All right, third episode, let’s see what we got here.
Blackout with a voiceover saying “Manson has come to represent the malignant side of humanity.” Strange. Same tagger clips, because that’s a thing I really needed to see again :rolleyes:…Chase Tag men’s side, where they bunch up again (it’s become like going from top to bottom on Jeopardy; no one knows if there’s any advantage to this, it’s just become so normalized that no one even tries to do anything else)…Horse is out of his depth here and runs out of gas, because we didn’t want IG to be lonely, didn’t we? :smack: Women go. AA does her job, The Boss…doesn’t have the speed, wastes a lot of time, and finally throws in the towel, and of course go ahead and make this the second round so that someone gets totally screwed! :smack: Dodge Tag, still can’t follow…Revenge Tag, still too flunky…while-we-were-aways, still crap…Super Grand Final whatever, still…still…still…eh.
I’m done with this. You’ve seen three episodes, you’ve pretty much seen 'em all. Other than making fun of the scrubs who fail to get a tag on Chase Tag, I’m just not seeing any entertainment value here. And it suffers from the same two problems as nearly every other competition-style show: I don’t give a damn who wins, and so much depends on luck that it’s impossible to cheer the winner anyway.
Finally…and this is the question anyone who wants to start a new show like this needs to ask…what sets it apart? The Amazing Race has mad scrambles, a gamut of cultures, and beautiful, exotic locales. American Ninja Warrior has constantly-changing obstacles and a stable of established stars. The Titan Games has big, imposing props and feats of amazing strength. Battlebots has big hunks of machinery getting smashed to bits. Ultimate Tag has…lots of running around? Cheesy personalities? Posturing? Just not enough there there.
I think the only time it worked was Wipeout. There was no drama or heartwarming backstories. The commentators would latch on to one quirk of the contestant’s and the rest was watching people try to get over the obstacles to win prize money. You could appreciate the ones who used strategy to get ove them and laugh at the ones who just ran at it screaming like an idiot and ended up bellyflopping into the pool. The final round was more serious but that was because those obstacles needed skill and timing and not just brute strength.
I don’t know if it was based off Takeshi’s Castle but it was the same basic concept. Watching people trying to win a cash prize by epic failing an obstacle course. It didn’t need to be inspirational because it was just meant to be stupid and funny.
Yeah, people falling over has always been and always will be funny. Wipeout was just a way to have people do that a lot in a controlled environment. No need to dress it up with silly names or other gimmicks. The competition for the cash prize was more to encourage contestants rather than viewers, I think.
