Is The Amazing Race still amazing after all these years? We're about to find out.
Season 28 of the CBS stalwart takes off at 7 p.m. Friday. CBS hopes this outing has a built-in advantage.
Call Season 28 the "Internet Race" as the series turns to social media in an attempt to remain fresh. The next round features 11 teams of socially savvy racers with a combined 88 million followers on Vine (a video sharing service), YouTube and Instagram.
Each team has at least one Internet star. In some, both members have followers. CBS is hoping there will be plenty of built-in buzz with all those eyeballs keeping up with their Internet favorites.
How long has the series been around? Well, 48-year-old host Phil Keoghan was only 34 and a fresh-faced TV personality from New Zealand when The Amazing Race debuted on Sept. 5, 2001. Trivia: Keoghan was in the running to host Survivor (debut 2000), but lost out to Jeff Probst. It's safe to say both have gotten to travel the world since then.
As of Season 27, The Amazing Race has visited 85 countries. Survivor has been filmed in 17 locations, from Malaysia (Season 1) to last season's Cambodia.
Survivor's Season 32 debuts at 7 p.m. Wednesday (90 minutes) and also will be set in Cambodia. It was actually filmed in March on the island of Kaoh Rong before Season 31.
It will feature a return to Season 28's "Brains vs. Brawn vs. Beauty" theme. CBS is touting the next Survivor as "one of the most physically grueling seasons in the show's history."
Keoghan, however, doesn't have to get down with the sand fleas and sweat, as does Probst on occasion. Keoghan has also won 10 Emmys for his work on Amazing Race. Not bad for a show with no heavy lifting and where the hardest thing he has to do is stand still and say things such as, "Kelly ... Shevonne, unfortunately all the other teams have checked in and I'm sorry to tell you that you have been eliminated from the race."
Do you watch the show just for the geography lesson and vicarious world travel? Get out your atlas, Season 28 will take the 22 racers to pit stops in three new countries -- Colombia, Georgia and Armenia.
That's all part of the 27,000 miles the teams will travel in visiting 18 cities and 10 countries.
Filming for this season began Nov. 15, with Keoghan live-streaming the teams' arrival at the first clue location, the Monumento a la Revolucion in Mexico City. Unlike previous seasons, the race began in the teams' individual hometowns rather than at a central starting line.
Here's a handy guide to this year's teams and their connections to the Internet.
• Tyler Oakley, Korey Kuhl (friends). They are co-hosts of the YouTube podcast Psychobabble.
• Burnie Burns, Ashley Jenkins (dating). Burns runs the YouTube comedy and video gaming site Rooster Teeth. Jenkins is his co-host.
• Erin Robinson, Joslyn Davis (friends). These ClevverTV YouTube hosts have more than 8 million subscribers.
• Sheri LaBrant, Cole LaBrant (mother and son). Cole is a teen heartthrob on the Vine channel Dem White Boyz.
• Zach King, Rachel King (newlyweds). Zach is known as the "Magic Viner," with over 3.7 million followers of his illusions.
• Dana Borriello, Matt Steffanina (engaged). Both are professional dancers and successful YouTubers.
• Jessica Versteeg, Brittany Oldehoff (friends). These two Instagram models boast more than 60,000 followers combined.
• Marty Cobb, Hagan Parkman (mother and daughter). Marty's comedic Southwest flight attendant safety demonstration has racked up more than 22 million YouTube views.
• Kurt Gibson, Brodie Smith (friends). Both are pro Frisbee players whose trick shots are all over YouTube.
• Cameron Benson, Darius Benson (brothers). These Vine stars hail from Memphis. Older sibling Darius has 3 million followers.
• Scott Fowler, Blair Fowler (father and daughter). Blair's lifestyle YouTube channel has more than 1.7 million subscribers.
• ABC stuff. Grey's Anatomy returns to the lineup at 7 p.m. today with Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) being brutally attacked by a patient.
That's followed by a new Scandal at 8. It's six months since Olivia (Kerry Washington) and Fitz (Tony Goldwyn) broke up, and each is dealing with being single in very different ways.
• Project Runway All Stars. Season 5 kicks off at 8 p.m. today on Lifetime.
• Debates. The Democrats take the stage at 8 p.m. today on PBS. The Republicans suit up at 8 p.m. Saturday on CBS.
The TV Column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Email:
mstorey@arkansasonline.com
Weekend on 02/11/2016