Wipeout (2008 U.S. game show)

For the unrelated 1988 syndicated game show, see Wipeout (1988 U.S. game show).
Wipeout
Also known as Winter Wipeout
Spring Wipeout
Summer Wipeout
Total Wipeout USA
Genre Sports Entertainment
Comedy
Created by Matt Kunitz and Scott Larsen
Directed by J. Rupert Thompson
Presented by John Anderson
John Henson
Jill Wagner (1–4, 6–7)
Vanessa Lachey (5)
Composer(s) Vanacore Music (Theme Song & Underscore)
Country of origin United States
No. of seasons 7
No. of episodes 148
Production
Executive producer(s) Matt Kunitz and Scott Larsen
Producer(s) Heather Finnegan
Sean Jennings
Eric Timm
Running time 60 minutes
Production company(s) Endemol USA
Lock and Key Productions
Pulse Creative
Distributor Endemol USA
Release
Original network ABC and AXN
Picture format 480i (4:3 SDTV) (2008)
720p (16:9 HDTV) (2009–2014)
Original release June 24, 2008 (2008-06-24) – September 7, 2014 (2014-09-07)[1]

Wipeout is a game show series in which contestants compete in what was billed as the "world's largest obstacle course". Wipeout is hosted and commentated by John Henson and John Anderson, while Jill Wagner acts as the "on-location" presenter. The show aired on ABC from June 24, 2008 to September 7, 2014. The interim presenter for one season was Vanessa Lachey. The creators and executive producers are Matt Kunitz and Scott Larsen. Distribution of the show is handled by Endemol USA. The show was taped at Sable Ranch in Canyon Country, Santa Clarita, California, about 40 miles north of Los Angeles.[2]

History

Wipeout title card used from 2008-2010. The logo can still be seen around the course.

The series premiered on June 24, 2008, on ABC. After the pilot was shot, co-host Elon Gold was replaced. Producers called in Michael Glazer to find a "comic host replacement" that eventually went to John Henson. The first season's success spawned a series of international versions of Wipeout, debuting in countries including the United Kingdom and Argentina in January 2009.

On December 8, 2008, ABC announced plans to counter-program NBC's Super Bowl game-day telecasts with a sports-star-studded episode of Wipeout, entitled "Wipeout Bowl". The episode was broadcast immediately following the game. The episode featured female cheerleaders competing against male "couch potato" sports fans.[3] During the hour-long special, Monica Kauffman became the show's first female competitor to win. Following the episode, an announcement was made that a second season had been commissioned, and a promo for the season was subsequently broadcast.

The second season was broadcast during the summer of 2009. According to TV Week, in 2009 Wipeout became the third most popular game show in the world, based on ratings.[4] On July 22, 2009, Wipeout was renewed for a third season, for which filming began in September 2009.

The third season of the show premiered on June 22, 2010, with a special two-hour "Blind Date" episode preluding the series on June 1.[5][6] ABC subsequently announced that other themed episodes would appear in Season 3, including episodes featuring ladies only and families.[5] The third-season finale aired on September 14, 2010, with a special "America's Finest Edition", featuring some of America's heroes, including firefighters and policemen.

On August 15, 2010, ABC announced that the show had been contracted for a fourth season.[7] The announcement added: "Wipeout has the distinction of being the only broadcast reality series launched in recent years that has demonstrated proven staying power." On October 13, 2010, ABC announced plans that the fourth season would be split into three sections – Winter, Spring, and Summer; with a total of 32 episodes: 8 Winter episodes, 7 Spring episodes and 17 Summer episodes.[8] The fourth season premiered on January 6, 2011.[9]

On June 16, 2011, ABC announced that the show had been renewed for a fifth season, and that Vanessa Lachey would replace co-host Jill Wagner on the show. New episodes of Winter Wipeout began on December 8, 2011, with a Christmas special episode, entitled Winter Wipeout: Deck the Balls. That same year, Syndicated reruns of Wipeout aired on truTV and TBS.[10]

On August 29, 2012, Wipeout was picked up for a sixth season. In addition, it was announced that former co-host Jill Wagner would be returning to the series after a season-long absence.[11] John Anderson and John Henson, also returning as hosts.

