April 28, 2005

[the amazing plus one] ^{8:39 AM}

Last night I accompanied Marc as his "plus one" to a TV and Radio Academy panel discussion on The Amazing Race.

The Academy theatre is in NoHo, which vaguely rhymes with "ghetto," which is appropriate. Powerlines, liquor stores, auto repair shops ... and then a giant ten foot tall Emmy statue in a fountain.

The Academy had giant posters up of all 7 casts, and there in the lobby it was: a clue box, and "the mat." It's kind of staggering what some metal and cloth will do to me, but such is the machinations of obsession.

Two minor shocks occured to me as we sat before the program began. First, Kathryn Joosten was sitting infront of us (that's Mrs. Landingham from West Wing and Mrs. McCluskey from Desperate Housewives). Now, I think seeing celebrities is neat, but I'm weird about it. I freak out over the random people, like Kathryn Joosten. Seeing Jude Law would be neat, but I wouldn't freak.

The second shock was that Dennis Miller was hosting the event. I thought it strange at first, but as the night went on you could tell he was a fan and probably begged for the opportunity. He said he'd always liked the show, but "after seeing a midget electrocuted crossing a field" he was hooked. His banter was amusing, but I was saddend that some of his bits I'd seen a few nights earlier during his appearance on The Daily Show. ("I don't know about you, but everytime I see a german on a balcony with people chanting below him, I get a little nervous" comes to mind)

The panel included host Phil Keoghan (the Philiminator!), creators Bertram Van Munster, Elise Doganieri, casting director Jonathan Littman, and his parnter Lindsey, who's last name I can't find online anywhere.

Everyone in the audience was quoting Gretchen's famous cries. "Oh, we have a bad camel!" "Oh, we have a bad elephant!" "Oh, Mer-e-dith..."

I was excited to hear the themesong played on such a loud sound-system. That makes me a dork, but whatever. I love listening to it when I go into the hills.

The first round of Q&A went pretty quick, and was really amusing, hearing the origins of the show (Bert asked his wife Elise to think of a show in 5 minutes, TAR was the result in 3). They travel the world seperately looking for locations, and the only places off-limits are Iraq and Afghanistan, everywhere else is fair game. The routes are planned before teams are even picked. There's been constant talks about an "All-star" edition, but they keep finding new teams they love so much, and only feel like now the show is hitting it's stride. The feeling is that teams from season one won't be remembered as well to new viewers. CBS pushed Rob and Amber onto us.

The lights went down, and the screen above began playing audition tapes of teams, which is some of the funniest shit I've ever seen. Part of me wants to be a casting director now.

When the lights went up, the number of chairs on the stage had quadrupled: The Brothers from this season were on, Lynn and Alex, Adam and Rebecca from last year, and 2 teams from season 1: the lawyers who won, and "Team Guido" who were in matching outfits.

Adam's really tiny in person, and he and Rebecca have a weird love/hatred for each other. They'e not friends or dating, but he was really touchy feely. Lynn took the chance to rip on Ramber, and how they get support from locals, to which he was met with thunderous applause, and Bert noted that some rules may or may not have to be changed with newer seasons. [Team Brother] Brian's really tan and tall. The lawyers answered every question with a stupid joke, and Lynn and Alex had a great repetiore with Dennis Miller, who they got wonderfully droll with.

My favorite story of the night came from Bert, in regards to arriving in India. The shows pays for one thing always: airfare, and on occasion they'll provide a car. One season, the first leg of the race took the teams to India. All 12 teams arrive, and race out of the airport where 12 maroon cars stood in a row. Oddly enough, a local man had just purchased 12 identical maroon cars. They weren't from the show at all. The teams cried "foul," the producers swore it wasn't a joke, and everyone restarted from that point on.

I was too nervouse to talk to Brian. Not because he's a "reality tv star," but because he's so damn HOT.

The Travelocity gnome was there!

I'm probably doing a really crap job of recapping the night, given how long I've been awake, but I have to say I found it very amusing and entertaining. Big shout-out to Marc for letting me tag-along!

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