'Amazing' Dilemma

Watching last night's "Amazing Race" reminded me of one of my favorite aspects of the show: the pulling-for-half-the-team dilemma.

To wit, the father-daughter duo of Ronald and Christina. Christina is the perfectly charming daughter who managed to turn out OK despite having an insane, tyrannical father. If she won the $1 million, I wouldn't be too upset. (Though at this stage, I'm pulling for the hot blonds. My rule for "The Amazing Race" is that, until I get to know the teams better, when in doubt, pull for the hot blonds.)

But, after two episodes, Ronald has proven to be perhaps the most irritating single racer in show history. It wasn't just his embarrassing tirade at another team in the airport, nor his arguing becoming so incessant that Christina had to stop and ask him to stop berating her.

By the time he gave his fifth or sixth bit of instruction to her on the pole vault, I was literally yelling at the TV for him to just shut the heck up. I honestly can't picture nine or 10 more weeks with this guy.

How bad is he? I would root for the evil team of Rob and Amber of any team with Ronald. Heck, he makes the whiny, irritating Flo from Season 3 or 4 (I forget which) seem like a lovely ray of sunshine in comparison.

I mean, Ronald called his seemingly nicely proportioned daughter "fat" as they climbed aboard the bicycle for the final homestretch, this after she completed the pole vault relatively quickly.

So, we return to the dilemma: Do I pull for Christina, who deserves a hell of a lot more than $1 million for putting up with this guy, knowing that Ronald gets half? Or do I pull against her, knowing that means she has to go through this horrible experience and not get any reward out of it.

Meanwhile, it's hard to pick a favorite out of the rest of the field. The cute sisters whine a bit too much; the kid-grandfather team is pretty hopeless (what were they thinking letting the old man try the pole vault); and all of the good-looking boy-girl teams have kind of melded together so far. The Goths, however, are hilarious. I'm hoping they stick around for a while (along with the hot blonds, of course).

Which teams are you pulling for and pulling against?

MONDAY'S BEST BETS: Oh, to be "Chuck." (NBC, 8 p.m.) Tonight, he seemingly has to choose between his pretend, secret agent girlfriend (Yvonne Strahovski) and guest star Rachel Bilson. Why don't I ever have to be faced with these choices? It's followed by a new "Heroes," coming off its best episode of the season, and a new "Journeyman."

"Prison Break" (Fox, 8 p.m.) has so far been more affected by the WGA strike than any other show (not because of good writing; that disappeared about two-thirds of the way into Season 1) because it will return after a short break in January instead of April, which was the original plan. It's followed by a new "K-Ville," which is benefitting from the strike by virtue of the fact it hasn't been cancelled.

If you want a taste of what you may be in for over the next few months if the strike continues, check out ABC, with "Dancing With The Stars" (ABC, 8 p.m.) and "The Bachelor" (ABC, 10 p.m.) They sandwich "Samantha Who?" (ABC, 9:30 p.m.), one of the few decent sitcoms ABC has turned out in the last decade or so.

CBS is all-new with its comedy lineup, followed by "CSI: Miami" at 10 p.m. Sister network The CW also brings you all-new stuff.