» Distraction Options

[Vgmastr]

Distraction is a British game show, and Comedy Central has decided to make their own version of it. The Comedy Central press release:

"Distraction" -- Series Premiere
Tuesday, January 18 at 10:30 p.m.
"Distraction" is a weekly series hosted by Jimmy Carr that puts four contestants in a battle of wits to answer general knowledge questions while being "distracted" by a series of gruelling and psychically testing challenges. The show demands the ultimate in physical and mental endurance from its contestants. Being electrocuted, wrestling a sumo and urination-on-demand are just some of the unpleasant tasks the contestants have to endure to win the prize money.

[sarcasm]Urination-on-demand? Where do I sign up?[/sarcasm]

Comedy Central doesn't have a page for it yet, but the British version has one, although the only thing on there is an online game.

[leew261]

Amazing how little some people's dignity is worth.

[cggb]

Isn't this somewhat similar to The Chair and that similar show that were on sometime back? And they both sucked and were yanked pretty fast?

[TeppanYaki]

The Chamber wasn't all that bad. Not Password by a longshot, but better than the dreck known as The Chair.

However, yes, it does seem along the lines of about 13 minutes away from either Climbing for Dollars or The Running Man.

[mtvcdm]

Don't tell ME the Chamber wasn't bad. I mean, come on. Putting people in physical danger? I saw the fallout firsthand on fox.com after the first episode- hundreds and hundreds of posts condemning Fox, a decent number of which came from actual priests. And a large amount were "Stop deleting our posts, Fox!" Pure damage control. The third episode, containing the promise that if someone survived a Chamber, they'd think up new ones (including water torture, insect swarms, and electric shocks), was-- well, I think that promise might have been the dagger.

The Chair, meanwhile, didn't physically harm you. All it tried to do was get your heart rate up. The problem there was it got boring when someone's heart rate redlined and all ABC could really do was have dead air while the person sat there and tried to calm him/herself. You look past said dead air and you had something, but it got to be too much. Plus a slew of people started making it all the way through, and the alligator they brought out as a Heart Stopper on occasion became increasingly bored and, more to the point, sedated. It got to the point where it basically went "Look, here's a scary alligator!" and the gator, dangled from a rope, appeared to be sleeping. It was more funny than scary. The player's heart rate actually went DOWN.

[pablito]

Watched the Jimmy Carr special on Comedy central but didn't bother research the UK version of Distraction. This show is crazysadisticool. I didn't laugh at the male-baldness joke because he used it in his special, but it's still a good joke. The best thing I like about the host is his comic timing and perfect buildup. He doesn't rush or delay the joke badly and it ends up being perfect payoff.

As for the show, well it was funny everyone trying to touch each other's bums. Plus I like how he switched it up for girl on girl action. The clothespins looked painful. And the indentations on their faces when it was over, ouch. And the clothespins looked like it really began to fluster Christine. As with the bottles, vases, chairs...I'm guessing the glass was just a sugar mix and the chairs were held by ducttape, but it still looked like it hurt.

When the host said that the guy won the car after winning final two, I kept on thinking, wow, that's a big budget if they can afford to give away a car without doing some difficult final solo challenge game puzzle contest. So when I saw it was a real car and not a fake model, I was surprised. But then the final twist of the car's condition satisfied me. I originally thought that maybe he had to earn his keys or else learn to hotwire the car every time, but destroying the car, that's gutsy. The paint and the headlights weren't bad, but the windshield or doors? wow. I'd hate to lose those questions. Then again, versus the entire cost of the car, I guess it's only small beans to repair the car. But then taxes too, ouch. But it's a nice twist to give away the prize early only to take away piece by piece unless more questions are answered.

I'm hooked, I'll watch next episode.

[Smackfu]

That was very entertaining for a game show. I hope they switch up all the stunts every week, otherwise it will get dead boring.

[cronox5]

I thought tonight's episode was far better than last weeks. Just liked the stunts a lot more, except for the final round. I was hoping we would get some mythbusters type explosions from inside the blast chamber but it just didn't have any oomph to it.

The commercials for next weeks show completely give away the winner though! Cmon Comedy Central don't blow all the surprise away...jeez.

[pablito]

I didn't like this episode as much as last week. The stunts and distractions weren't exactly mentally incapactating or free of gender bias. And the Bert guy was completely annoying and too smart (only one wrong in the final round? that made it boring). But the wrestler stunt rocked.

Last week we had the car, and this week several prizes: Vespa, Segway People Transporter (like GOB!), Apple iBook and digital electronics. Oh yeah, and the peas. I would have liked to have seen the peas or the Vespa blown up. That would've been fun. Hmmm...I wonder if blowing up the metal can of peas may have made residual damage to the other prizes.

And I'm glad I got to know that the girl braids her pubes.

[pablito]

This week had some good stunts that really distracted the contestants. And Karen got a lot of questions right. She almost got all of the final round questions correctly. I'm also glad that they did the nudist part tastefully. The guys in Karen's booth used backside when close to others. Didn't need to have another Susan (all start surivor) moment.

This post has been edited by pablito: Feb 2, 2005 @ 5:31 pm.

[Smackfu]

I liked the new stunts this week, but they reused two from the first episode. Although the bottle breaking was better this time, since they actually seemed to care. The other time they seemed like it was no big deal, so not very distracting.

[pablito]

Rubber bands looked like they hurt. Dogs looked like it hurts. The grannies were easy, but when the taser came in it all made sense.

It's nice to see the random explosion final stunt work like it's supposed to. Seeing the vespa blow up really caught the guy off guard and he only got one right after that. Suppose that instead of blowing up prizes, they just say this is what you could win if you get two right. Then after spinning some wheel he ends up with a guitar and a plasma tv. The guy would have been a lot happier than having known that he won a vespa but lost it. I guess they call the game distraction because of the pervasive regret that streams through the mind daily after knowing that the car is damaged or that you blew up your own vespa.

[Wildog27]

I liked Brady too, especially the way he laughed like the taser tickled.

[GoingGonzo]

When Comedy Central had Win Ben Stein's Money, I thought CC really had the comedy game show format down pat.

Beat the Geeks was amusing, but less so than Stein.

Since then- it's been a train wreck.

Distraction? More like cancellation!

This. Show. Stinks.

[help me lucy]

So, even though this show is sort of awful (in a fun kinda way) I'm really embarassed to admit that... I think I have a teeny crush on Jimmy Carr. I know, I know, but i just can't help it. He amuses me.