The Amazing Race, Season 29

I purchased a number of Amazing Race DVDs a while back, and am only now catching up to watching them. I had playback issues with the DVD of season 25 — sudden freezes, jamming, stalling, some of which restarted after a few seconds or so, some of which didn't. You can imagine my surprise then, and annoyance, when I started watching season 29 last night and found it even worse. The first disc will not play at all, from a third of the way into the first episode. Chapter stops won't override it, and episode 2 won't load at all from the menu. CBS Video's quality control is clearly lacking. And, worse, this has been a number of years now, so it means Amazon is trading in old stock. It's too late for me to return, so I'm obviously stuck, forgive the pun. I'm posting this as a warning to other prospective buyers. Caveat emptor. The Amazing Race DVDs from season 24 to season 29 (that I know of) are defective. And, yes, I tried these discs on different players, from different manufacturers (Toshiba, Sony, etc.)

I was a little disappointed in this season. They attempted to mix up the formula for entertainment but it was a fail. The premise that complete strangers working together would create more drama didn't quite make it. I think the contestants made a greater effort to work together than would partners. Also, they were striving for only half a prize rather than the entire million.The technical end was a dismal failure. The direction was awful. If I hadn't been a faithful followers of the TAR, I would have been lost from the start. They left out a lot of movement concluding that the audience knew what was going on maybe. That's okay but it was a little annoying. An example: In the first episode the contestants were challenged with bringing back bags with the flag of the country they were going to visit. The purpose of the exercise was to assist the crew in pairing of the contestants randomly. Okay, but later when did they actually pick up their bags. They just magically appeared when they got to their destination. That was just one example but there were others that were more serious and cause the audience pause.

I don't think it's really fair to give the show a poor rating just because you are not happy with how fast the episodes are loaded onto Amazon. The show is great as always. I love the amazing race and hope they continue it. I am fine with the lag between episodes. It keeps me from watching it too fast and when I get an e-mail telling me the next episode is available it gives me something to look forward to for that evening.

Editing my previous one-star review (given due to Amazon's delay in posting episodes) in recognition that Amazon has obviously heard the customer complaints - episodes 9 and 10 were posted lightning-fast after being aired.And the season itself is worthy of five stars. I was skeptical of this year's gimmick of putting together pairs of strangers, but it's worked! It's been fun watching the teams work things through and the locations and challenges have been great.

This season of the Race is phenomenal. I have watched 17 seasons of this show and this one is my favorite. The show has made incredible progress with their camerawork and this season's photography puts you right in the action. The teams are all very likeable and Phil plays a much more active role which is totally awesome!

Fast shipping. Item is in great shape.

Entertaining season - Horrible customer service from Amazon. I purchased a season pass and I don't think it's too much to ask that episodes are uploaded in a reasonable amount of time. It has taken up to 5 days for new episodes to appear after being broadcast. Excuse me?! I PAID for that show! I've had no trouble going to CBS.com and watching the full episode there HOURS after broadcast. I'm not going to buy any more season passes. Not when I can see them free in a timely manner elsewhere. Sorry Amazon! Fix the issue and I might reconsider my decision.

Season 29 is so much better than last season (28). Down to earth contestants that you find yourself cheering for. Season 28 was a bunch of attention starved youtubers screaming into the camera every 5 seconds. Extremely annoying to watch, hope they never do that again.

The dvd arrived in good condition have yet to play dvd. Their have been some minor glitches with the recordings on playback due to some surface grime in the process of handling in the recording snd packing of the dvd? Cleaned and played though the stoppages.

Great season with some interesting personalities. The dreaded challenge of trying to pedal the bike laden with shrimp traps reared its head again in Vietnam . The couples didn’t know each other before the Race and it’s fascinating to see their relationship evolve. Some great locations, too, especially Zanzibar. Love The Amazing Race!

Quick delivery -no issues