Reality TV Movies

Season seven of The Amazing Race finds a team of celebrities competing in the series' traditional round-the-world challenge race: Amber Brkich and Rob Mariano, both alumni of another popular reality show, Survivor. Seeing as how Amber had already won that show's grand prize of a million dollars through an alliance with Rob, they were not a popular team on The Amazing Race, to say the least. Rob's overconfidence, rudeness, and frequent insistance on bending the rules almost to their breaking point also added to other teams' comtempt for them. Without saying any more, though, it can be noted that Amber and Rob do not walk away with Amazing Race's million-dollar prize. That honor goes to another of the 11 teams competing this season, which include Uchenna & Joyce Agu, Ron Young & Kelly McCorkle, Gretchen & Meredith Smith, Lynn Warren & Alex Ali, Greg & Brian Smith, Deana Shane & Ray Housteau, Susan & Patrick Vaughn, Debbie Cloyd & Bianca Smith, Megan Baker & Heidi Heidel, and Ryan Phillips & Chuck Horton. Also noteworthy is the fact that elderly couple Gretchen & Meredith Smith were the oldest team to ever make it to the final four, surpassing the record of Don and Mary Jean St. Claire from the previous season. The season-seven stopovers include such exotic locales as Peru, Chile, Argentina, South Africa (Johannesburg), India, Turkey, Jamaica, and even Abbey Road in London (and not a barefooted Beatle in sight!). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The first season of the elaborate reality/adventure series The Amazing Race finds 11 teams, each consisting of two "related" players, competing throughout the world for a one-million-dollar prize -- all the while racing against the clock and staying within the tight budgets established in the first episode. Among the teams this season are Rob Frisbee & Brennan Swain, Frank & Margarita Mesa, Bill Bartek & Joe Baldassare, Drew Feinberg & Kevin O'Connor, Nancy & Emily Hoyt, Lenny Hudson & Karyn Jefferson, Paul Alessi & Amie Barsky, and David & Margaretta Groark. The first leg of the race takes the teams from New York to South Africa, thence through France, Tunisia, the Sahara, Italy, England, India, Thailand, China, and Alaska. In episode nine, the couple who seem to be the "sure winners" are eliminated for deliberately avoiding one of their physical tasks. Without revealing any more, it can be noted that the first team to arrive at the final pit stop in Flushing Meadows, NY -- and, in so doing, winning the million-dollar grand prize -- consists of two males. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Dr. 90210, the cable reality series focusing on a group of Beverly Hills cosmetic surgeons, opens its first season with the hour-long "Climbing the Mountain," in which Dr. Robert M. Rey uses his skills to undo a botched breast surgery and remove the unsightly bags from under a man's eyes. Rey's small, start-up practice is contrasted with the affluent practice enjoyed by Dr. Robert Kotler in the second episode, "Fountain of Youth," which also compares the two men's techniques, lifestyles, and ambitions. Other first-season episodes include "One Small Change Can Make a Big Difference," wherein plastic surgeon Dr. Raj Kanodia divides his time between his work and his sumptuous social life, replete with fashionable parties and an extensive art collection. The last of the season's 13 episodes is "New Beginnings, New Horizons," in which Dr. Rey benefits mightily from the experience and expertise of a colleague in New Orleans. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

After its spectacularly successful first season, Survivor returned on January 28, 2001 (right after CBS' coverage of Super Bowl XXXV), with 16 new contestants -- Americans all -- and an exotic and potentially dangerous new locale: the Australian Outback. More specifically, the 16 "castaways" were flown by members of the Royal Australian Rescue Team to Goshen Station, a eucalyptus-laden cattle ranch some 1500 miles north of Sydney. Although not exactly desolate, Goshen Station was nonetheless treacherous, especially for anyone accustomed to the niceties of urban civilization. Particularly vexing was the possibility of snakebite, with no fewer than ten deadly serpentine species to choose from. Distinguishing this Survivor season from the previous one, which took place off the coast of Borneo, were several factors. For one, the site of the weekly Tribal Council was designed in a different fashion, with a local cliff transformed into a Stonehenge-like edifice, festooned with "ancient" Aboriginal artifacts (which were largely products of the producers' imaginations). Also, the various and sundry challenges were much tougher this time out as exemplified by the "Tuckered Out" challenge, wherein the castaways were required to eat such delicacies as cow intestines. Finally, the "final four" castaways were expected to endure no fewer than 42 days in the Outback, as opposed to the 39 days spent in the first season's Pulau Tiga island. As before, the 16 contestants were divided into two tribes: the Kucha (from the Aboriginal word for kangaroo) and the Ogakor (the native word for freshwater crocodile). And, adhering to formula, both tribes eventually merged into the single Barrumundi tribe, with one castaway per episode being voted off the settlement on both sides of the merger. While none of the contestants was quite as venerable as the first season's Rudy (72 years young), there was still quite an age range with contestant Rodger Bingham topping the chart at age 53. Ultimately, the race did not go to the youngest but the swiftest: The person who ended up winning the one-million-dollar grand prize on Survivor: The Australian Outback turned out to be a 40-year-old nurse; however, the season's most memorable moments were provided by one of the early "losers," castaway Michael Skupin, who in one episode cheerfully slaughtered a pig in full view of his companions -- and in his farewell episode fainted face-first into a smoldering campfire. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Aging rust buckets are turned into vintage dream cars in this episode from the television series Overhaulin'. Overhaulin': The Lance Armstrong Episode features hosts Courtney Hansen and Chris Jacobs offering an detailed look at the fine art of automotive restoration and customizing as they take classic cars in sorry condition and make them look and run like never before. Champion cyclist Lance Armstrong makes a guest appearance on this episode as Hansen and Jacobs help him restore his 1970 GTO; musician Sheryl Crow, Armstrong's lady love at the time, also stops by. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

