What I'm watching

I thought, since most of you who read this blog are either here for the fandom or are my mother (hi, Mom!), so since there's been so little fannish stuff around, I thought I'd talk a little bit about a couple of my favorite shows and why I think you should drop everything and watch them too.

1. The Amazing Race -- Every time I tell someone to watch this show, invariably the response is "I hate reality television" or "I don't approve of shows like that." "The Amazing Race" is, however, different from the reality shows that have given the genre a bad name (ie "Paradise Island," "Hot or Not"; the survivors like "Survivor," "The Apprentice" etc., are really quite good). In "The Amazing Race", pairs of contestants with a pre-existing relationship race around the world in 30 days. Along the way, they have to perform stunts native to the part of the world they are in, and somehow navigate through foreign countries without knowing the language.
   
   The contestants' relationships are also tested, and this is what I like the best about this show. Having spent two months traveling through Europe with someone, I can really identify as to how relationships evolve and change -- either for the better or for the worse -- as you face the stress of not only the *travel* portion of the race, but also the fact that the first team to the finish line gets $1 million. The show is really well put-together and has amazing scenary. Until last season's "TAR", I had no idea just how lush Senegal was, nor did I realize just how gorgeous Iceland was in its ice blue beauty. Check it on CBS, 9 pm CST, on Tuesdays. It's the next best thing to actually globe-trotting yourself.
   
   
2. Without a Trace -- this show always took a backseat to ER the first couple years it was on; I'd only watch it if ER was being especially annoying or was a repeat. This season, I've been sucked into the show and have barely given ER -- a show I watched faithfully from its very first ep back in 1994 -- a second look. At first glance, "Without a Trace" looks like every other crime drama on television, but it's different in its ending: you don't know whether the missing person is alive or dead, whether he or she is a victim or not. There's always a hope that there will be a happy ending and sometimes there is, sometimes there isn't.
   
   The show also makes excellent use of flashbacks and digs deep to find out what exactly is going on with the missing person. I also enjoy the subtle character interactions between the five-member team led by Jack Malone; there's no anvil falling on the viewer's head. Hints about the characters, their personalities, their family, their likes and dislikes are sprinkled throughout the season. Especially riveting is the dynamic between Jack, Samantha and Martin; how that 'love triangle' has been playing out all season has really gotten my attention. "Without a Trace" is also one of the best acted shows I've seen in a long time, and it's especially amazing when you learn three out of five of the actors aren't even from the US and the one with the best New York accent -- Marianne Jean-Baptiste -- is from the UK. Tune in on Thursdays on CBS, 10 pm EST.
   

You know you want to.