National Lampoon's Amazing Race Vacation

Imagine a car trip to grandma's... kids whining "Are we there yet? Are we there yet?!" on a two hour drive.

Now envision a flight from Mexico to Thailand. "Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?" Better make sure the door to that plane is bolted shut, because if the parents don't toss their kids out, their fellow passengers will... next season on "The Amazing Race"...

TAR has lowered its age restriction to 8 — and that's not a typo. It's the first time contestants under 21 are being allowed to compete in the globe-trotting reality show. The new rules are for its upcoming "Family Edition" — in which families of four will compete for a $1-million grand prize.

"We don't know what it's going to reap, but we've already received a lot of really good tapes" with contestants as young as 8, says "Amazing Race" casting director Lynne Spillman.

"I was really hesitant about this at first, but we've received some really cute tapes from people who absolutely love 'The Amazing Race.' "

The original cutoff age for "Family Edition" contestants was 12, but they feared eliminating entertaining parents and an older child because they have a family member who is younger.

The "Family Edition" of "The Amazing Race 8" will tape this summer, eliminating the problem of having to take a child out of school. And, since it's a family-oriented edition, the places to which the contestants travel will be family friendly and appropriate for the age range, which I guess eliminates pit stops at some of the seedier locations we've come to expect from TAR. (Cue Kendra from "The Amazing Race 6" saying the people in "ghetto Africa... just keep breeding, and breeding, and breeding...")

Says the casting director: "I hope we're going to have a mixture of nuclear families and non-nuclear families. I'm dying to find an engaged couple with mothers-in-law-to-be, and I'd love to do a 'Brady Bunch' family with two newly married people and their kids. And we always love inter-generational teams."

The deadline for filing applications for "The Amazing Race 8" is Friday, March 11 (go to cbs.com now to sign your dysfunctional... er, loving family up).