# Treasure Hunters (NBC's Amazing Race?)



## Danny R (Jul 5, 2002)

Being a fan of the Amazing Race, I will likely be tuning into this show to see if its got the right stuff. Based on the premise, it seems to be an Amazing Race type of reality show.

A quick look at the website seems to indicate that there will be teams of 3.

Anyone else planning on watching?



> TEN TEAMS SEEK A HIDDEN TREASURE AS THEIR QUEST BEGINS THIS SUMMER IN NBC'S "TREASURE HUNTERS"
> 
> BURBANK June 5, 2005 From the producers of "The Da Vinci Code" and "Last Comic Standing" comes NBC's "Treasure Hunters," a fast-paced adventure/mystery reality series where multi-player teams try to stay one step ahead of each other as they are mentally and physically challenged in their quest for a promised hidden treasure. The teams must avoid elimination as they travel to historically significant locations around the globe where they decipher cryptic codes and puzzles, each with a clue leading them closer to solving the ultimate puzzle, and obtaining the coveted grand prize.
> 
> ...


----------



## tsmacro (Apr 28, 2005)

Yeah I was thinking i'd check this one out also. We'll see if it becomes "DVR worthy".


----------



## Danny R (Jul 5, 2002)

It was a bit scripted (scene where both sets of 5 teams met for the first time was obviously setup for a camera as a preplanned event and not spontaneous) and repetetive (host kept repeating info 2-3 times), but generally it was fun to watch.

Its pretty similar to Amazing Race in that its a competition based on speed and the last team to the end each time seems to be eliminated..., but to progress requires the teams to do a bit more brainwork. 

Thus far I'll stick with it.


----------



## tsmacro (Apr 28, 2005)

Danny R said:


> It was a bit scripted (scene where both sets of 5 teams met for the first time was obviously setup for a camera as a preplanned event and not spontaneous) and repetetive (host kept repeating info 2-3 times), but generally it was fun to watch.
> 
> Its pretty similar to Amazing Race in that its a competition based on speed and the last team to the end each time seems to be eliminated..., but to progress requires the teams to do a bit more brainwork.
> 
> Thus far I'll stick with it.


Yeah I also thought the host repeating the directions for every single team was a bit annoying. I wasn't blown away, but it isn't terrible. I had fun playing around with their little game online also. I'll also stick with it for at least a few episodes to see how it develops.


----------



## cdru (Dec 4, 2003)

Crap. I forgot all about this. I was too busy watching reruns of Dirty Jobs. I guess I'll have to find the torret later this week and catch up.


----------



## Danny R (Jul 5, 2002)

Anyone else playing the 200,000 online game? Sure its just a huge promo for the sponsors, but its fun gathering the pieces. Of course the big question is where will the clues lead us and how does that puzzle come together.


----------



## tsmacro (Apr 28, 2005)

Danny R said:


> Anyone else playing the 200,000 online game? Sure its just a huge promo for the sponsors, but its fun gathering the pieces. Of course the big question is where will the clues lead us and how does that puzzle come together.


Yep i've completed week one's challenge. I also entered the $10,000 weekly contest during the first episode. Obviously I didn't win, otherwise ida been here telling everyone that Treasure Hunters was the best show ever! :lol:


----------



## cdru (Dec 4, 2003)

Ok. I finally watched it. There were elements that I liked and some that I hated. I liked that everything wasn't linear. You weren't given a task and told how to complete it, but rather clues that would help you. It also wasn't always obvious that you had done something wrong. It took a call to another team for the last 2 teams to realize they were at the wrong mountain.

The two biggest things I didn't like were the announcer and the horrible marketing of the sponsors. The way...the announcer...would...pause in the...middle of sentences...was...getting annoying...I...felt...like...I was listening...to a...computer. He's definitely not a Phil or Jeff. He reminds me of Van Wilder though. I realize that every show has to have sponsors, but the constant reminder of the Motorola Razr phones and Ask.com, with it's unique search capabilities took away a lot. Hopefully both of these improve but I doubt it.


----------



## Danny R (Jul 5, 2002)

This week had a cruel twist: take a 3 hour penalty or drop a member.

In my opinion, some of these teams should (and may yet) have taken advantage of that. The Fogal's would have gained the money and taken 1st place if they'd dropped their crybaby daughter.


----------



## tsmacro (Apr 28, 2005)

Danny R said:


> This week had a cruel twist: take a 3 hour penalty or drop a member.
> 
> In my opinion, some of these teams should (and may yet) have taken advantage of that. The Fogal's would have gained the money and taken 1st place if they'd dropped their crybaby daughter.


