College Downtime - DVD Reviews - The Amazing Race Season One DVD Review - October 10th, 2005


The Amazing Race Season One Review
Publisher: Paramount
Genre: Reality
DVD Review written by Raffman on October 10th, 2005

The Amazing Race has turned the idea of reality television upside down, and it's got the hardware to prove it. Winner of two Emmy Awards for "Best Reality Program", The Amazing Race pits 11 different couples in a tenacious race around the world as they compete for the $1 million grand prize! Now you can relive the entire first season of this incredible show at home on four jam-packed DVDs. When you pick up the first season of the Amazing Race on DVD, not only do you get all the incredible episodes to watch any time you want, but you also get over 90 minutes of additional scenes and footage that were never shown on television; that's over an hour and a half of never before scene action! On top of all that extra footage goodness, you also get audio commentary from the race contestants, the creators and producers of the Amazing Race, as well as Dolby Digital 2.0 surround sound and english subtitles, si se habla espanol o otra idioma. I guarantee once you pick up this first season, you won't leave your television until you finish the last episode; it's that addicting. Then you'll want to watch it all over again with the commentary turned on for another half-day marathon!

The Amazing Race has been the only "reality" show on television that I've actually enjoyed; even though it's not very realistic. Does that make it a bad series? Not at all; the Amazing Race is one of my favorite programs on the boob tube. The turnoff I usually have with reality shows, a la "Survivor", are the little "challenges" the contestants go through in each episode. You know "Rat Race", the recent comedy movie with Cuba Gooding Jr., Amy Smart, Mr. Bean, and Whoopi Goldberg? Why can't The Amazing Race be like that; no rules, no "challenges", no pre-planned "reality" gimmicks. Just a race, with no rules, from point A to point B. If they made "Survivor" with that premise it would be so much better, and on top of that it would be actually "realistic". In my mind, this dilemna has ruined every good reality show idea to date, with The Amazing Race being the sole exception. While they do stray from the main idea to eat ostrich eggs and what not, it really doesn't take away from the main selling point: it's a race, plain and simple. As mentioned above, there's a reason why this series has brought home the award hardware. The Amazing Race is thrilling, breathtaking, and funny all at the same time, and it will leave you counting the days until Season 2 makes it on DVD. Therefore, I leave you with one very important question. Why isn't this in your DVD collection yet?

Score:
(3/4)
The Amazing Race Season One DVD Screenshots:

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