LOS ANGELES (AP) — One team will have a leg up on the competition in the upcoming season of “The Amazing Race.”

Two of the Harlem Globetrotters are among the 12 teams starring in the 15th edition of the CBS reality show, which premieres Sept. 27. Nathaniel “The Big Easy” Lofton, 28, from New Orleans, and Herbert “Flight Time” Lang, 32, from Brinkley, Ark., believe their experience will help them dominate this season’s course, which spans eight countries in 21 days.

“I’ve been to about 65 countries around the world,” said Lang. “I definitely think that gives us a little bit of an advantage when we’re traveling to different countries, as far as knowing how to interact with different cultures, managing our money and communicating with taxi drivers and whoever else we need to help us get from Point A to Point B.”
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Some quick thinking at the end won $1 million for a brother-sister team of Harvard-educated lawyers on the CBS game of “Amazing Race.”

But it was a heartbreaking finish for the competition’s first deaf contestant.

The winner, Victor Jih, 35, and his sister Tammy, 26, explored a sometimes contentious relationship during their journey. The 14th edition of the game concluded in Maui, Hawaii, and was televised Sunday.

“I just tried to enjoy the race for what it was and just be true to my emotions, the highs and lows,” Victor Jih said after the victory. They’re both practicing lawyers in California.

Three teams traveled from Beijing to Hawaii for the game’s final set of competitions, which involved preparing pigs for luaus and racing on personal watercrafts to find clues floating on the water.

Luke Adams, 22, just graduated as the valedictorian of the Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind, and raced with his mother Margie, 50. They were in the lead heading into the last competition, which involved picking out surfboards with insignias representing every leg of their trip. Luke started fast but couldn’t get the last one right.

As he was frustrated, Victor Jih completed his task and headed into a taxi for the finish line. So did the third team, two former NFL cheerleaders who were trying to be the first all-female team to win the race. Cara Rosenthal, 26, of Boca Raton, Fla. and pal Jaime Edmondson, 29, of Fort Lauderdale finished second, hampered at the end by a clueless cab driver.

Margie Adams tried to console her son during the final cab ride to the finish line after 40,000 miles.

“I’m very lucky to have you as my mom,” Luke said to her in the shorthand sign language they had developed together.

If it’s December, that can only mean one thing: TV’s midseason is almost here.

Yes, I know how much you’ve been dying to see the next Kath & Kim. Well, you’ll have to settle for something called Game Show in My Head instead. What’s that? Check out the release CBS issued today when it announced its midseason lineup which starts in January.
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It’s that time of year again when most of us TV critics get to act all smart by picking Emmy winners, but many of us wind up looking silly ’cause most of those picks are wrong. Emmy voters, after all, are about as predictable as an approaching tropical storm.

And that’s not our fault. They can’t help it if they’re not as smart or well-informed as we are. That said, check out my picks below…

BEST DRAMA
The nominees: Boston Legal (ABC); Damages (FX); Dexter (Showtime); House (Fox); Lost (ABC); Mad Men (AMC)
What should win: Mad Men
What will win: Mad Men
Why: Although AMC’s retro hip series led all dramas with 16 nominations, it’s no lock to win. Strong competition will come from Lost and Damages, two compelling (not to mention twisty-turn-y) dramas that were impossible to ignore. But Mad Men deserves some Emmy love for its brilliant writing, well-drawn characters and bringing the swinging ’60 back to life in painstaking detail. Mad Men is also one of those rare dramas in which the characters say more a with long stare or an awkward glance than they do with 10 pages of dialogue.

BEST ACTOR (DRAMA)
The nominees: Gabriel Byrne (In Treatment); Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad); Michael C. Hall (Dexter); Jon Hamm (Mad Men); Hugh Laurie (House); James Spader (Boston Legal)
Who should win: Hamm
Who will win: Hamm
Why: Clearly the voters love bad boy Spader. Just about everyone on the planet picked The Sopranos‘ James Gandolfini in this category last season. But who walked away with the little gold statue? Spader. Even he was shocked. Don’t be surprised if it happens again. You can make a strong case for every actor nominated. Byrne was magnificent as a caring therapist with his own family problems. Hall is deliciously twisted as a morally conflicted serial killer. Cranston showed us drama chops we didn’t even know he had as a mild-mannered high school chemistry teacher who suddenly finds himself mixed up in the crystal-meth business and Laurie, well, no one plays crabby better than Laurie. But as a slick, philandering ad man with a secret past, Hamm turned in a career-defining performance that put him on TV’s A-list.

BEST ACTRESS (DRAMA)
The nominees: Glenn Close (Damages); Sally Field (Brothers & Sisters); Mariska Hargitay (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit); Holly Hunter (Saving Grace); Kyra Sedgwick (The Closer)
Who should win: Close
Who will win: Close
Why: For playing a take-no-prisoners litigator who’ll do whatever it takes to win a case — including murder! — Close should not be ignored like she was last year when Field won. If Close gets dissed again, it’ll probably be because voters couldn’t resist Sedgwick’s comely Southern-fried accent or they wanted to see Field make another “you like me, you really, really like me!” acceptance speech.

