Race? Yes. Amazing? Not Quite.

As far as reality shows go, the best one out there is The Amazing Race. It's true competition, not simply a popularity contest on an island. The show annually wins the Emmy award for best reality show. So why did they mess with a good thing for this season?

This season is The Amazing Race: Family Edition...and it stinks. Instead of teams of 2, they have family teams of 4. Sure, a major part of the show is conflict and how they deal with it, but with teams of 4 all they end up doing is yelling over each other. Teams of 2 talk out their differences and come to a remedy...teams of 4 just end up yelling louder.

Problem 2: They aren't going anywhere! The original sent the teams all over the globe. They rode elephants in India, served beer in Germany, and navigated the canals of Venice. The families so far have been sent to places like Huntsville, AL and Lancaster, PA. Sorry, but visiting exotic New Jersey just doesn't compare to the globe trotting that has been done in seasons past.

OK, there has been one good (and really funny) thing about this season so far. Of the 10 teams taking part, there was only one black family. And their name? The Black family. I kid you not. Now, I'm not the least bit racist, but this did lead to some great sound bites. Just imagine..."The Black family is right behind us...We have to beat the Black family...Black family, you're the last team to arrive." They got eliminated at the end of the first episode, so there goes that fun. At least there are still some good looking women (Bransen daughters and Megan, the sister) to look at.

Here's hoping they go back to the original format for next season. I gotta go fill out my application.