All I can say is that "winer Fogal" is lucky she was on a team with her parents or she would've been soooooo dropped by her team. Heck I get the impression the dad was considering it himself! I am rooting for them to get eliminated as i'm just so tired of hearing the little princess cry and wine.


----------



## tsmacro (Apr 28, 2005)

Ok so am I the only one left watching? :lol: Anyway at this point i'm pulling for the Geniuses, love an underdog! Plus I do get a little tired of these perfectly "made for tv" faces that they like to parade onto reality shows. At least the geniuses look more like your average person even if they are a bit brainier than most of us!:lol:


----------



## buzzdalf (Jan 27, 2003)

I'm watching it. I can't figure out how they are going to do this finale live. Isn't there still 3 teams racing to the finish?


----------



## Ron Barry (Dec 10, 2002)

Nope I am watching in and personally I wanted the Geniuses to get the boot. For one they are not geniuses and should have been called "Life Time Students" and two I find them annoying. 

I am personally rooting for the Air Force. I think they have shown the are the best team and therefore deserve to win. The geniuses has gotten lucky a few times through the race because of doing not so geniuses like things. 

I like the show a lot better than amazing race in terms of challenges and level of game play needed. Not a lot of softballs thrown. What I didn't like about the season is this gang up mentality to wards other strong teams and the fact that in a number of cases teams could piggy back on other teams figuring out the clues.


----------



## Danny R (Jul 5, 2002)

_I can't figure out how they are going to do this finale live. Isn't there still 3 teams racing to the finish?_

Unlike Amazing Race, each segment has all the teams starting at the same time. Thus they can simply hold the last segment till next week and show it live if they wish.

Or perhaps its something like Survivor where they finish the competition, but the final result isn't obvious to the teams and thus the show will be a "reveal" of the answer - perhaps each finding a key, but only one works to open the lock, etc.

----

Anybody play the online games? Each week we got a puzzle piece (whole showed the National Mall) and a clue. The clues together ask: "Where is the early symbol laid out for reef?"

For the past few weeks I've been guessing the National Museum of American History (where the Star Spangled Banner is displayed).

I'm hoping today to get a phone call from the game asking me to be a online contestant. ;-)


----------



## tsmacro (Apr 28, 2005)

Danny R said:


> _
> 
> Anybody play the online games? Each week we got a puzzle piece (whole showed the National Mall) and a clue. The clues together ask: "Where is the early symbol laid out for reef?"
> 
> ...


_

I actually was playing the online game for the first few weeks, but somewhere along the line I forgot to keep up with it. Good luck to ya, hope you're the online winner of the 200 grand! _


----------



## djlong (Jul 8, 2002)

I'm still watching it, and still liking it. I had a morbid sense of voyeurism watching the Southies virtually implode.

Granted this show hooked me because I was able to watch the first 3 hours at once AND it went through an area I know like the back of my hand (Boston) during that period. I mean, watching the Fogels get sent out to Framingham and Worcester while everyone else is headed to Chelsea only to find out that one of the next clues was in CONNECTICUT, therefore turning the Fogel's location instantly into an advantage from a liability...

I, too, am wondering how they'll pull off a 'live' finale.


----------



## CoriBright (May 30, 2002)

buzzdalf said:


> I'm watching it. I can't figure out how they are going to do this finale live. Isn't there still 3 teams racing to the finish?


Hmmm live. I'm in PST, we're hardly ever live, just 3 hours time delayed. When we get finales of Survivor, Amazing Race, Big Brother etc etc I wish it really was live.


----------



## tsmacro (Apr 28, 2005)

Well the "live" finale was somewhat underwhelming. But Congrats to the Geniuses, a cool million a piece will definitely let you get a jump-start on a thing or two!


----------



## Mark Holtz (Mar 23, 2002)

It was better than Amazing Race: Family Edition


----------



## IndyMichael (Jan 25, 2003)

Not too hard to be better than that, Mark


----------



## cdru (Dec 4, 2003)

tsmacro said:


> Well the "live" finale was somewhat underwhelming. But Congrats to the Geniuses, a cool million a piece will definitely let you get a jump-start on a thing or two!


Underwhelming is an understatement. We watched it last night. It was nice to see the underdogs who almost were eliminated come from behind and get it in the end. But after the first 5 minutes, the rest of the show was crap.

