Friday, December 31, 2004

Explorace Ramblings...

I've had a peeve with the first season of Explorace ever since I saw the first episode, it never caught my attention and in my opinion, the whole first season sucked like hell. As an ardent The Amazing Race supporter, I expected for an adrenaline-pumping race (at least) across Malaysia and not some pissy one-on-one challenges.

Okay, I'll be clearer this time. I have watched every episode of the fifth season of the race made by CBS, and later when I saw the reruns of Explorace on 8TV, it hit me like a ton of bricks. I was so disappointed with the show that I actually muttered out "what the fuck?" at one point while watching it. There were so many things wrong with the show that I seriously doubted the viewership ratings that were as claimed by TV3. Among the horridly screwed up parts were:

1. Wrong host. Daphne, if you're reading this, no offence but you're totally not suited to be the host of a reality game show, you talk too much and you lack the air of a reality show host. Find someone else. Please. Deduct 5 marks for incompatibility.

2. Speeding up the clips. No we don't enjoy seeing people move like lighting in a race. It defeats the purpose of watching a race. If it were in real time, everyone's feet would burn up and the whole damn show would be over in less than 5 minutes. Deduct 10 marks for screwing it up.

3. Voice issues. We don't need narration for every single incident that happened in the race. Just show the race as it is and leave the talking to the team members! No editing or voice-overs please I beg for the mercy of God! Deduct 10 marks for stupidity.

4. All talk and no action. Despite what the show is targeting (or preaching), the first 30 minutes of the show is all talk on how they're gonna kick the other team's arse, the next 30 minutes featured Speedy Gonzales-type videos of the team members in action. For heaven's sakes, just shut up and move your arses! Deduct 15 marks for rubbish and time-wasting.

5. There is no race. You heard me right. The currently format of the race means that there is no real race to begin with. You start of with teams going "head-to-head" with half of the teams eliminated by the end of the first round. And you call this a race? Deduct 15 marks for deceiving people that it's actually a "race".

6. Advertising issues. You can take all of your advertising and product-placement and go shove it where the sun don't shine. Holding team members accounted for damages of cars was a stupid idea in the first place. If you don't want the cars to be damaged, then don't let the team members near it within a 10km radius. Deduct 10 marks for stupidity and ugly advertising.

7. Race tasks are lame and agonising to watch. I mean, if you see the tasks that the producers thought up with, it is totally lame. The tasks are all jumbled up and you need to collect keys (seriously, what the fuck?) to win the race? Deduct 10 marks for mismanagement of race tasks.

8. No excitement. Watching this race is as fun as watching both grass grow and paint dry at the same time. Deduct 10 marks for torturing the viewers.

The Amazing Race = 98%
Explorace = 15%

I DON'T CARE IF EXPLORACE HAS TO COPY FROM THE AMAZING RACE, JUST MAKE SURE THAT IT DOES NOT SUCK LIKE HELL!

Some suggestions:

1. Get a better host, preferebly a guy like Phil Keogan.

2. Leave the clips as it is.

3. Leave the audio sections as it as and the host should speak less. The essence of reality lies within the actions and words of the team members themselves.

4. Trash talk - 3 minutes, full adrenaline action - 57 minutes.

5. Take the same 12 teams and make it truely into a race, give us realisation on which team's ahead of the other. Throw in stops in the race and some interesting twists in between.

6. Cut the shit. Enough said.

7. The Amazing Race did a fabulous job on this part, Explorace failed miserably. The Amazing Race managed to incorporate part of the lives of the locals into the tasks and pull them off remarkably.

8. Alongside the "don't touch it" suggestions that I've already mentioned, take the cameraman and walk with the team members if they're on foot, ride with them if they're driving/taking a taxi. The cameraman also represents the 3rd team member and should give the viewers a view on what's like it to participate in the race. Either that or the cameraman should be treating the race the same way as the cameras would while covering a Formula 1 race. Keep track of who's leading and let the suspense build up until the ending.

If you'd compare Malaysia's editions of usual reality shows with Ameriaca's ones, as in Malaysian Idol and American Idol, the Malaysian version is on par with its American counterpart. Explorace was unfortunately a cheap pirated copy of The Amazring Race.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Where in heaven's name is Malaysia going to find a host like Phil Keogan ? I think Daphne Iking is ok but I think with the budget and shortcomings Explorace has it is unfair to compare it with Amazing Race. Amazing Race Rocks.

Anonymous said...

Hmmm... witty yet insane... I like the idea, but I'm not sure if that can be applied to you. With regards to your dislike for Explorace, I think as a young kid, you don't know half of what you're talking about. Perhaps you've tried out for the race and failed. Perhaps you were too s*&t-scared to even try.
But ultimately, STOP COMPARING APPLES & ORANGES!! Phil Koegan isn't an amazing host, and it's sad that a robotic Kiwi has to pose as robotic American to be successful. I'm sure Phil doesn't care anyway since he's making a fortune out of it.
And by saying all the tasks are lame you've basically insulted the contestants and crew (some of whom got seriously injured, mind you!) all from the comfort of your hazard-free home.
And as for harping on about the advertising, who the heck do you think is paying for the production? You want some kickass show that is going to cost millions like AR and the money is going to come out of thin air?
Would you like me to go on? Poor squirrel... time to take those nuts, pop 'em in your mouth and shut up... Who's witty and insane now?

Andy said...

Didn't think that I'd have to post a reply to the comments for a post that I posted over 4 months ago bu anyway...

Stontium dogg: Look out for an update regarding the this blog post... :)

Lady vendetta:
Excuse me, have you noticed this blog post was posted 4 months ago, when Season 2 wasn't even on air yet? I'll give you enough credit not to notice that. For your information, I do not dislike Explorace in general, but I felt that there were many things wrong with the show, and it could've been much better than it was.

Heheh... I'd be rich if I had a penny for everytime someones says that I'm a kid and I don't know what I'm talking about, and guess what, it's INSULTING TOO.

Phil KEOGAN's (that's his correct name, pity you can't spell properly) ability to perform as a host depends on how you see it. I do not want to watch a show laced with just all talk an no action (how many times have I stressed this point ENOUGH?).

I have a right to deliver my comments regarding the race tasks thank you very much. From what I've noted, some of the contestants's injuries in the show were definititely avoidable if you stepped back to think for a moment. I don't know anything about the crew's injures however.

Advertising in a kickass reality TV show doesn't matter a bit if you know how to deliver your advertising.

I used to have this at the bottom of each and every page of my blog in my previous template: "If you do not agree with whatever issues that I write in MY blog, I would gladly welcome you to click that little red [x] on the top right side of your browser and exit it immediately". And frankly, you coming in as an anonymous poster (no link to profile/blog, scared of your privacy?) doesn't help your case a bit.

Good night.