Now that Treasure Hunters has aired almost all its episodes, it is clear that this dozen-team-race-to-the-finish-for-a-gazillion-dollars reality show has bested its original cousin. The National Treasure meets Murder In Small Town X atmosphere of the show was what clinched it for me. If you can imagine The Amazing Race done in a creepier way minus the anti-climactic clump ups (when all the teams aggregate) at midpoints of a particular leg of the race, plus some truly mind-bending, intellectually rich challenges thrown in, then you’ve something for the awards bodies to consider. Unfortunately, I’m not sure Treasure Hunters has caught on in the same way so who knows if it comes back next season. I kind of like the Geniuses trio during this season. Reminds me of how clueless I was way back when. Speaking of “Murder In Small Town X”, now that show was undoubtedly the strangest, eeriest show that I’ve ever come across. The gist of it was for contestants to solve some murders at some fictitious place. As contestants get whittled down to the final winner, they get eliminated by getting knocked off themselves. The unsettling epilogue to this season, which ended in September 2001, was that it’s winner, NY city firefighter Angel Juarbe, got killed while serving during the September 11 attacks. What an epilogue.