Thanks for that, Martin. Watched the show from the beginning + international versions so it’s frustrating to not have it all! Also thanks for the budgetary info; my impression was always that it was cheaper versus scripted, and they do heavily sponsor it to lessen costs. It’s why I think even with this frustrating situation at present it could last for a while.

Thanks for your reporting on the show, Matt, since it’s in limbo. Other sites have fans that keep asking about it, but you’re the only one I’ve seen write any news at all. Even if it’s conjecture, it’s appreciated! I don’t like the “limbo” aspect. I can’t imagine Phil Keoghan does, either, since fans keep asking him.

About the cost, I thought in the early seasons when CBS seemed not to be sure to renew it or not that one of the considerations was that it was expensive to produce. (Maybe in relation to other reality shows?) But I looked up some info on wikipedia (that has article sources) that says: (can I post this?)

“Though The Amazing Race involves significant amounts of travel across the world for around a hundred people, Doganieri estimates that their production costs are in line if not less than other reality television shows, in part that most of the production staff have been with the show for a long period and work efficiently to help move the competition. The cost of the show has also been subsidized by its sponsors, who provide trips and other prizes to teams that arrive first on certain legs, or have their products featured as a task. For example, more recent seasons have been sponsored by Travelocity, and typically one leg per season will involve a task that includes the Travelocity “Roaming Gnome”; trip prizes for first-place finishes on many legs are funded by Travelocity and the local hotel at the trip destination. Ford Motor Company is also a major sponsor in later seasons of the show, and typically teams will be given Ford vehicles to drive for various legs and as prizes for finishing first on a leg. In another example, a tea-themed leg in the 18th season was sponsored by Snapple who had developed a new limited edition flavor for the show. The Amazing Race has been considered to be a show that incorporates a large number of product placements as tracked by ACNeilsen, often being one of the top shows for product placement each year.”

Glad you like the show, too.

I do think they believe in the show, but at the same time they’ve got a little “grass is greener” philosophy going on where they think other shows will get higher ratings. That may be true, but my understanding’s that the Race is fairly cheap to make versus a scripted show.

The thing that bothers me about this more than anything is just CBS screwing around with the Amazing Race fans. Are they just screwing around with it so that another network won’t pick it up or something?

Concur 150%. TAR has forgotten what makes it special.

I’ve found TAR Canada and Australia to be superior shows over the years — too much filler these days on TAR US, and too many casting gimmicks leading to unrelatable characters in my mind.

Summer is definitely a possibility as too, but I think that it’s time for TAR to go away for a while. It will help production re-group and just maybe think about why the size of audience has declined. It needs to find ways to obtain those old-school fans that have left disappointingly. The show doesn’t celebrate its history and pretends TAR started in 2009 (with TAR 14) and not in 2001.

I think that’s true for now. The real question comes with more series hitting TV this fall and one on midseason. I could see them waiting ’til summer to premiere it over Saturdays.

If people want it back earlier, then it will go on Saturdays. It will likely be burned off quickly in late December 2016 / early January 2017.