HIGHWAY 18 - Slow Play Is Not An Option

[Smallville]

My wife and I enjoy this show. It's like the Amazing Race, golf version.

[jking]

Got to see some more personalities come out in this episode, as expected.

Raul and Jameica seem to be just simply nice people. That's great, but on a show like this, unfortunately they haven't yet shown me a lot to make me root either for or against them (yet).

The NC guys are still my favorites at this point, and the girls dropped a little on my favorites list. I didn't have anything specifically against anything they did in this episode (these girls are still "polite" in comparison to some of the antics I've seen on the Amazing Race over the years), but I found myself rooting for them to come in last of the final three teams that were battling it out.

Conversely, the brother/sister team moved up a little on my list. I thought after the first episode that they would turn out to be the ruthless competitors, and they obviously do want to win, but I haven't seen them do anything other than play their own game to this point. I can respect that.

Still don't think a lot of the father/son combo. I just think the son is very arrogant and disrespectful to his father.

[Tha Fuzzy 1]

Even with all the conniving, schemeing, and dirty tricks that A&A; pulled, it was quite apropro to me that they came in last. It goes to show you that the most important thing in this show is the golf.

[jking]

  Tha Fuzzy 1 said:

Even with all the conniving, schemeing, and dirty tricks that A&A; pulled, it was quite apropro to me that they came in last. It goes to show you that the most important thing in this show is the golf.

I think the biggest difference between this show and the Amazing Race is the distances between challenges the competitors are traveling. When you are on the Amazing Race and driving a couple hundred miles between challenges or trying to fight to make a flight at the last minute, those little tricks that the girls pulled might work, but when you only have 7 miles from one place to another, making someone drive slow or passing your competitors is only going to give you a couple of minutes at best. So at the end of the day, it's not worth it. You're not going to gain that much of an advantage, and you're going to end up having people gunning for you.

[MunkeyGolfer]

  jking said:

Still don't think a lot of the father/son combo. I just think the son is very arrogant and disrespectful to his father.

I agree with you. I can't believe the son would treat his father this way. If I hadn't seen that they were father/son duo, I wouldn't think they were related at all.

  jking said:

I think the biggest difference between this show and the Amazing Race is the distances between challenges the competitors are traveling.

I would love to see them travel just a little further than what they are. But I do love how the important factor of the show is how well you play golf versus getting lucky breaks on traveling.

[jking]

  MunkeyGolfer said:

I would love to see them travel just a little further than what they are. But I do love how the important factor of the show is how well you play golf versus getting lucky breaks on traveling.

Yeah, that gets annoying on AR sometimes, but it does make for good drama. My thinking was that they confined Highway 18 to short distances just because of budget constraints due to the first season of a new show. If it gets good ratings, I could easily see the show move to more teams and possibly a country-wide race in a future season.

Another difference in AR that I noticed is that all teams are starting each leg at the same time, versus staggered based on their previous-leg arrival time like on AR. I guess it's not going to be a big issue because I'd guess all teams will arrive within an hour or so of each other based on the previously mentioned short travel times. But I can see where it could be construed as unfair if a team is way ahead of the pack and has to give up their lead when starting the next leg.

[cart_racr]

The host of this show is cheesy, fake, and annoying

[iacas]

  jking said:

Another difference in AR that I noticed is that all teams are starting each leg at the same time, versus staggered based on their previous-leg arrival time like on AR.

I wouldn't mind seeing that too. Even if they split them up by a pre-determined amount of time, like 15 minutes apart. There would be some incentive to come in first or second and not just "at least one ahead of last place."

  cart_racr said:

The host of this show is cheesy, fake, and annoying

Eh, the host has hosts a daily show:

http://www.golfnow.com/tv/ . It's been around for awhile, so she must be doing okay in the minds of enough people.

[Golfgal]

  Alex B said:

I did not find it funny, but rather rude and unsafe. In addition to possibly endangering other drivers and pedestrians (the van driver who slowed down is responsible for this as well), the girls breached a fundamental aspect of the decency and etiquette that defines golf and competition in general: they disrespected their competition and used unfair and dangerous means to beat them. They violated the competition's spirit.

