September 11, 2008 episode
The first contest was between team sumo sandwich (two sumo wrestlers and one non-) and team jockeys. I think I either hadn't noticed from the preview shows or they didn't do them during the preview shows, but after each puzzle was attempted, they showed what the correct position was supposed to be to complete the puzzle. One of the complaints I had during the preview shows still held true - the puzzles weren't fair. One team got a puzzle where they just had to make shapes, and then the other team got a puzzle where they all had to jump. Jumping is a lot harder, and I think both teams should get like for like.
The second contest was between the Georgia peaches and the New York meatballs. No, I don't remember (or care) what the names were for. My complaint for this competition was that the contestants weren't svelt and yet the holes they were supposed to go through were actually too small for them to physically fit through. OK, so all the contestants don't have to be skinny, but at least give them puzzles they can actually do. It's one thing to have to try to figure out how to contort yourself into a shape to fit through or to even have to jump through, but if you are ACTUALLY LARGER THAN THE HOLE YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO GO THROUGH, it is literally impossible for you to make it through. How is that fair?
Speaking of not fair, they didn't seem to be too careful in some of the judging. The object is to make it through the hole and not break anything or be shoved into the freezing cold water. In the puzzle for three people, there was on instance where one person made it clean through, but the dividing partition between the other two people was broken off. But if you watch the tape, you can see that the person in the middle made it perfectly through without touching the wall whereas the person on the right was the one who knocked out the piece. And yet, they only got credit for one completion. They should have gotten credit for two, since it was just the third person who messed up. If the third person hadn't been there, the middle person would have made it just fine, so how can it be fair to penalize the middle person for the mistake by the person on the right?
September 18, 2008 episode
The first contest was between the burger boys and the chicken wing chicks. Wow, were the boys amazingly flaming-on-high-heat gay. It was just too funny to watch them. At one point in my life, I spent a lot of time around a lot of gay men, and I can't remember anyone being quite as flaming as they were. This was the first competition between teams of different genders. Well, sort of. The women did make it through one particular puzzle, but because they had moved completely out of the play area when they did it, their completion did not count.
The second competition was between little people (and they were even allowed to bring a dog, who was also dressed in spandex but who did not play in the game) versus female body builders (who I swear must have either been transsexuals or on steroids or both, because their facial features were totally masculine, and their voices were incredibly low). Brooke Burns actually had knee-pads on so that she could be on her knees to be the same height as the little people when she was talking to them. That was funny to see her scooting around like that.
general thoughts
Those space-suit spandex outfits were just crazy. Yeah, even if you were fit, you still looked pretty stupid in them, but if you were carrying any extra poundage, it was there for all to see. You could not pay me enough to wear one of those and agree to be seen on national television or by anyone for that matter.
I wish there was actually more "show" to the show. They spent a lot of time talking to the contestants and showing you over and over again what happened, including recapping the events so far. Ummm, ok, it's only a 30 minute show - you're showing me things I saw 5, 10 and 15 minutes ago. Are you assuming I have short-term memory?
I did find myself being more and more annoyed at the unfairness of parts of the show - one team being given harder puzzles than others, people not getting credit for making it through because their teammate didn't make it, and giving people puzzles that were literally impossible for them to solve. There was also one puzzle that I wasn't sure how it was supposed to work, and it was a single-person puzzle too. Well, when they showed how it was supposed to work, the figure was just lying down in the horizontal opening, which wouldn't have been so bad if it was just on the ground, but there were several inches of wall underneath the opening. So the only way to solve the puzzle was to be able to levitate yourself? Ridiculous.
I noticed this time that host Mark Thompson made a lot of comments about what happened, usually during the replays of the puzzles, and a bit at other times as well. It's pretty clear that those comments were either done after the fact or at least not done on mic for the crowd and contestants to hear. And some of the comments were actually really mean and made fun of the contestants in lots of ways. The problem I have with that isn't so much that the contestants were being made fun of, it's that they wouldn't even know about it until they saw it on TV. I also got tired of hearing Mark say the same thing over and over again before each puzzle.
I had thought that some mindless fun might be interesting, but the show isn't funny enough to be worth the time it takes me. I had wondered whether something I enjoyed watching on YouTube for 5 minutes would be enough to keep my interest in a TV show, but I didn't count on the other frustrations I found with the show, so it's not so much mindless fun as much as it is irritating with occasional laughter. So, I'm dropping the show from my viewing list, and the husband is as well.
Showing posts with label Hole in the Wall. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hole in the Wall. Show all posts
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
"Hole in the Wall" - September 9, 2008 episode
This was billed as another "preview" show since there's apparently a "real" show on Thursday, which is its regular day.