On August 30, 2012, Activision released the mobile App Wipeout game for iOS. It quickly became the top-selling app in the App Store.[12]

On May 9, 2013, season six premiered. In its sixth season, Wipeout celebrated its 100th episode.[13]

On January 22, 2014, Wipeout was renewed for a seventh season. For the first time, winners from each episode will be brought together for a "Tournament of Champions" at the end of the season to compete for the title of Ultimate Wipeout Champion.[14]

On June 22, 2014, the seventh season began, with new episodes airing on Sundays. Season Seven ended on September 7, 2014.

Wipeout appeared to have been renewed for an eighth season in a new version named Wipeout Extreme; however, by the summer of 2015, ABC had quietly canceled the show and removed it from the ABC website.[15][16]

Awards and nominations

Year Awards Category Result Notes
2009 Rose d'Or Entertainment Category[17] Nominated
2010 Entertainment Weekly Guilty Pleasure Reality Showdown[18] Won
2010 Kids' Choice Awards Favorite Reality Series [19] Nominated
2011 Kids' Choice Awards Favorite Reality Series [20] Nominated
2011 Teen Choice Awards Choice TV: Reality Competition Show [21] Nominated
2012 Kids' Choice Awards Favorite Reality Series [22] Won Wipeout won the award for the first time, dethroning American Idol, which had won the category every time since its inception. Over 220 million votes were cast.[22]
2013 Kids' Choice Awards Favorite Reality Series [23] Won
2014 Kids' Choice Awards Favorite Reality Series [24] Won
2014 Teen Choice Awards Choice Summer TV Series [25] Won
2015 Kids' Choice Awards Favorite Reality Show [26] Nominated

Episodes

Reception

On its premiere night, Wipeout scored the highest premiere rating of any new show in summer 2008, besting competing veteran summer shows Hell's Kitchen and America's Got Talent.[27] As the season progressed, Nielsen Media Research put it at the top of the 18-49 demographic, slightly outpaced by America's Got Talent. On August 6, 2008, Wipeout was officially renewed for a second season.[28] The second season premiered on May 27, 2009, and with an audience of 9.69 million, Wipeout bested its first season average and gave ABC its best numbers in the Wednesday 8:00pm slot since November 2007.[29] The third season premiered on June 22, 2010, with ratings of 10.21 million,[30] with a special "Blind Date" episode getting 12.8 million viewers on June 1, 2010.[31]

On January 6, 2011, the first season of Winter Wipeout premiered with the series' highest ratings ever, beating the 8pm competition in the coveted 18-49 demographic and many other key demos.[32]

Lawsuit

The concept and style of the show has been compared to several Japanese game shows, most notably Unbeatable Banzuke and Takeshi's Castle.[33][34] This was brought to the attention of the Japanese broadcaster Tokyo Broadcasting System, who filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against ABC, charging that Wipeout is "a blatant copycat" of several of its classic Japanese competition game shows. Among the charges are that ABC bought search terms such as MXC (the Americanized comedy version of Takeshi's Castle) on Google to help drive traffic to the official Wipeout page, and that specific obstacles in Wipeout were knock-offs of challenges in those Japanese game shows.

Wipeout creator and executive producer Matt Kunitz, who also executive produced Endemol's Fear Factor (NBC), said Wipeout is "90% Fear Factor-inspired, 10% Japanese game show", adding in a Los Angeles Times interview that Wipeout was born from a desire to do a funny stunt series. He reportedly wanted to sell the show as Fear Factor meets America's Funniest Home Videos.[35] The suit was settled in December 2011 through mediation with a federal judge without going to trial.[36]

