CBS’ ‘Amazing Race’ demonstrates its stamina
Time flies when you span the globe on a regular basis. We’re now up to the ninth installment of “The Amazing Race” (9 p.m., CBS). Tonight’s two-hour season premiere takes would-be millionaires from Denver to the skyscrapers in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Along the way we’re introduced to the participating couples, including a pair of love-struck, self-proclaimed nerds who emerge as my early favorites.
It’s only fitting that “Race” begins its new season just after the Winter Olympics. Like that quadrennial exercise, “Race” features breathtaking scenery, drama and cinematography so consistently intimate and audacious that it’s almost easy to overlook.
But “Race” has not been overlooked by its peers in the TV business. It is the only show to win an Emmy for best reality series, an award it has received for the past three years.
The show has also won the Producers Guild of America Award for nonfiction television, as well as the 2005 Family Friendly Award.
I had a chance to chat with “Race” executive producer, director and co-creator Bertram Van Munster on the phone last week. Van Munster oversees 11 camera crews on “The Amazing Race.”
He’s proud of his show and hopes it reflects his decades of experience shooting commercials, documentaries, war footage and other reality series (including eight seasons of “Cops”).
Born in Holland, Van Munster has been operating a camera in foreign climes since the 1968 Summer Olympic Games in Mexico City.
He has two major goals for “The Amazing Race.”
“I hope we set a standard,” he said. But, more importantly, Van Munster hopes the show “makes people less scared to go out into the world.”
He says, with both pride and regret, that “Race” is the only show on American television “to present the rest of the world in a positive light.”
“Law & Order: SVU” (10 p.m., NBC) returns to its schedule, featuring a familiar face in her first dramatic TV role in more than a decade. Susan Saint James (“Kate & Allie,” “McMillan and Wife”) guest-stars as defense attorney Monica Bradshaw alongside “Spin City” alumni Barry Bostwick and Michael Boatman, representing a trio of prep-school students suspected of murder.
Chloe alert! Mary Lynn Rajskub (“24”) appears on “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” (12:35 a.m., NBC). The actress, whose character was described as “our Napoleon Dynamite” by a Fox executive, will be joined by Bruce Willis and the Dropkick Murphys.
Other highlights
The top-10 female voices compete on “American Idol” (8 p.m., Fox).
Rory remains at the top of her game on “Gilmore Girls” (8 p.m., WB).
“Nova” (7 p.m., KSPS) glances back on dramatic efforts to discover the Northwest Passage, a long-sought link between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
The hidden-camera show “Hi Jinks” (9:30 p.m., Nickelodeon) returns for a second season.
A brief honeymoon on “Boston Legal” (10 p.m., ABC).
Cult choice
A professional wiretapper (Gene Hackman) feels a moment of remorse and becomes consumed with paranoia in director Francis Ford Coppola’s excellent 1974 drama “The Conversation” (5 p.m., TCM).
Series notes
An ambulance explodes under suspicious circumstances on “NCIS” (8 p.m., CBS) … Howie Mandel hosts “Deal or No Deal” (8 p.m., NBC) … On two episodes of “According to Jim” (ABC), blackmail (8 p.m.), and one for the books (9 p.m.) … On back-to-back episodes of “Scrubs” (NBC), a perfect pest (9 p.m.), and fine-feathered filth (9:30 p.m.) … John returns to save his boys on “Supernatural” (9 p.m., WB) … Calling all storks on “The War at Home” (9:30 p.m., Fox) … Driven to distraction on “George Lopez” (9:30 p.m., ABC).