Thoughts On Expedition Impossible: Episode 2

Okay, I promise I won't be doing recaps or posting thoughts after every episode of Expedition Impossible, but considering my critique of the show earlier in the week, I thought it was fitting that I follow it up with another after watching the second episode.

After watching the premiere last week, I felt confident that I was going to enjoy the show, although there were a few aspects that I felt needed to be improved. Watching the second episode, it became more clear that those small nitpicks probably weren't very fair judging from the one episode alone. For instance, I wrote that I felt that there wasn't any real navigation going on in the show, and that the contestants were being led down clearly marked routes to ensure that they didn't wander off somewhere and die. If you saw the show last night, you know that that isn't the case, as we watched a couple of teams wander around looking for a checkpoints. In fact, it was the lack of a clearly marked trail that brought some added drama to the event, and made for a much closer finish. After watching the events unfold in the show, I think it is safe to say we'll probably see some other teams get a bit lost in future episodes as well.

I also criticized last week's challenge a bit, saying that once one team figured it out, all the other teams were able to piggy-back on their success. That wasn't the case this week, as the challenges were demanding on all teams, and some struggled more than others to accomplish the tasks. I have to commend the producers for coming up with some unique and interesting things for the racers to do, combining both physical strength and mental cleverness. If the challenges going forward are more like they were last night, then we'll have some entertaining episodes in store for us all.

Finally, I thought the show did a better job of keeping us informed of where all the racers were at any given time. The editors gave us good updates on progress and it was fun to watch the teams go head to head. The coverage was starting to feel like an adventure race, albeit one that provides coverage of all the teams involved. I'm also still enjoying the great HD footage of Morocco, which simply looks amazing.

After two episodes, I think it is safe to say that I'll be tuning in for the remainder of the season. Judging from the preview of next weeks show, it looks like things are going to get very intense. It should be fun!

Expedition Impossible Episode 2 Is Tonight

The second episode of ABC's summer reality show Expedition Impossible is set to air tonight, and I know that some of you, like me, enjoyed the first episode and are looking forward to the race continuing. With that in mind, I have a few links to share this morning that fans of the show might really enjoy.

First, we have a great post from Eric Weihenmayer on his BlindVision Blog in which he gives a peek behind the curtain and shares some details of what really went on during the race. If you're watching the show, he's the "blind guy," although most of us know him as the first blind person to summit Everest. Eric isn't giving anything away in his post, so no worry about spoilers, but he does share insights into some of the events that went down on the first episode. For instance, he mentions that the show was actually filmed over the course of two days, but edited to seem like one. He also says that the first impressions of a couple of the teams were a bit gruff, but that they actually turned out to be good people once they got to know them, specifically the NFL Players and The Fishermen.

One thing that Eric noted that stuck with me was that the contestants to the race really didn't know what they were getting themselves into and small details made a difference. For example, Eric was the only one who brought gaiters with him on the race, something I noticed and actually mentioned while watching. (Yes, I'm a gear nerd!) That shows his experience in rough terrain, and it helped his feet in the desert. Meanwhile, everyone else, including his teammates, suffered with sand in their shoes. Ugh!

Eric promises to do similar recaps after every episode, and while this one was published last week, it is still worth a read before heading into tonights episode.

Speaking of tonight's episode, the PR team over at ABC has been excellent at sharing video clips leading up to the start of the race. Turns out they have a few more to offer for tonight as well. Check out the preview below to get you ready for a new episode tonight. Hopefully we'll start to get to know the teams a bit better and see some really interesting challenges. Enjoy!

The Patagonia Expedition Race To Air On Outside Television

Fans of adventure racing will have yet another chance to catch a race on TV, provided you're lucky enough to have Outside Television in your market. The network has announced that it will begin showing the video of the 2011 edition of the Wenger Patagonia Expedition Race on July 6th at 1 PM.

The video of the race has been garnering plenty of attention at adventure film festivals across the globe. It won the "Adventure Sport" category at the inaugural Killarney Adventure Film Festival, and is also a Finalist at the New Zealand Mountain Film Festival as well. Additionally, it was an Official Selection at the Breckenridge Festival of Film held a few weeks back too.

I've been fortunate enough to have seen the video, and I can attest to its quality. It is a fantastic film covering not only this particular race but also doing a good job of capturing the spirit of adventure racing in general. Considering the remote nature of Patagonia, and the unpredictable weather conditions there, it is remarkable that producer Brian Leitten was able to put together such comprehensive coverage of the event. You can watch the trailer for the video below to get a glimpse of what you can expect.

If you're luck enough to have Outside TV, set your DVR's for July 6th at 1 PM. You'll be glad you did!

Thoughts on Expedition Impossible

I didn't really have the opportunity to share my thoughts following last weeks premiere of the new ABC reality television show Expedition Impossible.  Prior to its debut, I had been writing about the program with some regularity, and even posted videos from the start. Before seeing the show, I noted that it appeared to be a mix of adventure racing and the show The Amazing Race. That description holds up to a certain extent, although Expedition Impossible charts its own course as well, sometimes for the better and sometimes not.

First, I'll say that as far as first episodes go, this wasn't a bad one. I found myself enjoying the show overall, in no small part because the Moroccan landscapes look absolutely spectacular in HD. The setting was fantastic and offered some great challenges for the three-person teams who were setting off on the race, many of which seemed completely unprepared for the environments that they would be racing through. (I'm looking at you "Country Boys"!)

Much like Amazing Race however, Expedition Impossible suffers from having too many teams in the first few episodes. It becomes a bit overwhelming for the camera crews and editors to keep up with, and as a result, the audience doesn't get to see too much of the teams in the early going. This was evident when the "Gypsies" won the first leg, although we hardly saw them at all throughout the episode. This will become less of an issue in a few episodes however, as teams are eliminated, giving the remaining teams more screen time. It will also make it easier for us to get to know the racers and start cheering for the ones that we like best.

Unlike in adventure racing, it didn't appear that the contestants in Expedition Impossible were actually having to navigate anywhere. Sure, we saw them carrying compasses at some points, but I believe those are more for show than anything else. It appeared that the trails were marked to some degree, making it easier for the racers to find their way. This made for more of a canned feel to the "expedition," something that doesn't happen AR or The Amazing Race. On the other hand, I'm not surprised by this, as even expert navigators can get lost in the desert, and I'm sure ABC didn't want anyone wandering off to die in the Sahara, despite the fact that it would probably be a rating bonanza.

The challenges that we've seen so far haven't been all that impressive either. In the first one, the teams were told to find water "the local way," which meant digging under the sand for buried water. This made perfect sense to me watching at home, but it seemed to stump all but one of the teams on the show. But once one of them figured it out, they all got it, making it an irrelevant challenge to those that followed. Once the original team had dug their well, everyone else was able to use it afterwards, making it little more of a speed bump. Hopefully future challenges are designed to challenge every team.

The five minute commercial for the Ford Explorer was also a bit much. Sure, Ford is one of the sponsors of the show, and it was disguised as a behind the scenes look at show creator Mark Burnett scouting Morocco for the race, but it seemed to go on forever, and wasn't all that interesting in the greater scheme of things. Hopefully we won't have something similar each week.

Now, all of that said, you would probably think that I hated Expedition Impossible, but on the contrary I still found it enjoyable. I think it'll be better in the episodes to come, and I think it showed a lot of promise. I loved seeing the Moroccan countryside and it was fun to see a pseudo-adventure race on television. The teams are a bit archetypal for me, but hopefully as we get to know them, that will resolve itself as well. As it stands, some of them are quite impressive so far.

Speaking of the teams, one of them, Team No Limits, is probably destined to become known as "the team with the blind guy." While they didn't play it up a ton, it should be mentioned that the "blind guy" is mountaineer Eric Weihenmayer, who became the first blind person to summit Everest a few years back. Eric has notched many adventures in his climbing career and is more than capable of winning this race, which is why I get a chuckle when ever someone says something about not wanting to lose to a bling guy or that he would be out of the race in no time. I have no idea how No Limits does in the race, but I know I'll be cheering for them as long as their still competing.

So? Did you tune in and watch? What are your thoughts on Expedition Impossible so far? Will you give it another go this week? Without a doubt, it is a canned adventure, but hopefully it'll be a fun one to watch during the long summer months. Post your thoughts in the comments!

Reminder: Expedition Impossible Starts Tonight

I've been posting about ABC's Expedition Impossible on a semi-regular basis lately, and tonight we'll finally get the chance to see if it has been worth the hype. It has been getting promoted fairly heavily in the past few weeks, in part because it is summer now, and there simply isn't much to watch on TV. But that said, from the promos I've seen so far, this looks like it'll be a fun diversion for those looking to watch an interesting competition, that doesn't deal with singing or dancing, set in an exotic locale.

For those who have some how managed to avoid the promos, Expedition Impossible looks to be a mash-up of The Amazing Race and the sport of adventure racing. When the show launches tonight, it'll have 13 teams of three racing against one another for a $150,000 prize. Each week they'll face both mental and physical challenges, as they race to a series of checkpoints, with the last team to arrive presumably being eliminated. We'll find out more about the exact format tonight, but it seems there will be a mix of puzzle solving, navigation, climbing, running, and more.

The show is the latest creation of Mark Burnett, who has a background in adventure racing having produced the legendary Eco-Challenge races back in the 90's. While the premiere episode of the show is airing tonight, Burnett will be live Tweeting the show, offering some behind the scenes insights and commentary about the events unfolding on the screen. You'll be able to follow his tweets at @MarkBurnettTV. Additionally, ABC will be hosting a "Chat Party" on their website as well, with viewers sharing their thoughts on the show as it unfolds and incorporating Burnett's tweets too. The Chat Party begins at 9PM ET, when the show starts, and will run through the West Coast feed a few hours later.

So, will you be tuning in to watch? I know I'm interested to see what the show is all about. I like that they'll be racing through a single location and it seems more physical than The Amazing Race, which I am admittedly a fan of as well. At the very least, I hope it is fun and entertaining, and while I'd rather Mark Burnett revive the Eco-Challenge, I'll settle for this. For now.

