The Amazing Race: Season One

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It’s become somewhat fashionable to bash reality TV as contributing to the downfall of American society in some way, and, indeed, most of the stuff is trash, designed to humiliate others or go down as a pablum, full of niceties.

But the true goal of reality television should be to be like a heightened documentary. While, ultimately, the idea is to win a million dollars (or something of that ilk) the cameras could pick out unique human behaviors and illuminate things that even we didn’t know we did.
In this vein, we find shows like Survivor, which remains a fascinating examination of interpersonal dynamics, and Laguna Beach, which, despite its inherent trashiness, is fully about how over-privileged the rich are in America. If I didn’t know any better, I would say it was MTV’s way of calling for a communist revolution.

The Amazing Race, which recently dropped its first season on DVD, is one of these types of shows. Ostensibly, it’s about a race around the world, but when one watches the show (and it IS incredibly addictive), one finds an examination of just how “ugly” Americans can be when they travel overseas, a close-up of close relationships and a thrilling travelogue.

Even an episode of the show where the “challenges” are dull can be enlivened by an exotic location to visit or a fight between the partners that make up one of the teams racing around the world.

Season one, as is typical of reality shows, had the series’ best casting. The teams didn’t know what to expect (everyone’s playing the alliance game now on Survivor, but in the show’s first season, that seemed fresh), and that adds to the giddiness we get from watching them picked off one by one. Even if a team seems to succumb to stereotypes (the ever-fascinating “Team Guido”), the cameras will eventually reveal an all-too human side of that team too.

The extras on this set are a revelation too. The production team for this show works harder than any in television, and we finally get to see their globetrotting ways, trying to stay ahead of the teams and having a difficult time doing so. It’s a kick to watch them make it by the skins of their teeth.

The Amazing Race won’t set the world on fire or radically change the television landscape, but it is a fun series and one that goes down easily in the large gulps that watching a TV show on DVD can provide.

And the best part is that you won’t feel bad about yourself in the morning.