Season 14: Tradition and Changes

Changes abound this season. The traditional format of the race remains, but the style of the show has been tweaked. The classic decision making was present, the inter-team bickering made its appearance, and the haranguing of team mates reared its ugly head. But for all the classic moments, this was a decidedly different episode from previous years.

The most striking change this season is the absence of the Amazing Yellow Line. Instead, it has been replaced by the new Amazing Red and Blue Lines on a new higher definition globe. It’s a cool graphic, but I’m holding out hope for the return of the AYL.

It looks like they’ve got a new batch of editors for this season. The split screen transitions are an interesting choice. I’ll have to see how I feel about them as we get further into the race, but they do provide a sense of time and what’s going on at different points. I also notice that they made more use of the on screen time stamps. The last of the bungee jumpers each had the time of their jump displayed on the screen, something they haven’t done in the past.

Not sure I care so much for the remixed theme song. Drum track is too pronounced, and the electric guitar just don’t do it for me. I prefer the more acoustic version from previous seasons.