11Oct2011
SyFy Picks Up Comedic Game Show “Total Blackout”
SyFy has announced the pickup of a new half hour game show called Total Blackout. The show, according to SyFy and FremantleMedia, is an international hit already seen in countries like Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands, and others. Total Blackout will place its contestants in complete darkness to compete in various challenges. Challenges will play on the conetstants’ fears. Contestants will face various surprises without being able to see a thing that’s happening in the studio. Jaleel White, who played on the old sitcom Family Matters, will host. Eight half-hour episodes will debut in 2012.
Here’s a clip of the Danish version.
And that makes another member of the ABC Sitcom family to cross over into the game show world.
Good to see that Thing from the Addams Family has a new gig….
Not to be petty, but what an odd body shape. I don’t understand it.
Was Waldo Faldo unavailable?
I wonder how Jaleel will be received by game show fans as a host. I think for many a viewer, especially anyone who grew up watching Family Matters in the 1990s, and given the show is still aired in reruns (I think?), he’s still going to be thought of primarily as Urkel.
I’d bet most people won’t even recognize him, unless they happen to remember his name or are specifically told that he used to play Steve Urkel.
He did a guest shot on Psych a season or 2 ago, and I didn’t realize it was him until the episode was nearly over, and I still wasn’t sure I was right until I looked it up online for verification.
Looks like Fear Factor with a new twist. Definitely something Syfy would do. Can’t help but wonder if that guy is swearing when he freaks out. lol
You mean they can build a whole game show around this?
It does sound like the sort of show that might go well with “Estate of Panic” and “Scare Tactics”.
Let’s hope that Jaleel White can have a good adult career. He can’t be doing Sonic the Hedgehog forever!
I can see South Park doing a spoof of this as an Eric Cartman prank gone awry.
Why doesn’t somebody just make an American version of Crystal Maze or a REAL Fort Boyard, not this Disney bull?
If “this Disney bull” succeeds at all in the ratings, then I can see Disney saying something tot the effect that “this might make a good ABC show, with adult contestants”.
(Of course, if you’ve seen “Wipeout!”, then you know that “adult” does not necessarily mean “grown-up”!)
I’d expect that an American “Fort Boyard” might more closely resemble he UK version, with its hour-long time slot, and a host who is “playing” a part.
(At least they wouldn’t have to worry about building a fancy set–it’s already there, and it’s pretty fancy at that!)
Wasn’t there already an American “Fort Boyard” from way back when? Late 1980′s or so? I can sort of remember it—I was a sorta wee one then.
There was a pilot made for and broadcast by ABC around 1993, called “Conquer Fort Boyard”. Vin di Bona was behind it, but ABC didn’t bite.
I had thought somebody had uploaded the program, but it isn’t to be found on YT. However, a fairly detailed description can be found on fortboyad.net, on a page devoted to worldwide adaptations of the format.