11140 replies to this topic

[fenix guy]

AR4 got nominated for the 15th Producers Guild award:

"In the category of reality-game-informational series, "American Idol" was chosen to compete against "The Amazing Race 4," "Biography," "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy," "Project Greenlight" and "Survivor: Pearl Islands." "

[spaceace]

I just wish the Nine Network here in Oz had a hold of TAR. They just know how to promote things better. Look at Survivor. And they run Survivor in line with the US. Not several months later like Seven do with TAR.

[The Australian]

A little unfair there, spaceace - though not by much!

My recollection is that TAR1 was very well promoted and trailed for up to a month before it started. The big problem was that September 11 happened before the Aussie premiere, rather than after it as in the USA. Therefore the momentum was lost. Matters weren't helped by a switch from Tuesday night (where the premiere came within a whisker of beating Rove Live) to Monday night after just one week, and then when that backfired on Seven they buried TAR1 at 10.30 on Tuesday nights from Episode 4 onwards...most memorably pre-empting it numerous times so that the finale aired on New Years Day 2002 after a bushfire special!

But you have to remember that TAR1 was mostly shown about 13 days after the US...maybe not up to Nine's Survivor standards, but not that far off either.

I believe the rot actually set in with TAR2, which didn't even start in Australia until after it had finished in the States. After a ridiculously short period in its dream 7.30 timeslot on Friday nights, the whole season was unceremoniously dumped - either after the Saturday night late movie (!) or after Buffy at midnight Monday.

As I've said earlier in this thread, things have actually got better with TAR3 and TAR4, both of which have been shown twice weekly and eventually end about 5 weeks after the US. It's obviously not great for those of us who frequent the boards, but the audience seem to like the accelerated pace and it's because of its growing cult following that Seven keep holding onto the rights.

Which is probably why I keep praying that Survivor: The All-Stars does so well for Nine that Seven go back to what they thought TAR would do for them originally...generate the same kind of buzz and win its timeslot at a reasonable hour. (And judging by their pathetic line-up of shows for the new ratings season, by the time winter rolls around they might really need it!).

[iMissEthan]

For the Producer's Guild awards, I think our only real competition is Queer Eye. It's got tons of momentum and was the "It" show last summer. Still, an Emmy award is nothing to sneeze at, so I'm cautiously optimistic.

[Bruin4Ever]

Ouch! That's tough competition with Queer Eye in the mix. They are such vastly different shows, really, that it almost seems unfair having them in the same genre.

[NovacScott]

" Yeah, wtf kind of a broad category is "reality-game-informational series" anyway??? I'm surprised their other category isn't "drama-comedy'documentary".

[California Roll]

Perhaps CBS..should screen TAR applicants a little more. :lbf

An office co-worker found this site. There's a blur about TAR. HA! Ok..we all know she did B-movies (Dark Queen); but this seems to be something in another direction. Isn't CBS a family network? And I hate to see what this other credit for a film or whatever called "Venus & Vegas" is about.



Meet Tian "Kitchen" Marin.

http://www.southbeac...m/html/tian.php

Edited by California Roll, Jan 7, 2004 @ 4:03 AM.

[NovacScott]

LOL, that's fun. Compared to other reality shows, I don't really think that this would be a horrendous discovery.

[Frenchteacher]

Perhaps more bizarre is the fact that (according to this very classy website) Tian was in Random Hearts, which, if I recall correctly was some Harrison Ford-Kristin Scott Thomas (!) flop? Well, it was random something, I guess.

[NovacScott]

Yeah, as "Model #2"

[Gourmet]

This is quite amusing. What else lurks in those closets?

[Monkey Fetish]

So I am really weird and get Google alerts on TAR. This one was a nice thing to see in the morning.

The juicy part, re: Bravo Network:

The basic cable network has scored in the past year with the original series Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and Celebrity Poker, in addition to reruns of Fear Factor and The Amazing Race and its long-running signature series Inside the Actor's Studio.

That? Is too cool. But I am going to take it with a grain of salt. Bravo also has rights to one of the funniest British comedies around - Spaced - and has shown the series once in it's entirety and I think it was on at the ass crack of dawn, IIRC.

[swimmerboy]

That's weird, though. The way that blurb is written, it makes it sound like Bravo already aired Fear Factor and TAR this past year.

[Monkey Fetish]

Yeah, I thought so, but I still want to desperately believe that maybe I can see TAR as much as RR/RW Challenge (why, Mtv, why??). Well, I guess I'd have to get the cable hooked up again though. I'll stick to rabbit ears and crappy taped copies of "The Emmy Award Winning (YAY!) Amazing Race" (I wonder if Phil will add that to his intro?) because that may be as good as it gets. Better to be pleasantly surprised.

