problem. The second group, starting from Backwater, Alaska, has to solve a puzzle to figure out their destination. At the end of hour one, both teams are on their way to Lincoln, Nebraska.
Okay, the premise of two groups of teams not knowing about one another was kind of cool and, but for the logistics and expense, could have been a fun theme through the whole season. Why is there another camera crew with another reality show poking around Peten, Guatemala? But they gave that up at the end of the first hour, with both teams racing to run square into one another. Fair enough, but the editing has none of TAR's subtle touch (recall the shot through the rearview mirror of the sign for Munich, or Charla and Myrna passing the clue box with a quick focus by the camera man). So there was no build up, just smash into a crescendo of revelation. Kinda boring.
Still, the puzzles are as good or better than any mental puzzles on TAR. At the end of Hour 2, when the teams are trying to open up various strong boxes on top of Mt. Rushmore, they have to figure out the combination with some reasonable clues, and that it is the order of presidents on Mt. Rushmore Washington (1), Jefferson (3), TR (26), Lincoln (16). Lots of folks got bogged down going 1-3-16-26.
The casting is pretty good -- with a team of Air Force officers, some CIA analysts, a group of Miss USA competitors, some mullet-dragging rednecks, and a group of self-described "geniuses" who nearly lost because they decided that it was "too easy" if their clue meant the destination was Mt. Rushmore and not Mt. Theodore Roosevelt, some 36 miles away.
Don't know if they're going to run a repeat premier, but it's not bad. Except for the host. Who sucks.
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