Stunt casting on TV falls between two poles: on the one hand we have Lee Iacocca or Frank Zappa on Miami Vice, staring nervously at the camera before managing to grunt, "Okay, Sonny" and being mustered back into civilian life; on the other, we have David Lee Roth pulling up a chair at a Sopranos-sponsored all-night poker game, making small talk by wistfully recalling the good old days when his accountant let him deduct condoms. The decision to include screenwriter-director-actor Mike White (Year of the Dog, Chuck & Buck) and his 68-year-old pop, Mel, author of Stranger at the Gate: To be Gay and Christian in America, in the current season of CBS's The Amazing Race, the jewel in the crown of network reality-competition shows, definitely fell a lot closer to the Diamond Dave end of the chart. A pair of smart, genial wisecrackers who threw themselves into physical challenges and gave every sign of enjoying each other's company far too much to spoil the fun and the scenery with the kind of stress attacks and hissy fits that are an Amazing Race constant, Mel and Mike bestowed humor and class on the show, right up until their graceful exit last night, in the seventh episode of the season. They were the sixth of the eleven teams to depart, and while everyone was disappointed to see them go, at least they can boast of having made it squarely past the mid-point.
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