The American version of an Australian reality series, The Mole is off and running for its first season, originally telecast in the spring of 2001. The competition, which takes place all over the U.S. and Europe, involves ten contestants, ages 23 to 63: Jim Morrison, a copter pilot; Afi Ekulona, a medical student; Steven Cowles, an undercover police officer; Charlie McGowan, a retired detective; Wendi Wendt, an art dealer; Manuel Herrera, a professional event planner; Kate Pahls, a grandmother; Kathryn Price, a law professor; Jennifer Biondi, a sports nut; and Henry Wentz, a bartender. As the players compete in a variety of grueling, exciting, and sometimes embarrassing physical and mental challenges, one nagging question hovers over the proceedings: which of the ten contestants is the "mole," planted by the producers to deliberately -- and diabolically -- sabotage and undermine the other contestants? Only by the process of elimination (one player per episode is "executed" off the show) will the three finalists be able to figure out the identity of the mole...and the winner of the grand prize. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Year one in the marriage of musical performers Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson is also season one of the MTV reality series Newlyweds: Nick & Jessica. In the opener, Nick moves his stuff into the new house, while Jessica tries to learn housekeeping overnight. Later, the couple quarrels over Nick's close proximity with scantily-clad girls during a dance audition; Jessica toughs out her first overnight camping trip; the newlyweds attend the wedding of Nick's octogenarian grandfather; and they spend the 4th of July dividing their time between Jessica's singing gig and a jaunt to the Bahamas. In the season's tension-filled, thrill-packed finale, Jessica cooks dinner for Nick (stop the presses)! ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The parents of former Jackass regular Bam Margera endure a heap of hilarious humiliation during season one of the savagely satirical stunt show Viva La Bam. To get things rolling, Bam deliberately provokes the anger of his dad Phil by installing a fireman's pole in the house...in the middle of the night. And, for good measure, he transforms Casa Margera into a skate park. Next up, Bam invites the singing group Turbonegro for an in-house rock concert, while poor Phil is forced to go without food for 24 hours. Had enough? Well, Bam sure hasn't, as witnessed by the drawbridge and moat he constructs outside the house to accommodate a family reunion. Even Bam's efforts to give his parents a special wedding anniversary result in considerable pain and discomfort for Bam's dad Phil and mom April, with a Russian mail-order bride and a tacky tuxedo adding to the festivities. At least April is able to exact revenge on her darling boy -- but not before she had been hoodwinked into thinking her house has been blown up! The season finale is the infamous scavenger hunt, wherein all the Margeras, plus Bam's reprobate friends, speed around town in crummy used cars to locate such items as a "hot chick in lingerie," a bee sting, a cow's autograph, a fresh pile of road kill, and an edible worm. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Originally slated to air in the final months of 2003, CBS' long-awaited Survivor: All-Stars finally saw the light of day in early 2004, its debut episode telecast just after the network's Super Bowl coverage on February 1. As the title indicated, this eighth season of Survivor featured several of the most popular contestants from the past seven seasons, including such celebrated "sole survivors" as Richard Hatch, Jenna Morasca, and Tina Wesson, as well as such also-rans as the original Survivor's Rudy Boesch, Jenna Lewis, Ethan Zohn, and Susan Hawk; Survivor: The Australian Outback's Amber Brkich, Jerri Manthey, Alicia Calaway, and Colby Donaldson; Survivor: Marquesas' Rob Mariano and Kathy Vavrick-O'Brien; Survivor: Africa's Tom Buchanan and Lex Van den Berghe; Survivor: Pearl Islands' Rupert Boneham; Survivor: Thailand's Shii Ann Huang; and Survivor: The Amazon's Rob Cesternino. Survivor: All-Stars marked a number of firsts for the reality game show: the first time three rather than two tribes were set up in the opening episode; the first competition in which the reward challenge and immunity challenge were one and the same; the first time that a romance between two of the players blatantly (but tastefully) developed in front of the cameras rather than being merely hinted at; and the first instance wherein two contestants quit the show voluntarily within a single season. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi