"rick"
bellsouth.net> wrote:> Is TAR a travel show per se? No. Does it provide an in-depth look at,
> or education about, the countries visited? No. Would the Taj Mahal be
> best enjoyed without the burden of having to find a route marker and be
> on your way as soon as humanly possible? Yes.
>
> But the locations are a vital part of the show all the same.
I don't understand your use of the word 'vital' in the above sentence after
the acknowledgements in the previous paragraph.
> I've never watched America's Top Model. I'm interested to find out
> that they compete out on the streets of places like Delhi and the
> poorer sections of Cape Town. I did not know that.
Do only 'poorer' sections of foreign countries count as visiting foreign
countries? Most tourists don't go all the way to China to see poor farmers,
they go to see The Great Wall or to see Temples. Maybe what you are talking
about isn't really about national attractions, but about some sort of
interest you have in impoverished culture?
First off, I hope you know I was being a bit sarcastic by using the extreme
of ANTM as the comparison with TAR for showing footage of other
countries/cultures. Obvously, ANTM takes place most episodes in the USA.
That being said, yes, ANTM Cycle 4 went to Cape Town and did a much better
job of covering the culture/scenery/whathaveyou that TAR does. Try watching
all of episode 9 (you can watch the next few episodes as well if you get
hooked. ;-) ). In any case, you see bits of a 'safari' ride in episode 9
as well as scenery shots on par with TAR. Episode 10 has a TAR style
wandering through trails and streams. Episode 11 has the tour of poorer
sections of Cape Town (or outskirt shanty town) you were asking about as
well as a visit to Nelson Mandela's prison.
> No, I've apparently seen quite a bit more of the world, in person, than
> you. So I think I have a pretty good idea of what "seeing the world"
> is and what it is like. You somehow seem to miss it when it's on TAR.
> It's there.
2-3 minutes per episode. Big deal. You may think TAR 'shows the world'
because of those 2 or 3 minutes, but it doesn't show much of anything. It
certainly doesn't give anyone an honest feel for what it would be like to go
there.
>> 'Obscure' must be your way of explaining as a 'good thing' why they go
>> all
>> the way around the world to wonderful foreign countries, to visit places
>> like dry cleaning shops and furniture assembly plants?
>
> And ride camels and elephants.
You can ride camels and elephants at almost any state fair here in the USA.
BTW, ANTM shows some animals too...and lots of shots of the inside of cab
rides...and shots of models getting lost on the streets of Cape Town while
trying to find different modeling agencies. It is just like TAR, but with 3
minutes of footage of the 'local' country instead of 2.
> Let's forget the masses for a moment, and let's forget me, since you
> don't have an answer to why I'm interested in TAR, but not Big Brother.
I'll forget that you don't seem to have any good answer for that question,
either.
> What about you? Here you have a show that you have characterized is
> just being about people bickering while doing mundane tasks in
> locations which don't add anything to any of that. You not only watch
> said show faithfully. You spend lots of time online discussing that
> show with people.
Faithfully...except for having only watched about half the seasons. I
caught at least part of every episode last season, but I know early on I was
only watching half of each episode. TAR only got a full hour once/because
'Girlfriends' got moved to Mondays.
> Is bickering that fascinating to you? Exactly what
> attracts you to the Amazing Race and keeps you so involved that you are
> here discussing it with me, telling me all its limitations?
I like the 'competitions' even though too many of them are mundane. TAR
could do much better with the competitions if they weren't so set on making
sure that fat guys with bad knees and such had 'an equal chance'. In the
same way, I liked the 2/3rd of Fear Factor that wasn't about eating
something gross. The competitions were interesting. I generally like the
in-team interactions because it shows how people work together (or don't)
and that is very similar to Survivor. I like analyzing the 'mental state'
of people and trying to figure out why they do some of the things they do.
You seem to be more interested in culture rather than people...if you get
the distinction I am making.
