That's not why I'm posting though: Kevin and his Dad were faced with a 10,000 Rouble cab fare. Approximately ~US$330. I'd always wondered about the wait-around time on these cabs and how it was handled and, given that prices in Russia (for foreigners at least) are confiscatory, $300+ for a half-day's cab doesn't seem out of line. But it's never seemed to be an issue before and no one else had that sort of trouble (of course, no one hired a cab for as long as Kevin). Anyone note any TAR-lore about how all this? I'd be surprised if teams ever had that much pocket money.
Second: why can't TAR get some better stage-winning prizes than Travelocity, 7-UP, and some random slugs of cash?
The other big issue with this leg: what happened to the Speed Bump?
ReplyDeleteAs always, Reading (The Clues) Is Fundamental.<span> </span>
Yep, big fan of Nat and Kat--they seem to have their s**t together and know how to race rather than sit around like whiny namby pambys.
ReplyDeleteOne gripe--CBS needs to do something when they're running SO LONG overtime with football--TAR started over an hour late on the East Coast yesterday, so even my padded recording didn't capture the end. Would have been easy enough for them to drop/hold the Manny Pacquiao profile, or cut down Andy Rooney according to the rules of the Andy Rooney Game.
Amen to that. I also missed the end, and I would have liked to have seen their reaction to the news. We similarly pad the DVR (a lot) and last night it just wasn't enough. Honestly, I don't even know what the rest of the CBS Sunday lineup looks like, but if they can't bear to cut down the post-game stuff even a tiny bit, maybe move TAR to 9:00 and make 8-9 adjustible programming? You'd think after years of this problem someone would figure it out. And it can't be good for ratings.
ReplyDeleteI do like Nat and Kat and find myself surprised that I don't mind the home shopping ladies. I think the thing that keeps me from really getting excited for/about N&K is that they're quite good, so everything is smooth and well run, but they're not exciting-good enough that they're really gaming the race or particularly fun to watch. . . so the sum result is a bit boring.
I can't recall the specifics, but teams have definitely dealt with high taxi fares before -- Uchenna/Joyce in Miami, Colin (season 5) almost ended up in Tanzanian jail for not wanting to pay his cabbie. Being Russia, I wouldn't be surprised if they ended up haggling down to a lower fare, but I'm pretty sure we've seen high fares before.
ReplyDeleteFortunately, we were watching football and 60 Minutes, and I knew to pad the recording an extra half hour beyond the usual hour I add.
<span>Here's a map I put together of the locations for this leg (you can see why taxis were necessary for some parts of the leg and prohibited for others): http://bit.ly/cWcTUg</span>
I think it was just edited out. They do that if it's not race-changing and the other teams were well behind those guys.
ReplyDeleteThey actually don't have much (if any) post-game coverage in an overrun. The simplest solution remains to be prepared to drop the third piece on 60 Minutes if they're running crazy long. (LAst night, it would have been the second piece, because the lead story, the Obama interview, was double-long.)
ReplyDeletePoint taken. I guess what I meant was this was the first time (I think) that I noticed a specific amount that was so large as to defy what was likely to be in their pockets under any circumstance.
ReplyDeleteAmen. Over the years, I've gone from a 15-minute, to 30, to an hour-long DVR buffer. Last night finally broke what had been a fail-safe procedure. I had to go online to read what happened at the end. I'm still not clear on which 2 rules Kevin/Dad broke (one was paying the cab to lead them to the tower, was the other actually getting in the cab to get to the palace?). Very smart for the shopping hosts to realize their error and correct it. As for the other couple who incurred a penalty, was it just for not paying their cab before checking in? You can check in without your bags, right?
ReplyDeleteActually, according to Dan's research, the Speed Bump was apparently dropped because the team that would have had it got shafted by a judging screwup in the last episode. (They were told they were wrong on one of the music choices when they were right.)
ReplyDeleteOr maybe just do away with Andy Rooney entirely?
ReplyDeleteI too am cheering for both all female teams, the docs are nice and the other pair to my absolute shock because I should not like the blonde one, but her I will be cheery no matter what attitude keeps me on her team.
ReplyDeleteI record 3 hours of tv on the tivo for TAR, and since I have started doing that, I have only missed the end once. I often end up deleting the recording before it is done on nights when there is no football. And it required me discovering things like Sherlock is also shown on WTTW at like 2:30am on Tuesdays in order to get everything I want on it. But Mad Men and TAR are the sunday night priorities.