Watch The First 14-Minutes of Expedition Impossible Now!

I've posted about Expedition Impossible a couple of times already. It's the latest show from Mark Burnett, the creator of Survivor and other hit reality shows. The interesting thins about Expedition Impossible is that it looks to combine successful elements from adventure racing and The Amazing Race, into a new formula that will hopefully be fun to watch.

The show begins airing on ABC this Thursday, June 23rd, at 7 PM, but you can now watch the first 14-minutes online. Check out the video below and share your thoughts!

Two-Minute Trailer For Expedition Impossible

A few days back I posted a teaser video for an upcoming television show called Expedition Impossible, that will begin airing here in the U.S. on ABC in June. The show is produced by Mark Burnett and looks to combine elements of adventure racing with a healthy mix of puzzle solving and challenges a la The Amazing Race. Now, we have a full two-minute trailer for the show, that offers up a bit more insight into what we can expect when it begins airing on June 23rd.

The show will pit 13 teams of three against one another in a competition that looks to cover a sizable distance through the country of Morocco. In the trailer, we see plenty of trekking, climbing, and paddling, and it looks like the competitors will have to deal with one of the banes of adventure racing – animals! Camels are notoriously stubborn, and I know plenty of adventure racers that groan when ever they, or just about any other animal, is added to a race. The ones in this trailer just look plain mean and nasty.

Also of note is the fact that mountaineer Erik Weihenmayer is one of the competitors in the race. You may recall that Erik made headlines all over the world when he became the first blind person to summit Everest a few years back. He has gone on to climb plenty of other mountains, and do all kinds of other amazing things, so I expect he'll do quite well here and probably surprise a lot of people who are unaware of his abilities.

So, what do you think? Is this going to be a fun show to watch?

Two And A Half Men Discontinued

CBS and Warner Bros. has decided to suspend the show Two And A Half Men, discontinuing production for the remainder of the season, according to Radar Online.

Earlier, CBS and Warner Bros. released a statement, saying: "Based on the totality of Charlie Sheen's statements, conduct and condition, CBS and Warner Bros. Television have decided to discontinue production of Two And A Half Men for the remainder of the season."

Sheen fires back in an open letter to his fans:

What does this say about Haim Levine after he tried to use his words to judge and attempt to degrade me. I gracefully ignored this folly for 177 shows ... I fire back once and this contaminated little maggot can't handle my power and can't handle the truth. I wish him nothing but pain in his silly travels especially if they wind up in my octagon. Clearly I have defeated this earthworm with my words -- imagine what I would have done with my fire breathing fists. I urge all my beautiful and loyal fans who embraced this show for almost a decade to walk with me side-by-side as we march up the steps of justice to right this unconscionable wrong.

Remember these are my people ... not yours...we will continue on together...

Sheen also says he is in serious negotiations with HBO to star in his own half-hour show called Sheen's Corner and is "close to securing" a deal for a 10 show guarantee.

This has not been confirmed with HBO yet however.

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Ratings Are In For 2010: Fox Completely Dominates Cable News

The Wrap reports that Fox dominated cable news according to the 2010 Nielsen numbers taking the title of most watched for the ninth year in a row.

In fact, Fox not only beat CNN, MSNBC and HLN in average primetime and total viewers, but Fox had more than all of them combined for total viewers.

The ratings released show that Fox News averaged 2 million viewers in prime time and far outdistanced MSNBC (764,000), CNN (591,000) and HLN (444,000). (Total rounded- 1,799,000)

Fox owned the top 12 cable news shows in average total viewers and swept the top 10 among 25-54-year-olds (MSNBC's "Countdown With Keith Olbermann" came in 13th and 11th, respectively). Even the nightly repeat of the “O’Reilly Factor” averaged more viewers than MSNBC and CNN shows.

(Screen shot from TV Newser, who has the full document up here)

More from MediaIte:

According to Nielsen, the top five cable news programs in terms of total viewers and viewers 25-54 (the metric used by advertisers and considered the most important by networks) were all on Fox: The O’Reilly Factor (781,000 viewers 25-54); Hannity (585,000); Glenn Beck (572,000); On the Record (481,000); and The O’Reilly Factor repeat (447,000).

In terms of total viewers, Special Report joins the top five cable news shows, as host Bret Baier has taken the show to its highest ratings ever.

Fox’s dominance is demonstrated by its ranking across all of cable–coming in as the fourth highest-rated network in primetime (total viewers), right behind USA, ESPN, and TNT. MSNBC is ranked #28 in primetime, CNN came in at #32 and HLN was #37.

As Fox remains the power player in cable news, CNN’s year has been one of notable declines–Nielsen marking this CNN’s lowest-rated year in primetime (for both total viewers and viewers 25-54) in 14 years. For the full day, 2010 marks a tie for CNN’s worst year ever (viewers 25-54).

The numbers truly do speak for themselves about where more Americans prefer to get their news and their commentary from.

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