[Zron]

After following California Roll's link, I am left with one burning question. How can I, too, become "internationally publicated"?

Edited by Zron, Jan 8, 2004 @ 5:20 PM.

[Ronin47]

Wow, I don't wanna get my hopes up, but that would be too cool if Bravo started airing TAR over again, starting from the beginning - the thought of actually having decent-quality episodes on tape instead of these grainy eBay tapes with muffled sound I've got, is a nice one.

[DariaG]

And since tapes don't last forever, we could make back-ups of the tapes we already have.

Then again, I read in the Washington Post (no link, sorry, it would take me hours to find it again) where Samsung is marketing or about to market a DVD/VCR machine that also allows you to record from one to the other. I'm sure it's stupidly expensive, but the price will likely come down eventually, so if there are still no TAR DVDs, we can make our own from our trusty tapes!

Edited by DariaG, Jan 8, 2004 @ 6:44 PM.

[tarsier]

I may have to rethink my cable vs. sattelite decision, since we don't get Bravo here.

[Gourmet]

There's time for everyone to collect tear sheets from their "internationally publicated" pics to add into audition tapes packages for a TAR6. Be sure to list all those film credits too.

Edited by Gourmet, Jan 8, 2004 @ 8:11 PM.

[miri]

http://www.usatoday....zing-race_x.htm
A short bit about TAR, Phil and Phil's new show.

[Ronin47]

From the article:

Yes, Keoghan says, he is making some changes, but the show won't become more reality-standard "mean" — despite stories to the contrary. "I don't think we'd ever want to do that. ... There are always ways to make something better and stronger, but I don't think that's the show's strength."

Nice.

[Bill1978]

From the article:

and with the same squabble-free format.

Guess the producers forgot to tell Tian & Jaree about this aspect of the TAR format.

[djbrown]

re: DVD/VCR combos.

The existing DVD recorders can do this already, as you can feed in the VHS Feed as input to the DVD recorder and then record. That's what we've done :-)

[auntlada]

And it worked quite well, djbrown. I'm still enjoying season 1. I hope Bravo does air TAR, but, on the other hand, I don't get Bravo and am unlikely to pay enough extra to get it. Maybe it will have a marathon over some weekend when I'm at my in-laws and I can tape it.

[Frenchteacher]

From the Phil article:

[/QUOTE] Yes, Keoghan says, he is making some changes, but [QUOTE]

He [Phil] is making changes? Does he have that much power over the show? I thought he was just the Philiminator. Maybe he's talking about his wardrobe? Or his standard catch phrases?

[Team Guido]

Does he have that much power over the show?

Phil has been getting some production credit over the last couple of seasons. Phil has been involved with TV production prior to TAR.

[Frenchteacher]

I wonder if he was responsible for the season 2 change in which he appears at every contestant's landing on the mat. After having Season 4 first, and then going back & watching season 1, it was really disorienting not seeing him there. I have to say that was a good change.

I hope the changes to the show are in this kind of vein....

ETA: Should this be brought to the Phil thread, if the conversation gets more involved, maybe?

Edited by Frenchteacher, Jan 9, 2004 @ 10:01 PM.

[The Australian]

Well it's not that surprising that the article would use that turn of phrase.

If you stop and think for a moment, Phil is The Amazing Race when it comes to its rather meagre media promotion. Unlike Survivor, where Mark Burnett manages to stick his beak into many interviews, previews, articles etc. along with Jeff Probst, you barely hear a peep out of Bert, Elise and Jerry Bruckheimer when the new season has to actually be trailed and previewed.

OK, they accepted the Emmy together and are often quoted briefly in a few media - but who is asked about the new season, who the racers are, his cult status as the pre-eminent sex symbol of the reality TV brigade (apologies Peachy and Anderson Cooper), the origins of "Philimination", the success of the show, and other matters far more often than anyone else?

It's little wonder it seems to some journalists Phil is the person in charge of TAR. Perhaps it is time for some of the hard-working "backroom" personnel at WRP (and JBT, I suppose) to emerge into the sunlight a bit more and take their bows for the show which they all have a hand in creating each time. It wouldn't make Phil seem like the lone voice so much, and the louder the buzz, the greater the interest.

[DariaG]

I catch your point, Australian, but it's quite possible that Bert and Elise don't want to be the face people for the show. For example, Bert has an accent, and while I found it charming, he might feel self-conscious about it. (Or maybe not.) They might see themselves as directors who stay behind the scenes and do their best work there. I do agree about Bruckheimer, though. He does interviews for his other projects, and he could definitely get out and promote TAR more. But Phil is meant to be a media guy -- he's handsome, charming, and well-spoken. I don't have a problem with him being the face of TAR as long as he has more support from Bruckheimer and the CBS promotions department.