The Magic Cape Race... you have been warned
So I watched The Magic Cape Race last night on SABC3, and yes, it is as big a botch-up as I thought it would be. I understand that the makers would have to be careful of infringing too much on The Amazing Race’s format, or face legal action, but there are some basic, fundamental errors made.
The main one is that the series is completely devoid of character. The Amazing Race introduces the competitors taking part: You learn that Dad A is away on business trips frequently and rarely spends time with his family; you learn that Mom B is a widow struggling financially to raise 3 kids, and you learn that Brothers C aren’t exactly enthusiastic about their youngest sibling coming out of the closet. This kind of information, whether dropped in tidbits, or painted in broad strokes, gets the viewer emotionally involved – for better or worse.
It’s no fault of the local competitors in The Magic Cape Race, but they’re presented sans personality or motivation. The series creators might as well have glued human masks on a troop of Vervet Monkeys and unleashed them in the Cape Winelands. The last team to arrive doesn’t even get a chance to talk about their race experiences. They just stand in front of the series host, smiling goofily.
As for the series format, it’s just one massive marketing exercise for Toyota and a winemaker. Somehow, foolishly, the producers have managed to bring together drinking and driving as the basis for a reality show in a country that has one of the highest road death rates in the world. Well done.
Of course, the contestants actually don’t get to drink the wine. In one of last night’s challenges, they had to match different wines to different meals: a curry, fish and lamb stew. Now if this had been The Amazing Race they would have had to taste the wines and down the meal until they found the right combination. Not in The Magic Cape Race! Contestants just run down to wine racks, grab bottles and prop them up next to the plates until the restaurant manager is happy.
Gripping stuff.
Each episode is 30 minutes long – and follows the same format of contestants arsing about at a different vineyard – and the SABC is shedding 2 episodes every Tuesday evening for the next 4 or so weeks… until this mediocre monstrosity is over.
The only thing I can think of to make The Magic Cape Race more palatable is to transform it into a drinking game. Every time the wooden voice-over (which never deviates from marketing speak!) promotes the Toyota Corolla Verso and its features, take a shot of your favourite spirit. You’ll need it.
The main one is that the series is completely devoid of character. The Amazing Race introduces the competitors taking part: You learn that Dad A is away on business trips frequently and rarely spends time with his family; you learn that Mom B is a widow struggling financially to raise 3 kids, and you learn that Brothers C aren’t exactly enthusiastic about their youngest sibling coming out of the closet. This kind of information, whether dropped in tidbits, or painted in broad strokes, gets the viewer emotionally involved – for better or worse.
It’s no fault of the local competitors in The Magic Cape Race, but they’re presented sans personality or motivation. The series creators might as well have glued human masks on a troop of Vervet Monkeys and unleashed them in the Cape Winelands. The last team to arrive doesn’t even get a chance to talk about their race experiences. They just stand in front of the series host, smiling goofily.
As for the series format, it’s just one massive marketing exercise for Toyota and a winemaker. Somehow, foolishly, the producers have managed to bring together drinking and driving as the basis for a reality show in a country that has one of the highest road death rates in the world. Well done.
Of course, the contestants actually don’t get to drink the wine. In one of last night’s challenges, they had to match different wines to different meals: a curry, fish and lamb stew. Now if this had been The Amazing Race they would have had to taste the wines and down the meal until they found the right combination. Not in The Magic Cape Race! Contestants just run down to wine racks, grab bottles and prop them up next to the plates until the restaurant manager is happy.
Gripping stuff.
Each episode is 30 minutes long – and follows the same format of contestants arsing about at a different vineyard – and the SABC is shedding 2 episodes every Tuesday evening for the next 4 or so weeks… until this mediocre monstrosity is over.
The only thing I can think of to make The Magic Cape Race more palatable is to transform it into a drinking game. Every time the wooden voice-over (which never deviates from marketing speak!) promotes the Toyota Corolla Verso and its features, take a shot of your favourite spirit. You’ll need it.
Comments
Why do we suck at making reality shows? We need sponsors for absolutely everything!
The narrator is the pits! The hamper the one family won was a joke - looked like one bottle of wine and some nuts. M-Net did well with Survivor, but I'm afraid SABC has stuffed this up royally. Everything is done on the cheap! I definitely won't watch it again.
Lord Spaceman, I don't think it's a case of the international shows not having sponsors, but they integrate them into the show a lot more subtly (if someone wins a prize from a hotel chain in The Amazing Race, we aren't subjected to a full minute of marketing bullshit about "how great the hotels are"). The huge downfall of most SA TV is our complete lack of subtlety; treating the audience as if we are braindead.
Rebecca, I'd be careful. You may die from alcohol poisoning ;)
Hazel, see, in a few sentences you've made me far more interested in the fate of the young guys team. They're one of the more interesting (and eye candy-ish)teams on the show, but the audience is being prevented from making any kind of emotional connection... which is a huge pity.
And Hanlie, yeah, I loved that budget hamper, and the winners' befuddled expressions when they received it... Classic!