I too am cheering for both all female teams, the docs are nice and the other pair to my absolute shock because I should not like the blonde one, but her I will be cheery no matter what attitude keeps me on her team.
ReplyDeleteI record 3 hours of tv on the tivo for TAR, and since I have started doing that, I have only missed the end once. I often end up deleting the recording before it is done on nights when there is no football. And it required me discovering things like Sherlock is also shown on WTTW at like 2:30am on Tuesdays in order to get everything I want on it. But Mad Men and TAR are the sunday night priorities.
Scott, you guessed right on the rules - Kevin/Michael had a cab lead them to the tower and took a cab to the other location, and Chad/Stephanie hadn't paid their cab. We were wondering whether they could check in without their bags or not.
ReplyDeleteWe've taken to checking (since we're generally home Sunday nights) to see what time 60 minutes starts, so we can stop taping AR sooner rather than the 1 hour buffer - last night that paid off as we realized that we had to extend the time.
Thanks for the map, Andrew!
ReplyDeleteWish we had Sherlock reruns too! I can't find it anywhere but Sunday nights, so not watching it now.
ReplyDeleteJoining in on the Nat and Kat love -- I hadn't analyzed it, but yes, the total lack of whininess is probably my top reason for rooting for them. So fed up with other teams complaining, "This is HARD!" (Yeah, buddy, that's why it's a million-dollar race.)
ReplyDeleteI want to recognize the title because it's a great line, but I do think it's important to point out that "to" should be "in." The phrase "spinning in infinity" is great precisely because of the four-times-repeated "in" sound -- "in in[g] in in" -- especially because of the way that Simon sings it, very quickly, after a short pause, as if the words were bottled up and then burst out of their own accord. The lyric always sounds to me like the hum of a slightly unbalanced high-speed rotor, which is almost an entirely new plane of onomatopoeia. My point is only that the change of a seemingly inconsequential preposition is critical to the lyric, which is one of my favorite short phrases in all of music.
ReplyDeleteI'd prefer you put "research" in quotes... Like "reporting." In any case, there were "irregularities" in the previous leg that led to the decision not to do a Speed-Bump and, as we saw, to equalize the teams...
ReplyDeleteAnd despite asking a number of official sources, I can't get any explanation for why, exactly, none of this was acknowledged in the episode...
-Dan
I will retune the national guitar.
ReplyDeleteHow odd. They really should have explained that. I kept waiting for the Speed Bump. It seemed like everyone was pretty close there for a while, and even their crappy Speed Bump tasks that take all of 5 minutes should have at least shuffled the order a bit.
ReplyDeleteI had the 1 hour buffer as well - still wasn't enough. I am much less annoyed by this now that CBS has full eps on line the next day than I have been in previous seasons when they had no eps on line at all.
ReplyDeleteScott/Genevieve - Chad/Steph had to go back and pay their cab, but they also incurred a 30 minute penalty for taking the cab when they were supposed to walk. So they went and paid their cab, then heard about their 30 minute penalty, but Michael and Kevin were had more than 30 minutes left on their 1 hour penalty, so game over.
As if I've never noticed the way you brush your hair from your forehead, TPE.
ReplyDeleteCan I just ask why they had to cast THREE obnoxious, mean boyfriends this season? I'm running out of ways to explain to my kids that we don't treat people that way -- much less our girlfriends.
ReplyDeleteYES. I would like to see a cast with some positive male/female relationships. (Were there no married couples this year?) My son has gotten tired of my saying "Chad is a TOOL," and I'm trying to restrict that to once per episode. But him plus Thomas and Nick, my God. I want the three girlfriends to band together and form their own team.
ReplyDeleteI just cringe remembering that Chad was planning to propose to Stephanie when the Race is done --- I keep hoping the Race has shown her what it would be like to live with him permanently.
I suspect they can check in without their bags (since it was done last season) but can't not pay the cabbie. I also suspect - since I recall a penalty for improper cab paying a few seasons ago, they waited to confirm proper cab payment before give Chad and Stephanie their penalty news.
ReplyDeleteNot sure; didn't she say this week that the race is bringing them closer together as a couple? I swear that guy doesn't know how to talk to her unless he's yelling at her. Which is really sad, because I remember him saying he was going to propose, and he seemed so sweet and earnest at the time. Blehh.
ReplyDeleteAt least he, unlike Thomas, doesn't keep listing all the ways in which he's too good for her.