Anyway, the excitement came from the announcement that for the first time ever, TARC would be broadcasting from the start line through Facebook Live. And damn, just as I've deactivated my FB account months ago. (Don't ask for my reasons cause I don't have the time here to tell you.) We've seen the US version do this many times and it's pretty cool. You got Phil and the racers and a big crowd of people, including former racers, gathered in some public location, usually the middle of New York City, to watch the action unfold. It's fun cause you can see the teams, possible recognize anybody who may be famous or a known entity. And I was glad the Canadian race decided to follow in the footsteps of the American race in this way,
So we waited Monday morning because they never told us what time. It could have been anytime on that day. Then it was announced later Monday morning (at least where I live) that they would go live at 3:45 PM ET. That meant 1:45 PM my time in Edmonchuk. I did the dishes, did some writing, ate lunch, pet the cat, dumped out the garbage, DMed some TAR fan friends on Twitter, waiting for 1:45. To get the feed, I briefly started a new FB account under another name. (Then later deactivated it.)
Around 1:40 there was a short video from some host guy at E-Talk. I could look up his name but he seemed a bit generic, sort of like the larger but younger brother of Rick the Temp (old Muchmusic fans will know who I mean). In the words of Douglas Adams, mostly harmless. He looked to be in a green location, leaves on trees, etc. which meant he was on the West Coast somewhere. Nowhere is really that green in Canada except on the West Coast. And there was a castle type building in the background so that told me probably Victoria. Generic Host Guy told we would witness the start in a couple of minutes.
He lied. It took about 15-20 minutes for anything serious to happen. Some fans on the feed started to get annoyed but most of us understood that preparing for a live shoot has its difficulties. So we waited. And finally we were live. But those who were hoping for a live start the same way the Americans did were let down. But not so much, in the end.
First off, Jon wasn't mic'd for the live feed. You could see him in the background, talking to the teams but you really couldn't hear him. There was excitement of cameras around but there was no crowd. Obviously the public was not invited. As for the seeing the teams, no such luck. All we got was a shot of their backs as they stood, two by two, in a semi-circle facing Jon. Even when GHG (Generic Host Guy) came over to talk to Jon, they made sure never to show the teams. It was neat to hear Jon talk just before the start and you tell by his voice, he was excited to be back on the race again. I must note that no matter how each season of TARC has been, Jon has been great. He's lost his nervousness of Season 1 and has become a great host. Many times, I've said Jon has become a much better host than Phil, mostly because Jon describes many tasks while actually doing them. So that was great.
And so was watching the teams start the race and run away. Still, it wasn't, I'm sure, what many expected, mostly because we've seen the Americans do it differently. But it was something. And it did get us all excited for Season 6 of TARC, which I hope, will be a lot better than Season 5. I have some misgivings about the "Heroes" season they are promoting but I'll keep them to myself. And it was also hard to get too excited about TARC because of the shocking events in Toronto that unfolded around the same time. Since many of the key producers and staff involved in the race live in Toronto, I'm sure that was also one their minds as well. Toronto's a great city full of great people so while this tragedy will be hard on them, they'll come through.
Teams are expected to be announced in the next few weeks so we'll see if we have time to do something when that happens. Stay tuned.