Wipeout: The Game

Wipeout has also been adapted into a video game, Wipeout: The Game, which was released June 22, 2010, along with the Season 3 premiere.[37] The game was released on the Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS, and was developed by Activision. In the game, the player can choose from 23 different characters. There are four categories of characters, with each category having a certain amount of "Speed" and "Strength" for the player, which varies based on their body sizes. The "Small" characters have great Speed but little Strength. The "Medium" characters have a more balanced amount of Speed and Strength, with neither one serving as the dominant trait. And the "Large" characters have great Strength but little Speed. These first three categories all have 6 different characters each; 3 females and 3 males, and each character having 3 different outfits. The fourth category is "Special," which has a high amount of Speed and Strength. There are 5 characters in this category, including the three hosts. The game is played in two different versions. Challenge mode is where the player can challenge specific obstacles and attempt to beat them in a certain amount of time. The other is Play The Show, which means to play the game as they would in the show. They go through the Qualifier round first, and advance to the Sweeper round second. The third round, Free For All, has 3 different versions. In the Easy level, the Free For All features players spinning on the dizzy dummy, and then going across the Tipsy Tables or the Spinning Platform. Challenging level has players on the Unclaimed Baggage, and the Extreme level has them on the Double Crosser. Finally, they go through the Wipeout Zone. The Wii game is different from the show (and its Nintendo DS counterpart) in that there are only 4 contestants, and none are eliminated during the first three rounds. The game has commentary by Henson, Anderson and Wagner, all three of whom are featured as unlockable playable characters.[38]

Another Wipeout game is under development by Activision, this time for Xbox 360 with Kinect, entitled 'Wipeout: In The Zone'. It will take full advantage of the Kinect remote and has ragdoll wipeouts and different rounds from the Wii and DS version, such as Bruiseball. The game was released "in conjunction with the premier of Wipeout's summer season on ABC"[39] on June 16, 2011.[40] Activision announced on August 18, 2011 that a direct sequel to the first Wipeout game was in development titled Wipeout 2[41] for Xbox 360 with Kinect, PlayStation 3, Wii, Nintendo DS and Nintendo 3DS. The new game is described as "Offering updated, outrageous course designs across all platforms with obstacles and effects taken straight from the show's summer and winter seasons. Players must navigate around snow, ice, foam, and fan-favorite obstacles like the Sucker Punch Wall and Big Balls; which are making their triumphant returns alongside more than 50 others".

It was released on October 11, 2011.[42] Activision announced on June 25, 2013 that a new title called Wipeout: Create & Crash will be released on Wii, Wii U, Xbox 360, and Nintendo 3DS on October 15, 2013.[43]

International versions

Endemol USA has sold the "Wipeout" format to more than 40 territories and has created two obstacle courses in Argentina for those international editions.[28] Past, current and upcoming versions include:

