What's Been Happening? - Not That Much

We seem to have hit a mid-season lull in several shows, most notably, Survivor and The Amazing Race. The last couple of weeks haven't shown much excitement in either show. Survivor suffers from the tendency of both tribes sort of hunker down getting ready for the merge. The only interesting item was that Taj gave the individual immunity idol she found to her new alliance partner Stephen.

I can't understand that move. I would never give up possession of the idol, particularly not before the jury portion of the game. Your so-called alliance could easily get you voted out and you have little recourse. Stephen seems to understand that, so we will have to see if this works out for Taj.

A good twist about now would definitely help shake up things before the merge, but I'm not optimistic. The NCAA basketball tournament always forces a break in the season, this year CBS seems worried about post-break viewing as evidenced by the number of commercials telling fans when and what time it will appear. Although the idea that a "clips" show is a new episode is laughable at best.

Over at TAR the good news is that the legs have gone to very interesting locations. The idea of traveling on the trans-Siberian railroad was great. The scenery has been spectacular and there have been more whimsical challenges this season than before. The run through town in your underwear in -4 degree weather was hilarious.

There just hasn't been much drama. Everybody is behaving rather well, there haven't been any disastrous decisions. We have had the first of two, or is it three, non-elimination legs. The now used speed bump was in play the following leg and I think the flight attendants might not have been eliminated if they had not had to do the speed bump. The stunt men made a clearly wrong choice in the detour. Never, ever, pick the task that involving searching for an object if the other choice is at all doable. It looks like it almost cost them the race.

Both shows have been holding their own in the ratings as there seems to have been a general surge in ratings for established unscripted shows. (The Celebrity Apprentice seems to be the exception. More on that later.)