August 01, 2005
Season 6 and the Mactors
One of the criticisms of Season 6 of The Amazing Race was that the cast was almost entirely made up of models/actors (often called "mactors"). Now, I understand that all reality TV shows are never 100% reality, but the backlash from the fans about a show full of pretty (and often dumb) models is fully deserved. This is why I think that the casting calls for TAR9 were in rural areas, where the turn-out would be a lot more real, normal people rather than the part-time actor and model who is already comfortable in front of a television camera.
This shift in casting logic appears to benefit our efforts in being cast, as while we're not "normal" in the sense of most Americans (e.g we're twins) we are from the Midwest and have called NYC our home for tha past five years.
We also think we have a good shot at getting a callback, since we fit one of the "slots" that casting directors are often trying to fill. The TV-watching public likes to watch interesting and different people, and twins are a natural choice for this. The fact that we are also bloggers only helps them, as the marketing possibilities increase exponentially.
More about casting slots: Casting directors know what kinds of people they are looking for. For The Amazing Race, they are looking for teams of two people who form a dynamic and interesting relationship together on-screeen. Again, a natural choice is to choose twins, who have spent their entire lives together, are best friends, brothers and think so much alike they finish each other's sentences. Other slots that might be filled are The Grandparents, the Married Couple, the Gay Couple, the Frat Brothers, the Firemen, the Sisters, the Childhood Friends, etc. All of these teams possess characteristics that make them a natural fit for casting a show that is all about human relationships, communication and thinking fast under pressure and sleep deprivation.
Posted by Cameron at August 1, 2005 08:30 PM