This time, it was a team of construction workers against incredibly flaming hair dressers. Unlike in the first preview episode, most of the puzzles were a bit more fair between the two teams. Both teams were unable to score in the first two rounds. In the third round, with the construction workers going first, all three managed to make it through, earning them 3 points. The hair dressers needed to score as well, and they managed to make it through, making it a 3-3 tie after three rounds.
In the final round, which involved all three team members, with the wall coming twice as fast, the construction workers went first, and they all managed to make it through, earning them a whopping 6 points and $5,000 since all three made it through. Now, the hair dressers had to all make it through to tie up the game. Two of them made it through while one fell in the water, but one of the people who made it through also took out a chunk of the wall, so that probably wouldn't have counted. Hmmm, I wonder what kind of tie-breaking system they would have had if they had scored 6 points as well. This last puzzle seemed a bit unfair. Two of the three holes for the construction workers were fairly easy, though the third did have to jump. For the hair dressers, though, all the holes were kinda difficult.
The construction workers then went to the Blind Wall round, and the guy who was supposed to be doing the explaining totally tanked it, so the poor guy with the goggles just stood there while the wall rammed into him. The team came away with a total of $30,000.
I was mildly entertained with this episode, though the trash-talking stuff doesn't really interest me. I'll keep watching for now, but I'm not sure how long my attention is going to hold. And even if I keep watching, I'm not sure it's interesting enough for me to recount every week.
But I have to say - Mark Thompson has the easiest.job.ever.
This time, it was a team of construction workers against incredibly flaming hair dressers. Unlike in the first preview episode, most of the puzzles were a bit more fair between the two teams. Both teams were unable to score in the first two rounds. In the third round, with the construction workers going first, all three managed to make it through, earning them 3 points. The hair dressers needed to score as well, and they managed to make it through, making it a 3-3 tie after three rounds.
In the final round, which involved all three team members, with the wall coming twice as fast, the construction workers went first, and they all managed to make it through, earning them a whopping 6 points and $5,000 since all three made it through. Now, the hair dressers had to all make it through to tie up the game. Two of them made it through while one fell in the water, but one of the people who made it through also took out a chunk of the wall, so that probably wouldn't have counted. Hmmm, I wonder what kind of tie-breaking system they would have had if they had scored 6 points as well. This last puzzle seemed a bit unfair. Two of the three holes for the construction workers were fairly easy, though the third did have to jump. For the hair dressers, though, all the holes were kinda difficult.
The construction workers then went to the Blind Wall round, and the guy who was supposed to be doing the explaining totally tanked it, so the poor guy with the goggles just stood there while the wall rammed into him. The team came away with a total of $30,000.
I was mildly entertained with this episode, though the trash-talking stuff doesn't really interest me. I'll keep watching for now, but I'm not sure how long my attention is going to hold. And even if I keep watching, I'm not sure it's interesting enough for me to recount every week.
But I have to say - Mark Thompson has the easiest.job.ever.
Monday, September 8, 2008
"Hole in the Wall" - September 7, 2008 episode - series premiere/preview episode
Just like a ton of other people, I really enjoyed watching the human tetris footage on YouTube about the Japanese game show where contestants had to contort themselves to fit into the shape of a cut-out from a wall or risk being dumped in a pool of water. I was excited when I found out that it would be coming to American TV.
The first show pitted two three-person teams against each other - bodybuilders comprised the Six Packs, who were up against the Beer Bellies. I had been planning to watch the show anyway, but I was further intrigued when I found out that the Beer Bellies were actually three of the guys from the Kevin and Bean morning radio show on KROQ in Los Angeles.
Team Captain Omar from the Beer Bellies went first in a solo round, but he failed to make it through. Team Captain Jake from the Six Packs went for his team and succeeded, earning his team one point.
The second round was a two-person challenge. Anu and Aaron from the Six Packs went first but failed. Then Jonathan and David went for the Beer Bellies, and they not only failed, but in their failure, they actually destroyed the wall they were attempting.
The third round involved all three people from each team. The Six Packs went first and succeeded, earning three points. The Beer Bellies then had their turn, and when they managed to straddle each other enough to all fit through one hole, they also scored three points. Going into the last round, the Six Packs were leading the Beer Bellies by a score of 4 to 3.
The final round also involved all three team members, but the wall would be approaching at twice the normal speed, and each player who made it through would earn two points. The Six Packs went first, and one player made it through, earning two points for their team. That meant that the Beer Bellies would need two of their team members to make it through to win. Unfortunately, none of them made it through, so the Six Packs were declared the winners of $25,000.
