The Amazing Race

CBS....Sunday night 9pm


Another season kicks off, this time from Seattle, where the first encounter with law enforcement comes from the brothers Cho, who couldn't even wait until they weren't in an airport to haul out their water guns. Smart! In China, we get a familiar-food challenge, but not one involving enormous quantities, which is a huge improvement. A taxi ride later, we find ourselves at the halfway point of the first leg, at which point Bilal and Saeed, the Muslim friends learn that even constant prayer cannot overcome so-so navigation and a bad cab driver. In the second half of the leg, an interesting Detour includes a puzzle disguised as rock building and a coordination task similar to tai-chi. After running into severe navigation issues, Indian couple Vipul and Arti fall seriously behind and are unable to catch up, so they suffer the second Philimination of the episode. Several contestants are sketchy -- a bickering couple of high-strung boyfriend and wigged-out girlfriend who will probably yell at each other a lot, the weirdly motivational boyfriend of the ass-kicking triathlete with the artificial hydrolic fuel leaking leg, and a Kentucky couple who need to get along a little better. There still models and cheerleaders and beauty queens, but they're…you know, they're all right. All in all, a very auspicious start in spite of the unfortunate loss of a couple of teams who might have been some of the most different in background from past players. Highly watchable.