Can you believe the pastor stole the grad chicks box?!

With Amazing Race, I'm pretty much riveted and paying attention to it the whole time through -- Treasure Hunters, I couldn't care about the characters, their confusing quests, and the hoooooorrible host.

But B-Side, as long as you keep doin' the recaps, I'll keep watchin' the show. And usin' apostrophes at the end of transitive verbs.

Can we get a network crossover with Phil just eliminating this whole show? Better yet the A-List reality show hosts Phil, Jeff and Ryan have a tribal council of hosts and vote Laird off the island?

LOVE the exciting pic of Laird! Makes me totally want to tune in!! Um, not...

Guess I should go back and read the rest of the recap, but that pic of Laird made me sleepy for some reason. Maybe later...

As a huge Amazing Race fan, I really tried to watch Treasure Hunters, but I just couldn't get into it. I think I was turned off by the product placement, especially the Ask.com shirts that so many of them were wearing. I know that TAR and all of the other reality showed hawk products too, but it seemed more blatant on TH. For some reason, that (and the annoying host) really got on my nerves.

This show is mildly amusing, although overproduced and oddly edited. I mean, when people who seemed to have no clue suddenly and magically end up at the next task, I call shenanigans. But I'll watch it, because I'm a reality TV junkie.

And who is this Laird guy? He looks so familiar. Maybe a soap actor?

I sooo wanted this to be a good show. It sooo wasn't.

A bad cross between TAR and the Da Vinci Code. But the puzzles aren't as tricky. Plus, each team had a plane waiting to take them to Nebraska? Where's the challenge in that - you're just asking for teams to catch up.

The contrived crash site was funny because I used to live on Maui and have been to Hana and the Black Sand Beach many times. I don't recall a plane crash with a bunch unopened crates lying along the cliff. Plus, the trail is pretty well-worn so it's Stupid that the Gene-yus-izz lost track. Dummies.

I discussed the show with my coworkers today. I want to like it so I'll give it another shot. If anything, I get to see Mrs. Pastor Fogal yell about her sexual frustrations.

You know what's REALLY cheesy about the show? The cell phones. Hooray for technology, I guess?? But I HATE them; They're so cheesy, with the cheesy ring and the cheesy host and the cheesy "please stay seated until the ride has come to a complete stop" voice.

The show definitely lacks the planning of TAR. Case-in-point:

"...there were only nine artifacts for ten teams"

So in effect, the 9th team to arrive can HOG all the capsules (like the Geniuses did with their thingie) and spend all the time they wanted to open the thing, while the 10th team scampers around pointlessly. And it's not like the producers made it a mystery of which ones were full/empty. They should have seen it coming that teams would just shake the capsules.

Same thing with the umbrella keys, the Stillwater Washington clue, etc. It's just not fun when every successive team can look/listen 2 feet in either direction to see what other people did to complete the task. (But I guess that problem isn’t exclusive to this show)

Perhaps we're all just accustomed to the well-oiled machine that is TAR, eh?

And it’s not JUST these things either. For one reason or another I’m just not very impressed with Treasure Hunters; thumbs DOWN! It’s just… I don’t know… CHEESY!

But I'll still watch it because, similar to many of you guys, I'm also a reality TV junkie.

I thought I was the only one who couldn't seem to get into this show. I miss Phil...

I loved the recap, B-Side but I'm sorry you didn't enjoy the show. I thought it was hilarious. Yes, it's overproduced and Laird is a Chenbot wanna be but that's part of the fun. I mean these people are every bit as idiotic and annoying as people on any other reality show so just sit back and enjoy. Especially the Hanlons calling out random numbers to open the capsule. What was that about?
I'm afraid I must quibble- morse code hasn't been used for anything official in more than a decade now so there's no reason for the Air Force team to know it.
And I believe the reason Laird said the atifact time capsule was similiar to the one hidden at Mt Rushmore is because the container is the same, not the contents. Of course, you may have been just joking instead of complaining and I'm being just as dense as the contestants.
Anyway, I think the show will grow on you- like manboobs on team Genuises. Really how smart could they be, not realizing the potential that name had for humor?

I kinda like the show. Not nearly as exciting as "The Amazing Race" but I gotta watch something this summer. Nobody really stood out for me to root for, but there's certainly a villain. Pastor Fogal! I couldn't believe he stole the clue right out of that girl's hand. It was hilarious. I got someone to root against now. What about the yelling mother and the whiny daughter Weaver flashbacks! I have 3 teams I like, Southie, Air-Force, and Grad Students. The Brown Family is really annoying. I think I'm gonna keep watching the show as long as they keep it on Monday nights because I got Big Brother on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays. Then I got "So You Think You Can dance" on Wednesdays and Thursdays. So the timeslot for "Treasure Hunters" is perfect for me.

I just couldn't get into this show either, but the recap was awfully funny, B-Side! You made the 20 or so minutes I spent watching this wannabe Amazing Race worthwhile, at least! As I said before, I just couldn't sit through this whole show. And I think B-Side expertly highlighted the problem (as usual) ... too many "huh??" moments. There was no explanation of what the teams were searching for, or of how the clues were being given, or of what the teams really had to do, or of how the teams would be eliminated. There was no interaction with the host (Laird is definitely no Phil!) The whole cellphone thing was too annoying. It was weirdly edited and too over-produced or something (as others have already said in the comments). And, it didn't give the audience a chance to figure out the clues with the teams -- that whole "Stillwater Washington" thing is a perfect example -- I too thought it was an actual location. I had no idea that the teams had to decode the clue. Although, I admit that I wasn't paying too much attention to the show at that point because the annoyance factor for me was reaching critical levels.