Country Name Host Channel Premiere Language
Arab League Arab World وايب أوت
Wipeout		 Mustafa Alagha, Tamer Abd El-Monem, Karen Derkalostian MBC 1[44] May 2009 Arabic
 Argentina Hombre al agua Sebastián Weinbaum and Eugenio Weinbaum (Season 1, 3), Ivan de Pineda and Luli Fernendez (Season 2) Canal 13 January 5, 2009 Spanish
 Australia Wipeout Australia Kelly Landry, James Brayshaw and Josh Lawson Nine Network/Go![45] 3 February 2009 – 24 March 2009 English
 Belarus Зачистка
Zachistka		 Alexandra Pavlova and Ivan Vabishevich ONT Launch in 2011 Russian
 Belgium Wipeout Walter Grootaers, Bob Peeters & Lynn Pelgroms (& Wytske Kenemans) VTM[46] March 4, 2009 Dutch
 Brazil Maratoma Fausto Silva Rede Globo[47] July 19, 2009 Portuguese
 Canada Wipeout Québec Valérie Simard, Alain Dumas and Réal Béland V August 31, 2009 French
Wipeout Canada Jonathan Torrens, Enis Esmer,Jessica Phillips[48] TVtropolis April 3, 2011 – June 26, 2011 English
 Chile Hombre Al Agua Martín Cárcamo and Álvaro Salas TVN March 6, 2009 Spanish
 Colombia Hombre Al Agua Pirry and Andrea Serna RCN TV December 2011 Spanish
 Croatia Wipeout Marina Jerkovic RTL Televizija April 12, 2009. Croatian
 Czech Republic Wipeout - Souboj národů Libor Bouček, Janka Hospodárová Nova June 29, 2011 Czech
 Denmark Wipeout Uffe Holm, Martin Veltz and Anne Kejser Kanal 5 March 5, 2009 Danish
 Finland Wipeout Suomi Anna Easteden Fox 2013 Finnish
 France Total Wipeout Stéphane Rotenberg, Alex Goude, Sandrine Corman M6[49][50] July 17, 2009 French
 Germany WipeOut – Heul nicht, lauf! Charlotte Engelhardt, Matthias Opdenhövel and Werner Hansch ProSieben[51] March 10, 2009 German
 Greece Wipeout Christoforos Zaralikos, Dimitris Menounos, Eleni Karpontini (season 1), Giorgos Lianos (season 2) ANT1 February 6, 2010 Greek
 Iceland Wipeout Ísland Sigmar Vilhjálmsson, Jóhannes Ásbjörnsson and Friðrika Hjördís Geirsdóttir Stöð 2[52] December 11, 2009 Icelandic
 India Zor Ka Jhatka: Total Wipeout Shahrukh Khan and Saumya Tandon[53] Imagine TV February 1, 2011 – February 25, 2011 Hindi
 Italy Wipeout - Pronti a tutto! Lillo e Greg K2 3 October 2010 Italian
 Kazakhstan Channel 7 [54] March 9, 2013 Kazakh
 Israel וויפאאוט ישראל
Wipeout Israel		 Tal Berman and Aviad Kisos Channel 10[55] May 10, 2011 Hebrew
 Mexico Resbalón José Ramón San Cristóbal, Eduardo Videgaray Televisa[56] August 29, 2009 Spanish
 Japan ワイプアウト日本 (Nippon's Wipeout) TBA Fuji TV March 24, 2013 Japanese
 Lithuania Jokių kliūčių! Džiugas Siaurusaitis TV3 January 10, 2009 Lithuanian
 Mozambique O Gram Caida Noel Serra, Cristian Aureliano Maranhao Promomedios Televisor September 12, 2010 Portuguese
 Netherlands Wipeout Wytske Kenemans, Dennis Weening, Klaas van der Eerden, Lynn Pelgroms RTL 5[57][58] February 15, 2009 Dutch
 Norway Wipeout Anders Hoff,Øyvind Rafto, Synnøve Skarbø TVNorge March 2, 2009[59] Norwegian
 Pakistan Wipeout Pakistan also known as Big Splash Geo TV Urdu
 Poland Wipeout - Wymiatacze Tomasz Zimoch, Krzysztof 'Jankes' Jankowski,
Katarzyna Olubińska		 TVN February 13, 2011 Polish
 Russia Жестокие игры
Zhestokiye Igry		 Dmitry Dibrov, Kirill Nabutov, Yana Churikova Channel One[60] 7 March 2010 Russian
Навылет
Navylet		 Danila Dunayev, Natali Nevedrova, Vladimir Strozhuk Yu September 7, 2013 Russian
 Serbia Wipeout Ivan Tešanović and Miljan Milićević FOX Televizija November 8, 2009 Serbian
 Spain ¡Guaypaut! John Anderson, John Henson, Jill Wagner Telecinco[61] December 24, 2008 Spanish
 Slovakia Wipeout - Súboj národov Janka Hospodárová, Libor Bouček Markíza July 3, 2011 Slovak
 Slovenia Wipeout Jernej Kuntner and Tomaž Cuder TV 3 Slovenian voice-over of the American version since season 3 Slovene
 Sweden Wipeout Felix Herngren, Hans Wiklund, Sofia Wistam Kanal 5 (Swedish) March 8, 2009 Swedish
 Turkey Wipeout Asuman Krause Show TV[62] January 30, 2008 Turkish
 Ukraine БУМ, Битва українських міст
BUM, Bytva Ukrayinskyh Mist		 Stepan Kazanin, Valeria Ushakova, Alexander Krikun Inter TV March 7, 2010 Ukrainian
Замочені Ehor Krutoholov, Oleksandr Berezhok ICTV June 16, 2013 Ukrainian
 United Kingdom Total Wipeout Richard Hammond[63] and Amanda Byram BBC One,
BBC Three,
CBBC[64]		 3 January 2009 – 31 December 2012 English

