Will The Amazing Race 29 cast reveal happen soon? Also, a ratings conversation

Late Friday night, CBS made some big changes that altered the premiere date for The Amazing Race 29 by moving it from late April to March 30. With that, there may also be some changes coming to its official cast reveal.

If you think back to some other past seasons of the show (season 28 notwithstanding — they announced that cast early knowing that it would’ve been spoiled regardless), they tend to confirm their casts around two or three weeks away from the premiere dates. We’re now less than three weeks away now thanks to this shift, and that leaves us to wonder the following question: Should we get a cast reveal on this coming week? We’d say some with almost the utmost confidence.

As a matter of fact, we’d be shocked if come Thursday, there was no cast reveal since CBS needs to get into overdrive promoting this season if they want it to have any ratings at all. They took a big risk in shoving Training Day to Saturday nights, since in doing so, they’re effectively canceling that show. They’re also now banking on the notion that the Race will draw higher than a 0.7 or a 0.8 in the 18-49 demographic in this timeslot. As we explained yesterday, the show is helped by not airing on a Friday night anymore. However, it’s hurt by airing so late at night, when many families are starting to go to bed.

For a comparison, season 28 averaged a 1.1 rating in the 18-49 demographic in the spring, which doesn’t look all that terrible as it seemed at the time for CBS to shove the show off into oblivion. We’ve given MacGyver some praise for helping to boost the Hawaii Five-0 ratings, but it’s only averaging around 0.05 better in the demo than the Race did for its spring season. If it does keep the entirety of that average, all of a sudden we could see the Race thought of as a hit again and it come become a staple of the Thursdays-at-10 timeslot. It’s so funny how ratings work that way!

However, there’s no guarantee that it’ll get that rating. With it being off the air so long, it does run the risk of erosion. Our advice is simple — watch live, or DVR and watch it as soon as humanly possible. Do whatever you can to keep great racing to TV.

To get some further news and discussion when it comes to The Amazing Race right now, just be sure to visit this link. (Photo: CBS.)