Of all the TV shows I watch one of my favorites is ***The Amazing Race|http://www.cbs.com/primetime/amazing_race6/***. I especially like to see the interesting places that the teams get to visit all over the world.

Last week the teams were in Ethiopia and were instructed to go to ***St. George’s Church|http://taipei.tzuchi.org.tw/tzquart/2000fa/qf3.htm***. The church was hewn from solid rock and all that is visible from ‘ground level’ is the very tip of the roof. You must climb down through the cliff to enter the building. Very Cool.

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***The link|http://taipei.tzuchi.org.tw/tzquart/2000fa/qf3.htm*** above has some interesting information about Ethiopia, especially the country’s Christian heritage. You should ***check it out|http://taipei.tzuchi.org.tw/tzquart/2000fa/qf3.htm***.

Peter and I have been watching the latest incarnation of Survivor: Vanuatu. It has been hard to watch. Not because the contestants have had to eat nasty things, or go for weeks without a shower, but because it was, simply, BORING. None of the players really offered any real entertainment and their personalities were blah. There was alot of fighting and personality clashes, but nothing that offered any great drama.

I’m writing here about the show, because the Final Episode last night finally gave us viewers some good tv. Chris Daugherty, from Ohio, was crowned the “Sole Survivor” and won a million dollars. Lucky him. Really lucky, in fact.

The ***first episode|http://www.cbs.com/primetime/survivor9/show/ep01/index.shtml*** of the show showed us a struggling Chris as he continually fell off the balance beam in the very first challenge. His inablity to cross the beam caused the Mens’ tribe to loose the challenge and forced them to attend the first Tribal council. I was all but convinced that Chris would be sent home due to his poor performance. The men had another strategy, however, and sent home another tribe-mate that they felt would be a physical threat later on.

Chris goes on to survive another day…actually another 39days. ***Last night|http://www.cbs.com/primetime/survivor9/show/ep14/index.shtml*** despite an all women’s alliance, having backstabbed fellow tribes mates and a bit of lying, Chris won the whole shebang. It was nice to see that someone so bumbling at the beginning could come out on top at the end. Nice Job, Chris!

One of the most hilarious things we’ve seen on TV recently is a series of ads from NetZero that nearly recreate similar ads from AOL. The original AOL ads show AOL members showing up at AOL’s corporate offices and bringing up their demands for better service. The spoof NetZero ads use the same sets, the same actors, and, in fact, the same advertising agency. The difference is that the AOL members who show up in this ad are letting AOL know that they are about to switch to NetZero. ***Adrants|http://www.adrants.com/2004/11/netzero-launches-spoof-of-aol-members.php*** shares a link to a page the advertising agency supplied to ***compare the two ads|http://creative.wlv.untd.com/nz_spots_new/376258/final_rev/new/main_new.html***. I suppose if NetZero didn’t ask AOL for permission to use their trademarked logo, then there might be something illegal. Or if the ad agency signed an exclusivity agreement with AOL.

We’ll see how long this lasts. 🙂

As an aside, I’ve been using Mediaone/AT&T Broadband/Comcast high-speed internet for three years now, so there’s no way you could get me to downgrade to either AOL or NetZero.

So, I can’t believe that I’m the only one who’s noticed this. There must be tons of other history scholars who have seen the glaring error in the most recent Capital One commercials.

Here’s the scenario: A family spends $120 on snacks and souvenirs at a football game. As Mom expresses her concern about the credit card’s high interest rates a horde of “HUNS” comes bursting through the stadium. (We know that they are Huns because they are apparently playing in their home stadium and signs are everywhere.) Dad says not to worry because he will use his Capital One card, with its low interest rates.. Problem solved. Huns are defeated.

There is one problem with this ad. The Huns are actually VIKINGS! Say what? The ad leads us to believe that Huns are invading the stadium. The ***Huns|http://www.mrdowling.com/703-huns.html*** were an Asiatic tribe of mauraders and pillagers. They did not wear Metal Horn helmets. However, the makers of the commercial seem to think they did. My guess is that they were thinking of another group of mauraders and pillagers, ***Vikings|http://www.regia.org/vikings.htm***.