Hey Alex. Based on your comment, I decided to find out more about A&A;'s alleged unsafe and disrespectful behavior when I talked today with Jameica and Raul and Keri Murphy . I got their opinions and also some bonus stories and material they didn't show on TV. Cheers Gayle

[Q.Q.Quillume]

  Golfgal said:

...I decided to find out more about A&A;'s alleged unsafe and disrespectful behavior when I talked today with

Of your Hwy-18 interviews, I've listened to one in its entirety and parts of two others; with run times of 9 to 14 (or more minutes), it can take a while! I'm hoping to find the time Thursday to listen to all of them. And, certainly before the next show.

[JackieTreehorn]

The challenge was poorly thought out...Why have an golf event where you have to hit just 1 ball into the Gator "F" 60 yards away. Most of them did that within 10 shots or under 2 minutes. That is the equivalent to missing one red light. It is basically a [car] driving test!
They should've made the challenge more difficult [like in Amazing Race]...say 20 balls in the "F" each!
Golf Channel---hire me! I'll design good challenges.

[Golfgal]

  Q.Q.Quillume said:

Of your Hwy-18 interviews, I've listened to one in its entirety and parts of two others; with run times of 9 to 14 (or more minutes), it can take a while! I'm hoping to find the time Thursday to listen to all of them. And, certainly before the next show.

Yes, they can run on :) I try to keep them under 10 minutes, but sometimes it's hard to stop - they are fun to talk to. What I like about this show over

Big Break Ka'anapali is that the contestants remained friends after the show - there's drama, but nothing really nasty. BB got so nasty it was hard interviewing both sides of the fight. Hard not to pick sides :) I'd love to chat with the "good ole boys" sometime - they are a hoot! I'd really like to know what they thought about Ashley's trick with the cable guy. Gayle

[worst_shot_ever]

I'm sure they're nice, fun gals, but under pressure the Ashley/eigh team exhibits the behavior one might expect from girls who have relied on stereotypical sexual attractiveness to gain advantage their entire lives. Men don't realize what damage they do when they fawn all over superficially attractive women -- too much positive reinforcement can be a bad thing. That said, I'm as weak as the next guy and would probably drive slowly to give them an unfair advantage any time they asked. But I suppose it is for this reason that I was pleased that the test of golf did for them this episode. Much better than making the deciding factor a test of driving.

I really like Charlotte for some reason. She seems intelligent, rational, well manered, and has definite golf chops. She's also quite cute in her own right. Indeed, were I a single production assistant on Highway 18 seeking to date a contestant, I'd pick her over Ashleigh/ey any time.

[Chilli Dipper]

  JackieTreehorn said:

The challenge was poorly thought out...Why have an golf event where you have to hit just 1 ball into the Gator "F" 60 yards away. Most of them did that within 10 shots or under 2 minutes. That is the equivalent to missing one red light. It is basically a [car] driving test!

They should have made the contestants knock a pitching wedge between the uprights from the opposite goal line. Now

that would have been a challenge.

[iacas]

  Chilli Dipper said:

They should have made the contestants knock a pitching wedge between the uprights from the opposite goal line. Now

Well, that's 110 yards away, so some of them might not have gotten it there. I'll assume you'd let them use an 8-iron or 9-iron or something, though.

The goalposts are 23'4" wide, so I'm not sure that would be very challenging. I'd suspect no more challenging than the "hit it on the logo" thing they had to do.

[Q.Q.Quillume]

  Golfgal said:

...I'd love to chat with the "good ole boys" sometime - they are a hoot! I'd really like to know what they thought about Ashley's trick with the cable guy...

If you do, ask them if they ever eat at Wilber's BBQ if you have a chance.

http://www.hollyeats.com/Wilbers.htm It's right there in Goldsboro and it's pretty doggone good!

[lesliebgolf]

After reading all these comments....I would have to say...the Ashley/Ashleigh team are buying into the stereotypical role of the dumb blondes (so are the viewers) and playing it very well. That type of thing never interest me. I am pulling for the underdogs....Raul and Jameica. They seem like the most down to earth team. Being that they are both minorities, don't think many people would pay much attention to them since this is the world we live in. Go Raul and Jameica!

[beisenhauer]

Charlotte: Those girls bother me.

Classic. Succinct, understated, and spot on. And for my money she's better looking than Ashle(y/igh), but I've always liked athletic brunettes.