BEST COMEDY
The nominees: Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO); Entourage (HBO); The Office (NBC); 30 Rock (NBC); Two and a Half Men (CBS)
What should win: 30 Rock
What will win: 30 Rock
Why: OK, let me get this out of the way: Two and a Half Men isn’t an Emmy-worthy comedy. In any year. Sure, it’s mildly amusing and Charlie Sheen has that horndog look down pat (he’s had lots of practice in real life), but it’s not on the level of the other four shows. That it keeps getting nominated should tell you something about the state of comedy on TV. For years I’ve been hoping Curb Your Enthusiasm would win. It never does. And it won’t this year. Entourage, while still entertaining, has lost a bit of its luster and comedic edge. The Office is a hoot but no comedy makes me laugh out loud more than 30 Rock.

BEST ACTOR (COMEDY)
The nominees: Alec Baldwin (30 Rock); Steve Carell (The Office); Lee Pace (Pushing Daisies); Tony Shalhoub (Monk); Charlie Sheen (Two and a Half Men)
Who should win: Baldwin
Who will win: Baldwin
Why: For me, Baldwin can read the phone book deadpan and be a scream. OK, so I wrote that last year. But it’s still true this year.

BEST ACTRESS (COMEDY)
The nominees: Christina Applegate (Samantha Who?); America Ferrera (Ugly Betty); Tina Fey (30 Rock); Julia Louis-Dreyfus (The New Adventures of Old Christine); Mary-Louise Parker (Weeds)
Who should win: Louis-Dreyfus
Who will win: Applegate
Why: Another strong category in which every nominee is deserving. Everyone knows how much I love me some Julia Louis-Dreyfus. She makes wacky and neurotic so hot and sexy. But Applegate kinda does the same thing on Samantha Who? and she hasn’t won yet.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR (DRAMA)
The nominees: William Shatner (Boston Legal); Ted Danson (Damages); Zeljko Ivanek (Damages); Michael Emerson (Lost); John Slattery (Damages)
Who should win: Emerson
Who will win: Emerson
Why: His bug-eyed intensity as the leader of The Others on Lost is both captivating and hypnotizing. Emerson’s marble-sized orbs should have their own agent. Don’t be shocked, though, if Danson or Ivanek, who were equally stellar on Damages, win.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS (DRAMA)
The nominees: Candice Bergen (Boston Legal); Rachel Griffiths (Brothers and Sisters); Chandra Wilson (Grey’s Anatomy); Sandra Oh (Grey’s Anatomy); Dianne Wiest (In Treatment)
Who should win: Wiest
Who will win: Wilson
Why: About three people saw Wiest in In Treatment. And that’s a shame since HBO’s short-lived drama was outstanding and, at times, difficult to watch. But who says every show must be feel-good and easy to digest? Not me. Unfortunately Wilson or Oh will probably get the nod.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR (COMEDY)
The nominees: Jeremy Piven (Entourage); Kevin Dillon (Entourage); Neil Patrick Harris (How I Met Your Mother); Rainn Wilson (The Office); Jon Cryer (Two and a Half Men)
Who should win: Harris
Who will win: Harris
Why: As much I love Piven’s foul-mouthed Ari, his character has become a bit one-note. Ari gets mad. Ari screams. Ari curses. But devilishly charming Harris continues to steal every scene he’s in on Mother.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS (COMEDY)
The nominees: Kristin Chenoweth (Pushing Daisies); Jeam Smart (Samantha Who?); Amy Poehler (Saturday Night Live); Holland Taylor (Two and a Half Men); Vanessa Williams (Ugly Betty)
Who should win: Williams
Who will win: Poehler
Why: Williams is sinfully good on Betty, but Poehler is one of the most talented female cast members Saturday Night Live has ever had. And her Hillary Clinton impression has even impressed, well, Hillary herself. That’ll be enough for voters.

BEST REALITY COMPETITION SHOW
The nominees:The Amazing Race (CBS); American Idol (Fox); Dancing with the Stars (ABC); Project Runway (Bravo); Top Chef (Bravo)
What should win: Dancing with the Stars
What will win: The Amazing Race
Why Race has already nabbed five Emmys in this category. While Idol gets bigger ratings and Dancing is more popular, there’s something about watching contestants hoofing it around the globe the Academy loves.

BEST REALITY COMPETITION SHOW HOST
The nominees: Tom Bergeron (Dancing with the Stars, ABC); Heidi Klum (Project Runway, Bravo); Howie Mandel (Deal or No Deal, NBC); Jeff Probst (Survivor, CBS); Ryan Seacrest (American Idol, Fox)
Who should win: Bergeron
Who will win:Bergeron
Why: Because no one is as off-the-cuff funny or charming. Sure, Seacrest tries and sometimes succeeds, but Bergeron succeeds more without trying at all.

BEST MADE-FOR-TV MOVIE
The nominees:Bernard and Doris (HBO); Extras: The Extra Special Series Finale (HBO); The Memory Keeper’s Daughter (Lifetime); A Raisin in the Sun (ABC); Recount (HBO)
What should win: Recount
What will win:Recount
Why With three films nominated, the odds are pretty good HBO will walk away a winner. The smartly written and sharply acted Recount was the best of the bunch. If HBO’s loopy film about the disastrous 2000 presidential election doesn’t win, Raisin probably will. (But it shouldn’t since it was only mediocre and P. Diddy was as stiff as a redwood in it.) If Raisin wins, the question is, will HBO demand a…recount? Bad joke. Sorry.

BEST MINISERIES
The nominees: The Andromeda Strain (A&E); Cranford (PBS); John Adams (HBO); Tin Man (Sci Fi Channel)
What should win: Cranford
What will win: John Adams
Why It was a 600-part miniseries HBO spent a gazillion dollars to produce. That has to translate into a big Emmy win, right?