Which new Saturday action gameshow deserves to wear Total Wipeout’s crown?
Den Of Geek investigates…
Saturday nights are all about falling over.
And Saturday night TV is no different.
But since the sad loss ofTotal Wipeoutin 2012, the people of our televisions have been too upright.
There just havent been the obstacle courses around to trip them up.
Thats all changed though, with the BBCsThe Getaway Cartaking on ITVsNinja Warrior UKin the family-friendly 7pm-ish timeslot.
But are either of them a worthy successor to the great of the genre?
Falling over is integral to the joy of the Saturday night obstacle course.
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And this is whereThe Getaway Carfalls down because its contestants dont.
Sure, they crash into things a lot, but the joy just isnt the same.
InNinja Warrior, meanwhile, people fall off things all the time.
The whole show is designed to make people fall off things.
Different things hit them at different points in the show.
They fell from varying heights.
Sometimes they got spun round before they fell over.
You could never guess what would happen next!
Except that it would be that someone would fall over.
The Getaway Carmakes a valiant effort to recreate this, using a suspiciously similar formula.
People drive into different things, at different speeds, in different vehicles.
Theres a sense of progression, of challenge, of a fight to the death.
Except without any actual death, because this is the BBC pre-watershed.
Over on ITV,Ninja Warriorlets the obstacle course-ing side down.
Because all that happens is that 40 people do the same course one after another.
Wheres our narrative,Ninja Warrior?
How can we get invested in these peoples stories?
How do you expect us to care when they fall down?
The contestants were the secret toTotal Wipeout.
Sure, most of them were deluded fools, but somehow the show made us care about them.
A combination of dreadful nicknames and mocking interviews made you believe you were watching normal people overcoming adversity.
An adversity that theyd signed themselves up for.
The Getaway Car, meanwhile, was clearly conceived by a diabolical genius.
Because each car carries two contestants, who more often than not are married to each other.
And thenNinja Warriordisappoints again, for its full of people who take the whole thing too seriously.
They train, and they have people spotting them on the course, and they seemingly have no self-awareness.
When asked aboutTotal Wipeout, everyone always remembers Richard Hammond.
But Amanda Byram was the real star of the show.
She stood at the edge of the challenges and was cruel to peoples faces.
And yet no one punched her.
Only Simon Amstell could have done it better.
MeanwhileThe Getaway Carhas Dermot OLeary, a presenter so good that he can hold the show on his own.
No need for a course-side interviewer here.
Dermot can do it all.
Hes been holding together the disaster that isThe X Factorfor years, after all.
Over atNinja Warrior,meanwhile, they need three presenters.
Mostly because none of them are up to the job on their own.
Total Wipeoutwas famously (if anything aboutTotal Wipeoutcan be described as being famous) filmed in Argentina.
It was bright, and sunny, and a nice little holiday for people.
It was almost worth flying for hours to fall off the very first hurdle.
ForThe Getaway Car, the BBC have inexplicably decided to head to South Africa.
It seems very nice from whats on screen, if a bit unnecessary.
Still, it all adds a bit of Saturday night glamour, doesnt it?
So its all the more reason to feel sorry for the poor contestants onNinja Warrior.
Because they get to go to a studio in Manchester.
Maybe he can break his silence and have a chat with his former colleague Hammond about aTotal Wipeoutrevival.
Its the least he can do, really.
Anyway, this whole discussions moot.
We all know none of them can hold a candle toGladiators…