I don't watch much tv in the summertime (to make up for the abnormal amount that I watch the rest of the year) and I probably won't be tuning in regularly to this show. It's hard to get behind something that is such a blatant ripoff of one of my favorite shows of all time. I gots to be loyal to the Philster! But, the recaps, as always, will be required summer reading!

"I just couldn't get into this show either, but the recap was awfully funny, B-Side! You made the 20 or so minutes I spent watching this wannabe Amazing Race worthwhile, at least!"

Thanks bluebell for saying it for me...

"the Grad Students who seemed to be all working towards a masters in jug technology..."

The Grad Students are from my part of the country and I like to think all the women from around here look like them.

It isn't true but I like to think it.

hb

Any time, hb, any time!

I'm reserving negative comments for this show quite yet. Nothing can compete with TAR, but I'll have to give this show one or two more chances to completely fail me.

Plus, the show is just THAT more interesting with b-sides excellent recaps!

I miss my Phil and his package. You notice there are no shots of the Laird package. That is because he is robot.

Sweet, sweet Phil . . . you have nothing to fear from this lame-ass show.

B-Side: That was an awesome recap of a show I didn't watch/know existed...But can we make a rule? This is my request: If you are going to discuss the chestly attributes of the females, we need screencaps! Refer to the last two Hell's Kitchen posts to see this idea carried out to perfection. Many thanks.

B-Side, nice work on the Big Business reference. Love that scene in the bathroom. When the two groups met in Nebraska one of the guys, maybe from CIA said, at first I thought we were looking in a mirror. Wow.

So I was impressed with some of the tasks and puzzles and I felt like a total idiot because I thought Stillwater Washington was also the name of the place they had to go. But the pace is bad and do they really have to show us each team receiving Laird's message. Seriously, once is enough. But I'll watch again next week.

When it comes to adventure-reality shows hosts, we've all been Philspoiled. No one else can compare.

Thanks for the nice recap for a flawed show. TAR tends to build drama by showing us those moments of discovery – the moments between – but here they are mostly glossed over or omitted completely. Did I miss the Browns having to dive for their clue, for example? And, yeah, how did those supposed geniuses get un-lost? I think the producers/editors need to remember that it is not the end result that is the drama – it’s how they got there, or how they didn’t.

The lowlight: stupid cell phone motif. WTF? Do they really have cell service on a glacier? That whole bit really bugs. Too many disconnects from reality for me (but there I go, expecting reality from a reality show).

The highlight: Random-Man Honlon picking up every loose item in the park thinking it may be a clue. Brilliant idiocy at it’s best.

where the MTB3 recap Bside!

The show may be slow to start but with "Team Manboobs" and "Mullet Magic" B-Side has already managed to deliver some great recap nuggets.

The Fogal's are disgusting. Hoping to see someone knock the Paster on his ass may be my only reason for watching the show. I do agree that the 2nd half of the show was at least better than the 1st.

I'm pretty disappointed! Alright so it definitely shows that a lot of work went into the tasks and forcing the 'code' theme of the show. I hate being negative but damn, I was bored watching it!

Besides not exactly knowing what the prize is, the robotic host, those freakin annoying cellphone calls and them skipping over important development, I don't like that the teams have already been nicknamed for the viewers! 'Geniuses'? I don't think so! 'Young Professionals'? Catchy name! It could be because there are so many people still in the 'hunt' but it's all so impersonal. On the Amazing Race, the teams come up with nicknames for the other teams (or for themselves like 'MoJo' or Guido). I always thought it was cute how it just happened naturally on the Race, not just pre-scripted that way.

Anyways, since TVgasm is covering the show and I'm a believer in second chances, I'll still watch next week's episode to see if it improves now that I have an idea how teams get 'eliminated'. The show just runs out of clues for them! Nice! :)

*Thanks for the recap, B-Side. You're good at giving funny recaps of 'blah' shows!

I'm relieved to know I wasn't the only one disappointed by the show. As long as B-Side's doing the recaps, I'll keep watching.

BTW, B-Side, I did see the D-List episode in Iraq. It was a great show-I'm now hooked, between that and the previous epi where the guy who paid to spend time with her couldn't have cared less about anything. Is there a D-List recap? Should be.

Put me down as one of the few who likes dreamy Laird. He may not be Phil or Jeff, but that's his charm! He is a calm, reassuring presence in the turbulent world of Treasure Hunters.

I'm enjoying the show, but the biggest problem with it lays in one area... post-production. All the elements for a rockin' show are there, but it is over-produced and oddly edited. I wanted to see the teams' reactions when they discovered that they'd all be in Lincoln at the same time!
This does lead to some strangely humourous moments though. Once the teams met, if you listed to it you could totally tell when Laird was speaking to them in person and when he was doing a voice-over - and it kept cutting between the two!

Oh, on the next episode watch Ma Fogal's eyes. She is so just one dead husband away from being Linda Weaver.