So year after year, I’ve sat by while The Amazing Race trounced my beloved Project Runway for the Best Reality Program Emmy. This wasn’t such a big deal—we’re talking about the Best Reality Program Emmy, for God’s sake—but I’ve recently been schooled in why this perennial clobbering has been allowed to continue, and that’s because The Amazing Race is awesome. (While we’ve stopped the presses, allow me to share the also-breaking news that kittens are cute, Nazis are evil, and, yes, pizza is delicious.)
What made me finally pay attention to The Amazing Race: the inclusion of contestants Mel and Mike White, a father-son team made up of two of my favorite people on earth. Mike White is the writer/actor responsible for one of my favorite movies. Mel White is a writer and clergyman and former speechwriter for Jerry Falwell, who eventually came out as a gay man and founded the amazing Soulforce, devoted to “freedom for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people from religious and political oppression through the the practice of relentless nonviolent resistance.” What this looks like in practice: A seemingly never-ending bus tour, in which Rev. White and assorted Soulforcers trek around the country peacefully attending services at churches opposed to gay rights, and sometimes meeting with their pastors/rectors/what-have-you when the pastors/rectors/what-have-you have balls enough to meet with the sweet old gay clergyman who just drove across the country to see them. (Alexandra Pelosi’s HBO documentary Friends of God featured footage of Soulforce in action, which involved Mel White sitting in a pew at a fundamentalist church service, quietly weeping. What Dustin Lance Black touched on his Oscar speech, Mel White has devoted his life to: Convincing gays that God loves them, no matter what His alleged spokesmodels say.)
Anyway, thanks to The Amazing Race, I now get to watch Mel White and Mike White paraglide in the Alps and haul huge wheels of cheese down Swiss mountains, and it’s so great. They are adorable, especially dad, and other contestants are quite lovable as well (primarily the cutie-pie deaf guy and the oddball country couple that got cut at the end of the last episode. Bah.)
Chuck & Buck.
What about Nacho Libre?
They’re father and son? Wow. How wonderful. Thank you!
when I was a teenager, I read Mel White’s book. I blacked out the part that says “christian and gay” with a sharpie so no one would know!
You know what’s really awesome?… Pizza topped with Nazi kittens (sliced thin)!
I haven’t been watching in awhile — while I like the show’s concept, it stresses me out to actually watch it… It’s just always so tense and harried, I get too on edge when I watch it. But perhaps I’ll have to catch a few episodes this season.
Julie @ 6: I’m with you, I get really wound up during the show, too. Maybe the stress will eventually prove to be a deterrent, but for now, I just keep the show on Tivo until I’m ready to watch a bunch of people have various sized panic attacks for 48 mins.
Oh shit – I missed the 2nd episode of the season cuz I was watching the Oscars, didn’t I? Goddammit. Is it online somewhere?
I love TAR, too, but I don’t think it deserves to win the Emmy for best reality show, EVERY GAWDAMNED YEAR!!!
It even won the year it did the shitty, shitty, family/stuck in boring ass America edition…
matt, yes it is…cbs.com
The truly twisted “Chuck and Buck” inspired me to anonymously mail a video of the film to a childhood fuck buddy to let him know that he was seriously someone’s first gay love interest. The only other film more hysterically twisted is Ted Solondz’ “Happiness”. See either and know that you’re essentially much more normal than what others say about you.
As long as you’re last to know things, David, I’m pretty sure the cute deaf boy is gay.
Ned Shneebly looks super stoned in that picture – and I like him and Dad’s matching blue fleeces. (Ned Shneebly’s is untucked ’cause he’s high and sloppy.)
I love The Amazing Race! But I have found the best way to watch it is to wait until the Travel Channel shows a marathon one Sunday after the season is done. For some reason it is much easier to deal with the tension knowing in a few short hours I will know the winner.
My favorite season by far involved the Goths. And they were on an ep of Bones last week. I was cracking up.
Mel White is great and so is his book.
@5 you sort of beat me to it, but I was going to suggest, “…nazis are cute, pizza is evil, and, yes, kittens are delicious.”
The one on the right (Mike?) has an eerie resemblance to Clay Aitkin.
i wish these guys well on the show. but having watched just one episode so far (one remaining on the tivo) – they’re clearly going to get their asses kicked. They are the only non-athletes on the show.
@ 6: get high before watching. I think the Emmy people follow this advice.
Also, unfortunately, 18 is right. That poor old man doesn’t stand a chance against some of those thoroughbreds.
@18 and 19 – The beautiful thing about the Amazing Race is that sometimes the less athletic teams do amazingly well simply by making better choices, using common sense and intelligence, or just getting incredibly lucky. I’m not saying Mel and Mike will stick around to the end, but they have a chance to go pretty far.
consider yourself not the last to know. I usually like the Amazing Race, but hadn’t even noticed that there was a new season, let alone pseudo-famous contestants, going on now.
I saw Mike White on an episode of “The Dog Whisperer” recently. He’s really making the reality show rounds.