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Question: My question has to do with the Emmys and reality TV: After two seasons of either awful (Family Edition) or dull Amazing Races, and the conclusion of one of the best Survivors in recent memory (how great was it to see four really likable and honorable people pull off a come-from-behind win and just be happy for one another?), can the reality-TV granddaddy finally pull off a win? Or do the Emmy voters not even watch those programs and just continue to award Amazing Race out of inertia and habit?
Answer: Sorry, I'll have to disagree with you on that one. The last Race may have had an anticlimactic finish, but watching the teams race through new locales in the Far East this season was a lot more thrilling than watching tribes squabble on what looked like the exact same tropical beach as those from the last few years. (That said, I enjoyed the way the last Survivor ended as well.) This category is one of the few cases where I don't mind repeat wins year after year. Especially after a season like the one that just ended, Race once again proved that no show in its category can match it for visual splendor, ambition and even entertainment value. If Survivor were ever to win, I'd be at peace with it, because without Survivor, we never would have had Race to begin with. But if Race were to win again, I wouldn't chalk it up to viewer inertia. The Amazing Race still blows many of us away.
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