National Treasurers, Hell's Kitchen and more...the summer TV season has begun, Folks!

NBC premiered their version of Amazing Race last Sunday night, called National Treasurers. When I saw the commercial billing it as a cross between Amazing Race and Da Vinci Code, I knew I had to tune in and check it out. *laugh*

So I watched the 2-hour premiere and I'm iffy about it. It wasn't horrible but it wasn't great, either. Here's the premise in a nutshell: 10 teams of 3, all addressed with nicknames they chose for themselves, which is not a good idea. They ended up with names like "The Southie Boys" and "The Geniuses". It's more fun when the viewers issue their own nicknames, in my opinion. Each team is given a cell phone, a laptop on which they can access the internet, and a Visa card (I'm guessing to buy plane tickets with). The product placement here is heavy with Visa, Ask.com, and Motorola constantly being mentioned. I now have this urge to use Ask.com instead of Google and my Visa is burning from all the shopping I have done this week. But I digress...

Now the funny thing here is that (1) most of the time, the teams have no idea where they are going next and have to figure out some clue left for them to get this info and (2) they are constantly interrupted by their cell ringing with video messages from the host. Personally, I would lose my mind by episode 2 and stomp on the cell phone to make it stop ringing. But that's just me. Speaking of the host, it's some intense guy named Laird Macintosh. With a name like that, you would assume he was some dashing debonair guy from Ireland or Australia. Nope, he's from Evanston, Illinois. *laugh* He talks like William Shatner from Star Trek and he kind of stands sideways, I'm guessing, as a way of looking intense. Here, see for yourself - he seems to love his left side profile:



He's no Phil Keoghan but he gets brownie points for taking his job seriously.

The teams are a mess and the strong teams are so blatantly apparent, it's ridiculous. Team Ex-CIA and Team Air Force seem to be the ones to beat, thus far. I'm hoping that this show levels the playing field by taking them internationally and having them deal with plane delays, language barriers and etc. That way even the strong teams will be challenged.

I'm going to hang in there despite the fact that this is airing against Hell's Kitchen (damn you, NBC). My VCR is going to be smoking again this summer.

Speaking of Hell's Kitchen, it is AWESOME this season. Gordon Ramsey is out of control and I LOVE IT. Wow, I didn't think it could get any better and it has. Be still my reality TV loving heart. *sigh*

Well, I'm off to watch Syriana....my Blockbuster online DVDs arrived and I have been dying to see this movie. I also have 16 Blocks and The Family Stone. So reality TV will have to take a break while I catch up on some movies.

National Treasurers airs Mondays at 9pmEST/8c on NBC. Hell's Kitchen is on the same time and day but on FOX. Happy Watching!