I could not believe how absolutely horrible the lightning and sound was during the live portion of the show. Could the $100,000 racer be any less enthusiastic about trying to get the money. If I was racing for $100k, I'd be running every place that I could, not taking a leisurely stroll through DC. Jeff and Phil have absolutely no worries about Laird pushing into their turf.

I'd like to see another season of the show as I think there were many good elements, but the execution of many parts also were terrible.


----------



## ibglowin (Sep 10, 2002)

At least the Amazing Race Family Edition gave us those wonderful Weavers (thank you Jesus) to watch every week as well as Phil keeping a straight face while telling the black Black family they have been eliminated!

Treasure Hunters final was deplorable. Laird should stick to what he probably does best, Magic.

The one moment that was actually worth watching when the Geniuses came onstage and where all being hugged and congratulated by the others he actually started pulling people apart after only 5 seconds like they were so scared/paranoid about time running out that they just couldn't afford to give 30 seconds for people to shake hands. It was a very ackward moment to say the least.

I would watch it again if they dumped Laird for someone else and made some changes to the format.



Mark Holtz said:


> It was better than Amazing Race: Family Edition


----------



## djlong (Jul 8, 2002)

Dump Laird? HEAR HEAR!!!

Breaking up that group hug was DEPLORABLE. For crying out loud, you could have eliminated one or two of the questions to contestants if you were running over time. You can't tell me that the "what surprised you most" questions weren't rehearsed because they asked PARTICULAR contestants with video at the ready.

And please - announce the bleeping prize... Don't stand there teasing them with silence.

I really liked the show - a lot - EXCEPT when Laird was on. Whether it was his phone messages where he can't decide whether he's God or a computer, or his atrocious behavior during the finale - the only excuse for him was that he was taking direction to BE like that.

I must confess that I didn't see "FSKEY" coming. I thought I had a brainstorm when I thought the code might have been "OSCYS" (Oh Say Can You See) but I was obviously wrong.


----------



## Ron Barry (Dec 10, 2002)

I would actually have to say that i liked it better than amazing race in general. The problem I have always had with Amazing race is that the challenges were pretty tame and they went for demographics. Also the constant airport sync is a big problem.

With Treasure hunters, Demographics seem to be in play but not to the level of Amazing Race. And don't even get me started on the family edition. What a huge mistake. 

I really did not want the geniuses to win mainly because: One from what I can tell and their description I would not use the word geniuses. Should have been Life time students. Two, I thought that they did some real dumb things along the way and got very lucky. Luck of course is part of the game, but I tend to go with the people that appeared to have done the best and that was clearly Air Force (However that could be just they way the show made Airforce to be). Also, I hate the gang up on a strong team tactic and I always want it to result in the groups that play that game to have it backfire in their face. It is kinda of like on the Apprentice when everyone takes the mob mentality and gangs up on trying to get someone booted. Usually does not work for Apprentice, but in this case it can. This is a big issue in shows like this and I really think the show producers should try and make it such that each team must stand on their own, but I also understand it is hard to do. 

Air force played a strong game, personally I was rooting for them. The Southie boys would have been my second choice with the Geniuses a third. Oh well... I did enjoy the show. 

As to the 100K walk, my guess is they had a rule that you could not run. If you noticed, one of the contestants was in a power wheel chair. My guess was the walking rule was to try and level the playing field. I laughed when at the final the guy walked up and there was the trophy right in front. Seemed very any climatic. 

Also did you notice how one team only had 2 members at the final show, but there was no mention of it. It was the first team eliminated.. 

Well I do feel the show needs some tweaking.. But I did enjoy it and I agree the final show was bad.


----------



## BobMurdoch (Apr 24, 2002)

I'm shocked they figured out FSKEY. Way too obscure compared to their other clues that were solvable....

I swore the clue was going to be STARS, as they kept having red stars as clue markers throughout the show.... I was half right as the star was the symbol they had to push to get access to the chamber (I would have been pushing the stars before even opening the tube ... those old chambers always had a symbol that had to be pushed or turned with a key -)


----------



## Ron Barry (Dec 10, 2002)

I would have done the same Bob. Surprised nobody did. Wonder what would have happend if someone did. Wonder if there was a rule that the clue must be solved first. I know earlier that there were teams that solved a clue by luck and was allowed to move on. Would have sucked if someone walked in and pushed the star.... Actually amazed someone did not.


----------



## BobMurdoch (Apr 24, 2002)

I don't know...... like the watercolor map that someone figured before going to the miniature Statue of Liberty, they would have had to allow it, I would think.....


----------