*shakes head* What would Attila think?

I’ll set the scene for you: I was home, multi-tasking my morning away. At this particular moment I was on the couch, checking my email, writing my previous blog post, and watching ER reruns. While looking at the computer screen I heard a familiar voice… “who’s voice is that?” I thought to myself. “Why do I know that voice?” Looking up to the tv the scene had changed. I would have to wait through several scenes in order to identify my mystery voice.

It was none other than Joe Fusco, Jr.

Now, if he had said, “I love black underwears!” I would have identified him immediately!

Many congratulations to Chip and Kim for winning Amazing Race 5! It was really a bit of a miracle that they won – they were pretty far behind after some very strenuous athletic competition, but out of sheer luck, the fact that they were the last to make airline reservations turned out to be their key to winning. After the other teams had already booked a flight from Calgary to Dallas, that flight was delayed by two hours due to a foggy forecast. Chip and Kim discovered this when they called to make reservations, and they were able to book an alternate flight that arrived in Dallas just 15 minutes earlier than the delayed flight the rest of the teams were on. That gave them the edge they needed to get to the finish line first!

Becky and I couldn’t be happier that our favorite team won, but this morning we were disgusted to see Colin and Christie, our least favorite team, upstage Chip and Kim on CBS’s Early Show. All four final teams were on the show, and after a brief interview where he stated that they were given a “bad edit” that portrayed Colin as a “maniac” and Christie as a “submissive girlfriend,” Colin got down on one knee and proposed to Christie, right on live TV! Blah, blah blah.

As for the other teams, we’re happy to see that the Bowling Moms got as far as they did (fourth place) – what an inspiration to their kids and families! The best all-female team in Amazing Race so far. And Brandon and Nicole…. eh. Never really cared about them. They can go back to being silly Christian models, and maybe some day they’ll get married (p.s. you two, you’d better book separate rooms on that vacation you won!).

Congratulations to The Amazing Race for winning the Primetime Emmy for “Outstanding Reality-Competition Program”. They were up against Survivor, American Idol, Last Comic Standing, and Apprentice. I certainly think they were the best of that bunch, and personally AR is my favorite show on TV. The locales are fantastic, the race is real and challenging, and you really get to see the contestants use their minds and bodies to complete each leg of the race. Besides that, Phil is one of the best hosts ever. 🙂 Jeff Probst is just a bit too smug-looking for my taste.

The Amazing Race 6 final episode is on for tomorrow night. Chip and Kim are in first place after last week’s episode, which I’m very happy about. My second favorite team, the “Bowling Moms” Linda and Karen came in second, having slowly worked their way up the ladder over the last several legs. Long-term-dating-Christian-model (not model Christian, mind you) couple Brandon and Nicole (gag me with a spoon) came in third. Colin and Christie, my least favorite team, came in last place. Unfortunately, the producers saw fit not to make that leg an elimination leg, so they are still in the race. My wish is for them to be squarely beaten in the final stages of the race. With their last place standing at this pit stop, and their lack of fundage for the next leg, they will have a difficult time at it. They’ve consistenly been the most powerful team, however, so there’s always the possibility that they can pull off something amazing.

Amazing Race 6 does still appear to be scheduled for an October 2 premiere. I’m still not sure how they’re going to pull that off with only a week and half in between seasons, but I suppose if they were filming AR6 while broadcasting AR5, it could work.

We shall see!

Everybody run for the hills! Next week begins the onslaught of fall TV premieres. Hundreds of shows are premiering, many of them new, but few of them worth seeing. Here’s what we will probably be watching this fall…
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One of the reasons that I enjoy watching old ‘ER’ reruns (besides seeing Dr. Greene alive, of course) is that I have the chance to analyze each episode and catching little bits of trivia. For instance, today I discovered that Abby Lockhart (played by Mass native, ***Maura Tierney|http://imdb.com/name/nm0005491/*** has the same birthday as me!

This makes number 2 on my list of fictional characters born on January 10th. Abby joins the club along side of ***Logan Bruno|http://www.scholastic.com/annmartin/bsc/meet/logan.htm*** of “Baby-sitters Club” fame.

The search continues…