Next up was the Blind Wall bonus round. If they succeeded, they would win another $100,000. It was a puzzle for just one person, but that person would be totally blindfolded, and the other two team members would have to shout out instructions so direct the person into making the right shape to get through a hole they could not see. Team Captain Jake was chosen to be the player while Anu and Aaron were to give instructions. Anu and Aaron were miserable at doing so, and Jake was dumped into the pool of water.
As we were watching the show, we were wondering whether both teams would get the same shapes to conquer, which would seem to be more fair. As it turned out, they each got different shapes. I figured that actually made sense because otherwise, the team going second would be at a definite advantage, having already seen the shape once and seeing how the other team handled it. The only way around that would be to sequester the team going second so they couldn't see the other team playing or having both teams play simultaneously. However, I did think that in a lot of the situations, the Six Packs got much easier puzzles than did the Beer Bellies. In particular, in the final round, two of the openings for the Beer Bellies would have involved some kind of being off the ground since the holes didn't go all the way to the bottom of the foam. Since they were obviously not regular contestants, I'm wondering if they did that on purpose, pretty much to make sure the other team won, but they were still able to show what the game was about, since this was billed as a preview show. I get that they can't give both teams the exact same shapes, but the shapes should involve the same kinds of skills and difficulty level. I guess I won't know until I see the first regular episode during its normal Thursday night slot.
And while I found the show to be amusing, it wasn't rip-roaring amusing, and obviously, the premise is really simple. I'm not sure if the repetitive nature of the show will hold my interest, but then conversely, being able to watch a completely mindless show might be a nice break. We'll see how it goes.
The first show pitted two three-person teams against each other - bodybuilders comprised the Six Packs, who were up against the Beer Bellies. I had been planning to watch the show anyway, but I was further intrigued when I found out that the Beer Bellies were actually three of the guys from the Kevin and Bean morning radio show on KROQ in Los Angeles.
Team Captain Omar from the Beer Bellies went first in a solo round, but he failed to make it through. Team Captain Jake from the Six Packs went for his team and succeeded, earning his team one point.
The second round was a two-person challenge. Anu and Aaron from the Six Packs went first but failed. Then Jonathan and David went for the Beer Bellies, and they not only failed, but in their failure, they actually destroyed the wall they were attempting.
The third round involved all three people from each team. The Six Packs went first and succeeded, earning three points. The Beer Bellies then had their turn, and when they managed to straddle each other enough to all fit through one hole, they also scored three points. Going into the last round, the Six Packs were leading the Beer Bellies by a score of 4 to 3.
The final round also involved all three team members, but the wall would be approaching at twice the normal speed, and each player who made it through would earn two points. The Six Packs went first, and one player made it through, earning two points for their team. That meant that the Beer Bellies would need two of their team members to make it through to win. Unfortunately, none of them made it through, so the Six Packs were declared the winners of $25,000.
Next up was the Blind Wall bonus round. If they succeeded, they would win another $100,000. It was a puzzle for just one person, but that person would be totally blindfolded, and the other two team members would have to shout out instructions so direct the person into making the right shape to get through a hole they could not see. Team Captain Jake was chosen to be the player while Anu and Aaron were to give instructions. Anu and Aaron were miserable at doing so, and Jake was dumped into the pool of water.
As we were watching the show, we were wondering whether both teams would get the same shapes to conquer, which would seem to be more fair. As it turned out, they each got different shapes. I figured that actually made sense because otherwise, the team going second would be at a definite advantage, having already seen the shape once and seeing how the other team handled it. The only way around that would be to sequester the team going second so they couldn't see the other team playing or having both teams play simultaneously. However, I did think that in a lot of the situations, the Six Packs got much easier puzzles than did the Beer Bellies. In particular, in the final round, two of the openings for the Beer Bellies would have involved some kind of being off the ground since the holes didn't go all the way to the bottom of the foam. Since they were obviously not regular contestants, I'm wondering if they did that on purpose, pretty much to make sure the other team won, but they were still able to show what the game was about, since this was billed as a preview show. I get that they can't give both teams the exact same shapes, but the shapes should involve the same kinds of skills and difficulty level. I guess I won't know until I see the first regular episode during its normal Thursday night slot.
And while I found the show to be amusing, it wasn't rip-roaring amusing, and obviously, the premise is really simple. I'm not sure if the repetitive nature of the show will hold my interest, but then conversely, being able to watch a completely mindless show might be a nice break. We'll see how it goes.
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