I have to admit that when I read the bios for this season's Amazing Race teams, I was pretty non-plussed. Same old, same old.

Bitchy couple on the rocks? Check. Blonde princesses? Check, check. Token black couple who are impossibly nice and cool? Triple check.

So I have to say I wasn't totally jazzed for last night's premiere, and for the most part, it played out as I suspected.

The sweet hippie bee-keepers from my home state of Oregon, Arthur and Anita, fulfilled a sweet if familiar role in the show's cannon -- the aging folks who don't have a chance of winning -- but the flower children were, as hippies always are, good sports about being eliminated.

But let's go back a bit and see how it all went down... The teams kicked off the race at the Olympic stadium in Los Angeles and got their first direction: Fly to Salvador, Brazil.

My heart did its typical dance as the teams booked their tickets at LAX (honestly, this part of the show for me is like watching a blind gymnast attempt a beam routine ... total panic on my part) and for the most part, they landed in the South American country with little problem. By the time they'd boarded the plane, I'd already decided who I was rooting for -- and against.

Their first task was actually quite difficult for what it was -- pushing a barista's cart of snacks through a narrow busy street -- and showed folks' true colors right away. "The Estranged Couple," Ken and Tina (yep, he cheated) demonstrated equal parts athletic and idiocy (she asked him if he could tell the cab driver in Spanish where they needed to go. Enough said); Mark and Bill, "The Comic Book Geeks," were surpisingly nimble and spry and for having the physiques of, well, guys who read comic books; and "Dating Couple," Terrence and Sarah, emerged as the team to watch out for, and this I know is going to drive me nuts. (Terrence complained that she was talking too much to everyone else and "not connecting with him." Yikes.)

All survived the task with little crisis and then hopped across town to attempt the physical leg of their first challenge: Climbing down a 200-foot net or climbing (on hands and knees) up 53 steps. (This is the fun part of the show for me: It's a game I play called "Which One of These Options Would Not Turn Me Into a Blubbering Baby?")

Shockingly, all the teams chose to do be Spider-Man and web their way down, except for the not-as-dumb-as-they-look frat boys, Andrew and Dan, who despite having to climb the steps twice, still beat some of the web-climbers who started before them.

All said, it was a just-fine first episode but definitely narrowed the field. The teams to beat will be first-placers and siblings, Nick and Starr; crazy almost-divorcees Ken and Tina; and Terrence and Sarah (God help us). The teams I'm rooting for (and who I think have a chance) are Mother-Son duo Toni and Dallas; Aja and Ty ("Long-Distance Dating couple"); and, 'cuz I always have a soft spot for nerds, the "Comic Boys," Mark and Bill. The rest? Eh. Too boring to mention. They gotta earn my respect first.

Let the game begin!

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