Tuned In, TV Blog, Television Reviews, James Poniewozik, TIME

June 25, 2008 8:57

The Morning After: ABC Becomes the Violence Channel

Posted by James Poniewozik | Comments (11) | Permalink | Trackbacks (0) | Email This

Ow! My... ah, you get the point. / ABC

The broadcast-industry project of turning Idiocracy into a documentary continued apace last night, as ABC debuted two very different twists on the concept of dressing up people in funny costumes and making them fall into crap. And both, in their own ways, were examples of how American TV takes a perfectly good stupid concept and then can't leave it well enough alone.

The first, and more successful, was Wipeout, a kind of extreme obstacle-course competition. The hosts were ESPN anchor John Anderson and John Henson, former host of E!'s Talk Soup, on which, were he still hosting, he would probably be making fun of the poor schmuck who had to host Wipeout. It's low-concept and simple: contestants race through a series of courses and challenges where they get comically pummeled and dumped into mud by contraptions with names like the Topple Towers, the Sucker Punch, and the Big Balls. If you found Survivor too intellectually challenging and decided to strip it down to just the immunity challenges—but with none of those highbrow jigsaw puzzles—this is what you'd get.

All of which would have been good enough stupid fun if ABC had stepped aside and let the mud-splashes and face-plants roll. Instead, Wipeout lets the hosts yammer on, making corny America's Funniest Home Videos-style jokes ("Jen told us she was on the market--and she's already getting hit on," when one competitor gets punched by an automated boxing glove), as if not confident that the show was entertaining enough on its own. Even the contestants seemed to be trying too hard, screaming and making wisecracks for the camera, as if coaxed by the producers or, more likely, their agents. Make a good impression here, and you could just land that Head On commercial!

Meanwhile, I Survived a Japanese Game Show took a simple enough concept—importing Americans to compete on a bizarre game show in Tokyo—and turned it into a boring, American-style reality show, complete with confessional segments and backstage scenes. Memo to ABC: no one watches a show called I Survived a Japanese Game Show because they care about the inner lives of the contestants.

Sphere Related Blogs & Articles

Reader Comments (11)

Disenfranchised_Libertarian:

Wipeout is a sad imitation of Ninja Warrior. They should just bring Sasuke to the US and have Americans compete. It would kill American Gladiators.

ABC isn't aware of all internet traditions.

Posted by Disenfranchised_Libertarian | June 25, 2008 9:11 AM

Tom Shaw:

James, you missed the real lesson of those shows: maybe that conversion to cable isn't such a good idea after all.

Wipeout was, of course, just a clone of Spike's MXC. But while MXC can get away with dirty puns for an hour for its entirely young male audience, the ABC version has to be simultaneously less male-centric and cleaner.
Thus it is cleaner by defanging the jokes down to America's Funniest Home Videos level. And it is less male-centric by getting the female participants to at least pretend they are in on the fun by giving them time to make silly oneliners.

Similarly, Survived is a clone, but ironically enough, not of any Japanese show, but of MTV's Real World/Road Rules Extreme I can't believe the texting generation allows this many words in its title etc. etc. Challenge. Of course, to make it palatable to more than just the teens that watch the MTV shows, they have to include a variety of non-teens (that will be voted off in straight order).
Not to mention that those "confessionals" seemed to be edited in just to break up long blocks of Japanese-only dialogue - Americans don't like hearing them foreigners' jibber-jabber/readin' them little words at the bottom of the screen!

Or to review, taking targeted niche shows and attempting to re-purpose them to the TV audience as a whole pleases no one.

Cancel 'em both and air Lost In Translation in Survived's time slot next week.

Posted by Tom Shaw | June 25, 2008 9:38 AM

carlos_the_dwarf:

I'm with Tom Shaw right up until he says air Lost in Translation. Surely boring and pretentious is not the thing to replace these shows with. An old school Godzilla or samurai movie would be more appropriate.

Posted by carlos_the_dwarf | June 25, 2008 10:47 AM

jab217:

RE: Carlos_the_dwarf

I could be mistaken, but I think he meant there was something "lost in translation" from the Japanese originals to these American remakes.

Posted by jab217 | June 25, 2008 11:59 AM

Dave:

This just in: EW updated 100 Best New Classics to insert Wipeout at #86. Sorry, Saved by the Bell.

Posted by Dave | June 25, 2008 12:00 PM

Tom Shaw:

I said Lost in Translation for the purpose of showing Americans a tiny chunk of modern Japanese culture; I make no value judgment on the artistic merits of the film (which I personally liked enough to watch once, emphasis on the once).

Unless carlos wants Americans to believe that the modern Japanese are assaulted daily by giant radioactive lizards...

Posted by Tom Shaw | June 25, 2008 12:02 PM

procrastinator

endorsing the cancelation plea, i wouldn't normally even check out shows like these, so maybe i'm not the best judge, but curiosity on the japanese game show in particular got the best of me in these summer lulls...

people falling on the course in the wipeout promo was kind of funny for a minute but are they going to make people do that same course? i would be surprised if anyone will be back again for these, but american viewing habits do surprise me. maybe if they cut them each down to a half hour it might help...

Posted by procrastinator | June 25, 2008 12:28 PM

beerbaron:

If I wanted to watch people lose all dignity in front of television cameras, I'd put on CSPAN! ( http://www.instantrimshot.com/ )

Posted by beerbaron | June 25, 2008 1:27 PM

Mike:

"Unless carlos wants Americans to believe that the modern Japanese are assaulted daily by giant radioactive lizards..."

Yeah seriously, i mean that was the OLD Japan. Everyone knows that the modern Japanese are assaulted daily by POKEMON...and Bill Murray.

Posted by Mike | June 25, 2008 2:31 PM

carlos_the_dwarf:

LOL radioactive lizards is at least as weird as what actually goes on over there.

Posted by carlos_the_dwarf | June 25, 2008 5:48 PM

cleoj:

I actually rather enjoyed watching Wipeout. The show I thought I would enjoy more, "I Survived a Japanese Game Show," was much too long with a lot of boring thrown in. If they just had the games and none of the reality part, it'd be a much better show (maybe).

Posted by cleoj | June 25, 2008 5:57 PM

About Tuned In

James Poniewozik writes TIME magazine's Tuned In column, about pop culture and society. Tuned In, the blog version, is about the stuff we used to call "TV," whether it's in your living room, on your computer or--once the networks figure out the technology and line up the advertisers--in your dreams themselves.