The Boston-based reality show
The Outraged Liberal thinks it'd be a sure thing: Transit Terror:
... Join Mary and Donna and Bill and Robert as they ride the mean streets and underground of Boston, forced to make split-second decisions on how and when to pay, where to get off (and avoid being told where to get off).
T general manager Dan Grabauskas and the Globe's Mac Daniel join Simon Cowell and the gang in judging a rider's agility and savvy negotiating the obstacles and the people who make up the nation's oldest transit system. ...
Ed. snark: This is too easy. Can the judges. Get Jeff Probst in here with a bunch of perky young thangs (and a couple of token old geezers; one of them Buzz Aldrin) and THEN set them loose on the T. One tribe could live in one of the old trolleys at Boylston; the other could set up camp at the Riverside train yard. Give them authentic local names: Reveah and Ahlington, say. Object: See who's the first to navigate the T to Boston Rob's house to beat the tar out of him (for no particular reason, except I'm sick of him). Winners of reward challenges (who can catch the most pigeons at Back Bay? Who can eat the most pigeons caught at Back Bay?) would get Dunkin' Donuts coffee and chocolate glazed for everybody; losers would get the same thing, only twice as much - and thrown at them by surly Green Line and 66-bus drivers (or losers have to board trolleys at Kenmore wearing Yankee caps). OK, I'm smelling hit here.
Comments
Additional Challenges
I think one of the challenges should be to take the Orange Line to Forest Hills and then switch to an Arborway trolley to get back to the MFA.
(If you live here, you probably know that it's impossible. However, someone from out-of-town who had no idea could still spend hours waiting at the still-existing [at least last time I was there] unused tracks.)
If that's too esoteric, we can just have them try to reverse directions at Copley without paying another fare. Tee-hee.
No, no, no
No.
Episode One: The challenge is, how long can you spend on the T with a camera before a T official or police officer demands you stop?
Extra points for getting a photo of yourself being handcuffed or being thrown to the floor of a trolley.
Hmm.
"Sick of public transportation, guys? Well, great. This next challenge gets you behind the wheel of (OUR CORPORATE AUTOMOBILE SPONSOR)'s latest SUV. First one to find a legal parking space at the Porter Square Shopping Center on the night before a snowstorm wins immunity..."
The Boston-based reality show
I bow to my collaborators, except to note that every horror I mentioned really happened. Much better script though!
Who wants to be a Masshole?
I have wanted to do a Boston driving reality show forever. My own idea was an Amazing Race style contest where you could only ask directions at a Dunkin' Donuts.