29 replies to this topic

[Snark Shark]

Recently I saw an AWESOMELY ludicrous BBC gameshow where the actual game elements were pretty bare bones, and the whole point was pretty much to creatively toss losing contestants off a tower on a bungee (or lower down without a bungee) and into a pool.

Apparently this has been snatched up for the U.S. now.

http://www.tvsquad.c...ve-a-game-show/

Fasten your seat belts, 'Wipeout' fans: The reality game show genre is about to reach new heights.

From Endemol USA, the producers of ABC's hit "watch people ricochet off giant rubber balls" series, 'Wipeout' (its third season is in full swing, airing Tuesdays at 8PM), comes '101 Ways to Leave a Game Show,' a trivia show with a twist.

Rather than responding to questions from the safety of a studio podium, contestants will be, say, 30 feet off the ground in a catapult and, should they answer incorrectly, will be ejected from the game Wile E. Coyote-style.

"I love the show, it's tonally between 'Fear Factor' and 'Wipeout,'" Endemol North America chairman David Goldberg said in Variety. And he should know. Including the two he mentioned, Endemol Entertainment has produced a wide variety of shows ranging from hits like 'Extreme Makeover' and 'Deal or No Deal' to lesser known fare like 'Gay, Straight or Taken?' and 'Celebrity Circus.'

A British version of '101 Ways' is also underway and the two will be shot in Argentina where, Endemol says, labor, goods and services are less expensive. They should know. The company currently produces 24 global editions of 'Wipeout' there.

Although the pilot is set to shoot in August -- with American contestants getting to wing on down to South America to compete -- a host has yet to be named.

Here are some BBC authorized clips of the UK version, to get a taste of this:

Leaving the show via a shopping cart:
http://www.youtube.c...h?v=WJAuPx9ulZA

Leaving the show via a "Ball of Doom":
http://www.youtube.c...h?v=jADW9yslqo8

Leaving the show via walking the plank:
http://www.youtube.c...h?v=ZpaEls7zA3g

Leaving the show by driving a bike off the tower:
http://www.youtube.c...h?v=WO0Jkzj9q9g


It's absolute CRAP, but all the more hilarious because of that.

Oh, found some more clips. Again, this is the UK version--so this is just to get a taste of what they're likely to do for the upcoming American one. I'm sure the U.S. one will up the game and make the ejections ever crueler, right?

Leaving the show by being tossed off lawn furniture:
http://www.youtube.c...h?v=x7HyR6g6pXQ

Leaving the show by being flipped backwards out of an armchair:
http://www.youtube.c...h?v=oCbWKWQMXqc

FINALLY one which breaks the samey-same "into the pool" formula--leaving the show by being dragged behind a Drag racer:
http://www.youtube.c...h?v=WlJjaI2jZts

Back to the pool - leaving the show by being dumped out with the trash:
http://www.youtube.c...h?v=oI6F9-j-sG4

Leaving the show by being dragged down by an Anvil:
http://www.youtube.c...h?v=U3cnPaFy9O8

Leaving the show via being flipped over in a stock racing car:
http://www.youtube.c...h?v=J9oQ4wjTQBQ

Leaving the show via a rocket sled:
http://www.youtube.c...h?v=KtNjhPrWSUk

Leaving the show via a huge boxing glove:
http://www.youtube.c...h?v=eUJb4IW_5u8


There are even yet more up there, but I think that's enough...

[jonaswan2]

Seems like Fremantle combined the basic rules of the UK show with the style and production of Fear Factor.

I personally like "goofy" over "tense," but the UK version was canceled after one season. Maybe this version just tested better.

[Raider Duck]

Ugh. Annoyingly smarmy host, eliminations that bordered on pure sadism, and none of Wipeout's wit or fun. Probably won't be watching it again.

At least we know what happened to Downfall's set...

[samsnee]

It was ok, the exits were fun but kind of slow-paced compared to wipeout.

[Daybreak]

The host was having waaaaay too much fun. He really creeped me out. It moved faster than I thought it would, but still too slow for me. I won't be returning.

[BradyB66]

I thought it was a lot of build up for little payoff. When the guy got dropped off the moving truck, there were a ton of shots of him falling backwards, but none of him actually falling off the truck. Same thing with the girl who got shot off the crate of explosives - no shots of her reaching maximum height and how she came down. It could just as easily have been her pulled straight up on a rope, rather than being blown skyward. Seems like it was more camera angles and visual tricks than actual danger. Not that I wanted to see anyone truly be in danger of getting hurt, but...

My overall reaction was that it was exactly what one critic said. These were the contestants who didn't have enough dignity to audition for Wipeout.

Edited by BradyB66, Jun 22, 2011 @ 1:32 PM.

[KJPod]

101 Ways to Pad Out an Hour, more like. It might have a little more satisfying if we could have seen the contestants laying in a few verbal jabs at our host the Marquis de Sad, instead of being in a constant state of panic.

As it is, I think I have 101 Better Things to Do on a Tuesday Night.

@BradyB66: Agreed, the moving truck one was lame. Probably scary as hell for the loser, but he was so obviously left hanging upside-down out of camera shot it really took you out of it.

[kdill168]

Slow, and I didn't like the host. On a show like this I really need to like the host. I liked when that one chick flew off on the plane and the other shot up into the air, though.

Watched all the British clips posted here. The drag car and rocket ones were my favorites.

[Daybreak]

.......... the girl who got shot off the crate of explosives - no shots of her reaching maximum height and how she came down. It could just as easily have been her pulled straight up on a rope, rather than being blown skyward. .................

