Tuesday, January 25, 2011

I'M A MINER! (NO, YOU'RE AN IDIOT.) The Amazing Race 2 -- an absolutely pantheon-level of awesomeness in the reality tv universe -- is finally available on DVD.  The season aired in the spring of 2002, and is the one with Team Cha Cha Cha, Tara & Wil, and the Groanies, while featuring the biggest airport error in Race history and some of my favorite Race tasks ever -- one involving a giant snow globe, a blow torch and a chisel; and one on the weirdest golf course ever.  Also: the closest finish in Race history, one suffused with so much dramatic irony and tension that I can't even begin to describe it.  This is the season where a competitor urges the guy at the taxi stand, "We're in a race for a million dollars!" and he responds "I don't care. I'm not gettin' it."

I have no idea how much we should commiserate in the comments about this season's merits, because I'd hate to spoil things for the uninitiated. If you've ever enjoyed a season of the show, this is one you need to see.

16 comments:

  1. Meghan8:58 PM

    Oh, Team Cha Cha Cha....so sublime.  I have seen this season but don't remember a whole lot of it and will probably have to either download or purchase.

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  2. isaac_spaceman9:23 PM

    You know, I cannot remember any of these people at all.  I think Season 3, with JonVito & Jill, the twins, Zach dragging Flo around, and Au/Ag was better. 

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  3. I would not argue against Season 3 -- it's my co-favorite with this one and #5.  If I told you that this was the Blake and Paige season, would it help?  Also Gary/Dave as our first snarky/nerds team.

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  4. bella wilfer9:40 PM

    I loved Blake and Paige! (and Blake seems to have done better and better since TAR with his Tom's Shoes line).

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  5. Jenn C9:44 PM

    Love the Chas in Hong Kong (or was that Singapore)?

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  6. Wow, he's the Tom's Shoes guy? Good for him.

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  7. Joseph Finn12:24 AM

    Wow, this led me to find out Season One of Survivor is on DVD, one of the greatest reality show seasons ever.

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  8. Bobsyeruncle1:31 AM

    Was that where they just decided to chill and go shopping and then didn't actually face any repercussions for it?  Because that was AWESOME.  

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  9. Eric J.6:47 AM

    I think Singapore was where they invented/discovered "the Fern." (Charming a local into tagging along and navigating for you.)

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  10. isaac_spaceman10:57 AM

    Were Gary and Dave the Bald Snarks?  I do remember Blake and Paige (largely because I know Blake from the bus ads about his shoe charity, but also because I seem to remember him racing in a blazer), and of course I remember Cha Cha Cha.  Was this the season where they ended in Seattle? 

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  11. No, that's season three with Teri/Ian and Flo-Zac.  This season ends in San Francisco, which one of the teams wouldn't shut up about being from.

    The bald snarks were Kevin and Drew in S1.  Gary and Dave were nerdy snarks who weren't as funny as they thought they were, and Linda kept calling them Team Thunk.

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  12. Andrew1:20 PM

    Gary and Dave were also nicknamed in the show (by themselves?) Itchy and Scratchy. 

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  13. bella wilfer1:43 PM

    Right? It just feels so rare that a reality show contestant actually goes on to do something that is both a) successful and b) good for the world.  I think he's said in interviews that he was actually inspired by seeing the poverty in certain areas during the Race (though clearly that could just be part of his angle, still cool).

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  14. isaac_spaceman2:41 PM

    Oh, right, Thunk.  I remember them.  Bald Snark were not Kevin and Drew -- those guys were just Kevin and Drew.  Bald Snark I guess were Season 3 -- they were the slightly older brothers, both of whom were bald.  The bigger one was gay.  Everybody loved them.  Linda coined the name "Bald Snark," then later used it as a verb, meaning to start a detour, realize that it's going to take you forever, then switch to the other detour.  The Spacepeople still use it all the time, as in, "we were going to go to Muir Woods, but when we saw the parking was full, we bald-snarked it and went to Stinson Beach instead." 

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  15. Okay. Ken and Gerard.  I didn't know that term before.  

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