Man, I’m so glad I checked out after two minutes. As soon as it was clear it was going to be “reality TV drama crap” and not “crazy game show hijinks” I quit.
Wipeout was entertaining, except for my intense dislike of John Henson (dude, you’re not nearly as funny as your mom says you are) in front of a blue screen. Even the little woman was like “I would prboably like this show if we muted it”.
-Joe
From the promos, it looks like the Americans are wearing too much safety gear, which takes me right out of the mood. A helmet, maybe, but life preservers? If you drown in the septic sludge, it’s your own damn fault!
I watched only the last half hour of the second one–having watched live stupid people tricks for the first part of the evening.
Ok, I kid slightly, but I was at a minor league ball park with poor attendance and great weather, and they had something going on in between every half inning.
Wouldn’t go out of my way to watch it, but since Wipeout appealed to me more in the abstract, it might get a second chance.
I’d been looking forward to Wipeout for weeks and it didn’t disappoint. I couldn’t breathe I was laughing so hard. I liked that in all of the hilarity, a real competition was happening once you winnowed the field down a bit.
The announcers weren’t as funny as on MXC, but I wasn’t expecting them to be. I just like watching people fall into mud.
One guy - I think the hulking sheriff - said “Let’s get it on!” during Sweeper.
Somebody’s a fan of MXC.
That was Hell’s Kitchen. You were watching the wrong channel. 
I caught the show about 20 minutes in and cracked up during the treadmill scenes and especially during “Big Bugs Splat on Windshield.” 
Well, they do have the same producers.
I only saw a bit of Wipeout, but from what I saw, they were taking the competitions too seriously. I Survived…had good potential, but I agree that the non-game show parts weren’t as entertaining. As a whole, the premise reminded me of the Japan episode of The Simpsons- clueless Americans going to Japan, seeing the sights, and competing on a game show. And being impressed by their toilets.
Wipeout was ok, I liked that they showed that there would be new challenges coming up in future episodes, but much like American Gladiators you just know the small wiry guy is going to win. That being said, I’ll pay $50 to take a run down that waterslide. Oh hell yes.
The Japanese Gameshow one will not be watched again due to the reality show component. Just can’t stand that crap anymore. However that Olga girl is kind of cute, so as long as she’s still on I won’t bitch too much if my girlfriend wants to watch it between innings of Cubs games.
I liked the trash-talking going on during The Sweeper, and the comments the contestants said to themselves.
Bumped because of the July 1 rebroadcast, letting me see Wipeout and the other show later. I still object to the life jackets (were I competing, I’d want to toss it because it’d just slow me down). It looks like a number of the obstacles are simply impassable. It’d be easier and quicker to just dive into the mud or water and bypass the sucker-punch wall or the big balls.
I think people don’t really try very hard because they don’t get inmediately disquilified for failing. You could get past the balls if you went slowly, but they all try to run/jump at full speed because swimming is still faster than the time it would take to get past them without falling. Same with the punch wall, if you fall you just climb out and move on, its just an excuse to see people punched in the face/balls and thrown in mud rather than an actual challenge. I think you could get by if you grabbed the handles and leaned way out away from the wall, but its much easier to fall.
Sorry, but I disagree with everything you said. The elimination rate is, what, half of the competitors with each of the first events, with only the one winner from the final four in the finale. It’s definitely faster and easier to bounce along the big balls rather than fall, provided one doesn’t get hung up for a long time in trying to just hang on and not fall (there’s fast progress and slow progress on those balls). And as for the punch wall, everyone is leaning out from it, but there are so few handles, the contestants are forced to close in in order to reach the next handle. Maybe a human albatross like [former Olympic swimmer] Ian Thorpe could reach some of those handles without getting too close to the boxing gloves, but most people just don’t have the wingspan. Come to think of it, has anyone successfully navigated that obstacle?
The sacks on the sweeper were stupid. They need to spread the towers apart a little bit more…some of the contestants got hit by another person.
I decided Wipeout was anemic and a lot less appealing to me than a re-run of NCIS. I survived a Japanese Gameshow did slightly more for me, but had less competition for my attentio.
I didn’t like Wipeout largely because of the commentators. I can’t put my finger on what I wanted from them, but I didn’t get it.
Hmm i don’t recall anyone making it past the second ball in either episode, it seems pretty impossible to just bounce along. Thats why everyone just runs at them full speed, face plants and swims to the next challenge.
Here’s a link to an abc-promo with a successful “Big Ball” attempt. (Go to 3:12)
Youtube
It also shows a bunch of different challenges.
A few months ago when the Cad Family dicsovered Ninja Warrior on TV, I said that if they ever made an American version it would lose all of the flavor of the original since the contestants would compete against each other and every week there would be a guarantied winner.
I must be precognizant
I was IM’ing (?) a friend about Wipeout this afternoon. She said she was laughing so hard that her cow-orkers were all staring at her.
I retract my statement about the life jackets; I hadn’t realized the events would run for seven minutes or more. I can see an exhausted contestant falling into the water and drowning on the spot.
It’s less funny when the events drag out that long. MXC likes quick action, fast humiliations and snappy patter, and so do I.
As for the other show - too much whining. “He voted me to face elimination! Wah Wah Wah!”