Notes:

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://www.thefutoncritic.com/showatch/wipeout/
  2. ↑ Google Map
  3. ↑ "'Wipeout' special set for Super Sunday". Wipeoutforums.proboards.com. Retrieved 2012-05-22.
  4. ↑ "Guess Which Game Show is the Most Popular Worldwide".
  5. 1 2 Hibberd, James (October 13, 2010). "ABC sets return dates for two reality shows". The Hollywood Reporter.
  6. ↑ "Wipeout". Facebook. Retrieved 2012-05-22.
  7. ↑ EXCLUSIVE: ABC renews 'Wipeout'
  8. ↑ "Winter Wipeout on ABC!". YouTube. Retrieved 2012-05-22.
  9. ↑ Adalian, Josef (2012-04-27). "ABC Orders a Cold-Weather Wipeout - Vulture". Nymag.com. Retrieved 2012-05-22.
  10. ↑ Wipeout on truTV; accessed December 8, 2011.
  11. ↑ "'Wipeout' Renewed for Sixth Season". TV By the Numbers. Retrieved August 29, 2012.
  12. ↑ "Activision’s Wipeout Currently #1 in the App Store". BSC Kids. Retrieved September 4, 2012.
  13. ↑ "As Brains Battle Brawn, Wipeout Celebrates Its 100th Episode and the Return of Jill Wagner".
  14. ↑ Gennis, Sadie (January 22, 2013). "ABC Renews Wipeout for a Seventh Season". TV Guide. Retrieved January 23, 2013.
  15. ↑ "Wipeout: Cancelled by ABC, No Season Eight?". TV Series Finale. 2015-07-11. Retrieved 2015-09-26.
  16. ↑ "Wipeout Cancelled By ABC – No Season 8". RenewCancelTV.com. July 13, 2015. Retrieved August 30, 2015.
  17. ↑ "U.K. dominates Rose d’Or honors". Retrieved August 17, 2014.
  18. ↑ "'Wipeout' Takes the Crown as the Guilty Pleasure Reality TV Champion". Retrieved August 17, 2014.
  19. ↑ "'Wipeout' 2010 Kid's Choice Award Nomination".
  20. ↑ "'Wipeout' renewed for fifth season".
  21. ↑ Votta, Rae (June 29, 2011). "Teen Choice Awards 2011 Nominees Announced". Huffington Post.
  22. 1 2 "'Kids Choice Awards': And the winners are...". Retrieved August 17, 2014.
  23. ↑ "2013 Kids' Choice Awards: And the winners are...". Retrieved August 17, 2014.
  24. ↑ Couch, Aaron (March 29, 2014). "Nickelodeon's Kids' Choice Awards: The Winners". The Hollywood Reporter.
  25. ↑ Nordyke, Kimberly (August 10, 2014). "Teen Choice Award: The Complete Winners List". The Hollywood Reporter.
  26. ↑ Daley, Megan (February 20, 2015). "Meryl Streep gets her first Kids' Choice Awards nomination: See the full list". EW.com.
  27. ↑ "Wipeout scores top Tuesday ratings". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 2008-07-16. Retrieved 2008-06-25.
  28. 1 2 18006331.html?categoryid=1417&cs=1 ABC renews 'Wipeout' for third season to begin in the Summer of 2010
  29. ↑ Seattlepi.com "TV Guide" section
  30. ↑ Hibberd, James. "The Hollywood Reporter". Hollywoodreporter.com. Retrieved 2012-05-22.
  31. ↑ Third season of Wipeout at Facebook
  32. ↑ Hibberd, James (2011-01-07). "Winter 'Wipeout' kills on ABC". Insidetv.ew.com. Retrieved 2012-05-22.
  33. ↑ Joanna Weiss (June 24, 2008). "Will Americans fall for Japanese-style game shows?". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2008-06-28.
