Comments on: ABC’s Wipeout

By: Rodney Flippen

Rodney Flippen — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 23:30:08 +0000

I have to say this show wipeout made me laugh. I like seeing people acting a damn fool on national TV and getting paid for it that is awesome.
Did anyone see the woman cry when she broke her nail in the first obstacle course. That was funny as hell.
As far as Celebrity Family Feud, why can’t the Celebrity contestants play the game straight. The question was “Name somthing that is slippery while holding it.” Ice-T buzz in first and said something very inappropriate on the first question. He could have won the game if it had not been for him playing so much.
Wipeout is better.

By: insaneben

insaneben — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 21:44:26 +0000

I gotta agree with Joe Mello.
It was funny for the first 10 minutes (though I enjoyed seeing Travis’s reaction to the other contestants’ blunders during the third round). After that, though, it seemed a little lacking. They need to make the format closer to Ninja Warrior (where everyone gets a shot at a more-difficult obstacle course). Have more contestants compete, have four stages, and if someone makes it all the way, they win $120,000 (if no one makes it past the final stage, whoever made it the furthest gets $10,000 for finishing the first stage, $20,000 for making it past stage 1 and 2, and $40,000 if they’re the last person standing after stage three). One false move, and you’re done.
Still, it was great seeing John Henson back on TV after he left Talk Soup a decade ago (oddly enough, he also did a special on ABC 10 years ago showcasing weird game shows from other countries including, yes, Japan).

By: Joe Mello

Joe Mello — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 18:39:12 +0000

I don’t think Wipeout is out-and-out bad, it’s just out-and-out bland. You can’t just play the first 40 minutes for (forced and repeared) laughs and then just flip a switch and be serious for the final third. I also don’t like the idea where you can have a good chance at winning $50,000 when you can’t even complete an obstacle on the first course. Rounds 2 and 4 were the only ones that looked interesting, but they had already lost my vote by then.

The only real plus was that there were no “surprise” commercials, but that’s more or less a Pyrrhic victory. If you wanted to make a port of a Japanese game show, stick closer to the Ninja Warrior/Viking cloth.

By: Carrie

Carrie — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 18:29:43 +0000

I loved it. Absolutely loved it. I was laughing so hard my stomach hurt. And I actually enjoyed the contrast between the first and second halves of the show. It was great to get so many giggles out of the show, and then settle in and watch the serious competition aspect.

Celeb Feud was enjoyable too, but I think I expected it to be. With Wipeout, I wasn’t expecting much at all and ended up being very pleasantly surprised.

By: Todd

Todd — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 12:06:34 +0000

This show is a joke. I’m sticking to Celeb Feud, which is excellent.

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 08:38:25 +0000

Wipeout is competent, but not magical. For me, the change in tone between the early and late acts doesn’t work.

I Survived a Japanese Game Show hooked me for the reality show parts, if not the gameplay parts so much. It left me wondering if the exit scene was an American-devised shout-out to Remote Control.

By: James

James — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 05:27:58 +0000

Didn’t actually see CFF, but from word of mouth (taken from GSN Buzz by me)…

Wow, it sounds like another LMAD ‘03…ironic that NBC seems to be cursed when they try to bring back classic game shows when you consider that they once were the driving force behind daytime gaming in the ’80s. (CBS, on the other hand, still has the touch between MDPW and the PIR $1M specials. CBS, “got the touch,” get it? :-))

Single-single-triple, eh? Well at least they didn’t go back to the most points wins format, to complete the Anderson flashback. Speaking of which, the #1 Answer/win the bank chimes used to be in the current version, at least I swear it was in the Anderson days (may have carried to Karn, maybe not)

As for current celebrities…well not many of them are likable in general these days, so of course it was better in the Dawson days, heck, the Combs days as well. The world of movies and TV used to have a touch of class until about the mid ’90s. Now we live in Spears-and-Hilton Hell. It’s a wonder that they’ve been more or less on as far as picking MDPW guest stars (in that no one has really annoyed me, and I actually LIKED some of the modern Password players so far. I did, however, miss the Rosie episode, coincidence? You decide…)

After hearing what I’ve heard, they BETTER NOT BURY O’HURLEY’S VERSION AND/OR MAKE UNNECESSARY CHANGES TO IT TO CONFORM IT TO CELEBRITY FF. And I can really see that happening if this somehow gets good ratings. Or maybe not (leaving well enough alone isn’t always a Fremantle trademark)

While I can’t argue with how average viewers vote with their remote controls, I couldn’t stand to see O’Hurley FF be treated like a second-class citizen over this apparently watered-down version. His stay on Feud is/was the best thing Pearson/Fremantle has done since 1998 (well that and TPIR still being good through the host change, and MDPW is decent). Too good to last, huh?

By: Shon

Shon — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 03:13:59 +0000

I like it. It’s fun without being too pretencious. One of my biggest worries was that the host/announcers would be MXC annoying and I was wrong. They deffinatly are cheesy and dry but that works to the shows advantage.

I really am shocked. I was tuning in fully expecting to hate it and now I can’t stop watching and by the way this is three times better than Celeb Family Feud.

By: Canyon Anderson

Canyon Anderson — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 01:38:50 +0000

Yeah, I must agree with Neville. Not the best show to watch, but we seriously needed another stunt show in America after Fear Factor and Dog Eat Dog (which should’ve stayed longer) left the airwaves a while ago. Though I would recommend, if this show fails, to bring The Krypton Factor across the pond to here. I did see the Dick Clark version, but I believe that we could do the show better today.

By: Neville

Neville — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 01:26:59 +0000

Not as good as the original Japanese versions like Sasuke (or Ninja Warrior as it is dubbed here in the states on G4), but it beat Celebrity Family Feud in my eyes.

By: HomerJay

HomerJay — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 00:37:24 +0000

Easily the most God-awful, boring thing this summer. Inane ‘commentary,’ not funny in the least…the novelty wore off in about 30 seconds. Over to Feud I go.