I thought I saw a glimpse of a rope at the top of her "chair" after she was "blown up".

[MoeBee]

This show was soooooooooo sloooooooooowwwwww, I found it painful to watch.

When the promos said it was from the creators of Wipeout, I thought it might have the same kind of corny humor, ala the Jons. No such luck.

[jessied112]

Wow... I really, really didn't like all those camera angles that they tried to go for. It was really annoying. I also don't like the host that much. Though the contestant that got the Mel Gibson question wrong and was immediately like "Damn you Mel Gibson" was funny. Some of the contestant's reactions, though, were just plain annoying.

[KissedByARose]

This had the potential to be a good show but between the host and stunts? Lame.

The host is an unfunny asswipe and the "stunts" were nothing more than camera angles. Not to mention, that this could havve easily been an half hour show.

However, the questions do make for a great drinking game.

[Meushell]

I enjoyed it, but it needs to watched with a finger close to the fast forward button.

The shots of the woman still screaming on the plane after it had basically been flying the same way for a while seemed unrealistic.

Meh. I'm like the only person who doesn't like Facebook, so I wasn't happy with that being the most visited in 2010.

I agree that the host was annoying. I'm sure he's supposed to tease them, but he seemed to make fun of their fear, being all "I'm not scared." Uh, dude, you aren't going to be dropped. Shut up.

[jessied112]

I agree that the host was annoying. I'm sure he's supposed to tease them, but he seemed to make fun of their fear, being all "I'm not scared." Uh, dude, you aren't going to be dropped. Shut up

Which is why I'm hoping that for the finale of the show, the producers trick the host into also standing beside the contestants on the platforms 'just for fun' and then get dropped just as the winner is announced. He needs to be dropped into the water, or ejected into the air, or trapped in a high speed car that almost gets blown up, or...well, you get the point. He just needs to experience what these contestants are going through.

[soymilk]

So in the first episode with the guy who was eliminated by driving through an explosion and flipping over, why didn't he just not drive? Maybe he wasn't going to get paid if he didn't do it. Who knows. This show sucks.

[kdill168]

I liked it better this week. I just fast forward to the ejections. Getting pulled off a dock by a speedboat was pretty awesome. And when they showed the outside shot of the monster truck going over that car, I thought, "Lame". But the inside shot. THE INSIDE SHOT. She was majorly thrown around and I swear her helmet came off.

The boat getting sunk was lame. The final drops seemed faster to me this week, but that can't be possible. The last question was great. My first instinct was Gone With the Wind, but I was questioning it the whole time. I knew it wouldn't be Avatar, but all the other answers seemed definitely possiible. The dude with the beard looked like a Baldwin brother, so it was extra fun to see him plummeting into the drink.

[niklj]

I like how the eliminations go. Tell one person they are safe and only tell one of them they are wrong right before they are eliminated.

[Chicken Wing]

Caught this show for the first time yesterday when they aired a repeat. While I think the show ought to be renamed 101 Wrongful Death Suits Waiting To Happen, I did still find the exits very amusing--though the host is just begging to get smacked for being the epitome of STFU.

[Meushell]

The hamster ball send off looked pretty fun. I'm suspicious about the woman's screams. Always screaming when showing the ball going down the dusty hill, but she wasn't screaming in any of the close ups.

[AlexaD]

This show was lame! It was soo slow. The host was unfunny. The departures were crazy. Definitely one of the worst shows I've ever seen!

[wraith808]

It's become one of my guilty pleasures, truthfully. I loved the drop from the roof- the guy was screaming like a little girl!

[starfires]

I actually thought I'd hate it based on the previews, but I agree that it's a guilty pleasure show. I ff through a few of the sendoffs, like the car exploding. Otherwise, I actually like it, especially the trivia part; I like screaming out the answer to the TV and see if I'd be tossed off a cliff or handed the $50k if I was on the show.

[Meushell]

Is it me, or is this show getting worse with each episode?

[kdill168]

I thought Las Vegas was going to be the correct answer for sure.

Last night's send offs were pretty lame all around. The dog one was especially weak. And being thrown through a window.

[jessied112]

I thought it was gonna be Las Vegas as well.

I found all of the send offs were stupid. I didn't like the being thrown out the window, the dog one or the exploding mine one. It was all too 'theme based'. It's like they're starting to already run out of good ideas and trying to throw 'creative' ones that just turn out lame.

[bluefish]

Is it me, or is this show getting worse with each episode?

That. Plus the host is becoming a bigger dick each week. His attempts at teasing are getting increasingly lame and cruel.

[bluegray73]

I watched a teeny tiny bit of this last night through channel-surfing, and I'm sorry, but I would never in a million years go on a game show where I can be 100% sure of a/the correct answer and still lose simply because someone else has "first pick of the answers." To hell with that.

[RL1]

Why don't we put the host in one of these things....that would be fun!

[jessied112]

Why don't we put the host in one of these things....that would be fun!

That's what I said! Let's see how HE handles being up so high with the pressure building and all the contestants building up the anticipation to the point of them wanting to jump just so they would know when it was going to happen

[WileyCoyote]

I have to confess to TOTALLY loving what a massive douchebag Jeff the Host is.

Yes, its mean. But that's kind of the whole point of the show. These people are trading potential (but safe) torture for a chance at cash.

This last episode I didn't even feel a LITTLE ambivalent when that really loud obnoxious woman praying to Jesus for her chance to take her family to Europe got doubly tortured by Jeff with his whole pausing to drink water bit (bellowing: "Are you out of your mind!!!"), and then they capped that off by slamming her on her ass, hard, on her way down to the water.