  34. ↑ "Wipeout and I Survived a Japanese Game Show Tonight". Huliq News. Retrieved 2008-06-28.
  35. ↑ Island, Channel (July 14, 2008). "Just call Matt Kunitz the king of reality TV". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2008-07-14.
  36. ↑ "ABC, Endemol Settle 'Wipeout' Copyright Lawsuit With Japanese Broadcaster".
  37. ↑ ""Wipeout: The Game" at Facebook". Facebook.com. Retrieved May 22, 2012.
  38. ↑ "www.gofanboy.com". www.gofanboy.com. 2010-03-19. Retrieved 2012-05-22.
  39. ↑ "Activision and ABC Entertainment Group Announce Exclusive Wipeout In The Zone, Coming This Summer on Kinect for Xbox 360". Investor.activision.com. 2011-03-16. Retrieved 2012-05-22.
  40. ↑ Profile, tvovermind.zap2it.com; accessed August 17, 2014.
  41. ↑ Kerry (2011-08-18). "Activision Announces Wipeout 2 for All Major Consoles". Gameplaytoday.com. Retrieved 2012-05-22.
  42. ↑ "Wipeout 2 at Nintendo: Games". Nintendo.com. Retrieved 2012-05-22.
  43. ↑ http://investor.activision.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=780390
  44. ↑ MBC Wipeout page (Arabic)
  45. ↑ "Channel nine - wipeout". Channelnine.ninemsn.com.au. Retrieved 2012-05-22.
  46. ↑ Wipeout page on Belgian TV network VTM (Dutch)
  47. ↑ "Domingão do Faustão" (Portuguese)
  48. ↑ Wipeout Canada website Archived June 6, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.
  49. ↑ "Article about the French show". Lepost.fr. 2009-06-25. Retrieved 2012-05-22.
  50. ↑ "Total Wipeout on M6" (in French). Retrieved 2009-09-12.
  51. ↑ DWDL.de - ProSieben produziert Abenteuer-Show in Argentinien (German)
  52. ↑ Archived August 31, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.
  53. ↑ Bhushan, Nyay (December 20, 2010). "Shah Rukh Khan to Host Indian Version of 'Wipeout'". The Hollywood Reporter.
  54. ↑ Kelly Anderson (2011-01-19). "Endemol enters partnership with Kazakhstan’s Channel 7". Realscreen. Retrieved 2013-07-14.
  55. ↑ "טל ואביעד ינחו את הגירסה הישראלית ל-"Wipeout" - מדור טלוויזיה - עכבר העיר". Mouse.co.il. Retrieved 2012-05-22.
  56. ↑ http://www.televisa.com/noticias-corporativas/088526/resbalon (Spanish)
  57. ↑ Mediacourant.nl "Spectaculair Amerikaans format Wipeout bij RTL 5" (Dutch)
  58. ↑ rtl.nl (Dutch)
  59. ↑ http://www.tvnorge.no/programportaler/wipeout/wipeout (Norwegian)
  60. ↑ "Endemol secures new deals for Russian version of Wipeout". Mnilive.com. 2009-09-30. Retrieved 2012-05-22.
  61. ↑ http://www.vertele.com/noticias/detail.php?id=20302 (Spanish)
  62. ↑ Parker, Robin (2008-06-30). "Turkey experiences a ''Wipeout''". Broadcastnow.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-05-22.
  63. ↑ Published Thursday, Sep 18 2008, 19:30 BST (2008-09-18). "Hammond to host primetime TV show - TV News". Digital Spy. Retrieved 2012-05-22.
  64. ↑ Clarke, Steve (August 20, 2008). "Sales no obstacle for 'Wipeout'". Variety.
  65. ↑ Wipeout (VI) - Main - tvb.com

Further reading

External links

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