Wipedout

These past few months I had been keeping up on a couple TV shows called Wipeout and I Survived A Japanese Gameshow.  To make a long story short, these programs aren’t what I expected at first.  I really didn’t know what Wipeout was about really, but after the first episode, I was hooked.  If you’ve seen Most Extreme Challenge and Ninja Warrior, that’s what this show is sort’ve about.  The first 40 minutes, hilarious.  Then the real games begin as the people left on the show must compete on a seriously challenging course.  Winner gets a cool $50K.

I Survived a blah-blah isn’t what I expected.  I wanted those crazy Japanese shows I see on G4 and YouTube with insanity galore.  Did I get that?  Partially.  There was major drama involved.  It’s a known fact I’m pretty biased against reality TV.  I’m very picky.  There needs to be a point or some real reason why I’m watching the show.  Are they hunting ghosts?  Are they busting myths?  Are they building someone a brand new house?  (Okay, that was only one time.)  But I like watching real people do things because they love doing them, not for the love of money as a reward, and I don’t want to be involved in their lives.  THAT’S what this show was doing.  I spotted it as soon as the intro came on and showed the “stars” of the show.  I watched for a few weeks before I lost complete interest.  I don’t need another elimination show to keep track of.  Actually, I don’t keep track of any of them.  Sorry, it’s not for me.  Maybe because I’m a writer?  I like scripts.  Unless it’s improv.  That’s different.  Whose Line is it Anyway? anyone?

Overall, I hope to see Wipeout return next summer.  The big thing about that show is the big balls.  Last I checked, they streamline the show on Hulu.com.  Anyway, according to my Entertainment Weeklys, this show stayed on the 10 most watched show of the week for the past few weeks.  So that’s saying something.  It gave me something to do on boring Tuesday nights with no hot dates.  Watch tons of people bounce on big red balls, get punched by a wall, and fall in thick mud and muddy water.  Good times indeed!