Some of the Japanese versions that came before it - “Viking: The Ultimate Obstacle Course,” for example - would punch the “Wipeout” course in the stomach and steal its lunch money.Īnd while it’s similar to Spike TV’s “MXC” and G4’s “Ninja Warrior” - which simply added English voice-overs to Japan’s “Takeshi’s Castle” and “Sasuke” - neither of them are as gut-bustingly goofy as “Wipeout.” The series bills itself as having “the most extraordinary obstacle course ever assembled.” It doesn’t. “Wipeout,” you see, taps into that primal, Neanderthal part of our brains that still loves triple cheeseburgers, “Baywatch” and big-budget action movies based on Hasbro toys from the ’80s. Man runs across a series of collapsing planks, man bounces his chin off one of them and falls in the mud. But “Wipeout” is perfect for those times when even The Three Stooges seem too complex. Other summer offerings, including ABC’s nearly as silly “Dating in the Dark,” force you to pay at least the tiniest bit of attention. Honestly, it’s like they turned “America’s Funniest Home Videos” into a game show. Thankfully, “Wipeout” lets viewers relive those moments several times through gratuitous slow-motion, even super slow-motion, replays.ĭon’t get me wrong, I still love the hypnotic, if glacially paced, “Mad Men.” It’s just that I also love seeing a succession of goofballs get punched in the head by a wall of pistoning boxing gloves in one of “Wipeout’s” other signature bits. I can probably lose my critic’s license for saying this, but there are few things on TV I look forward to more than seeing someone slam face-first into one of the balls, the impact folding their bodies up so severely that they kick themselves in the back of the head. Of the dozens of obstacles contestants fling themselves at while stumbling through “Wipeout’s” Japanese TV-influenced course, the Big Balls - a line of four bouncy orbs that are all but impossible to traverse - are the show’s breakout stars.Įach week, 24 contestants challenge the Big Balls, and most weeks, 24 of them are sent careening off in an undignified manner, limbs flailing about and twisting in ways nature never intended. This blatantly insensitive remark by is uncalled for and is not behavior that a cabinet secretary should exhibit ? you’re not already feeling a little better, maybe even sensing the beginnings of a grin, you’ve obviously never been introduced to the spine-crunching wonderfulness of “Wipeout” (8 p.m. Zinke a serious question about gov't funding and received the response "Konnichiwa". "Whether intentional or not, his comments invoke the offensive stereotype that Asian Americans are perpetual foreigners regardless of how long their families have lived in the United States." "Rather than greet her like he would any other Member of Congress, he responded to her as if she did not speak any English," Rep. Several of Hanabusa's colleagues voiced outrage about the exchange after it circulated social media later in the day, saying Zinke had shown a profound insensitivity toward Asian Americans. "I think it's still 'ohayo gozaimasu,' but that's okay," she said, using the phrase for "good morning." Then she moved on. "Oh, konnichiwa," Zinke replied, using a Japanese greeting typically spoken in the afternoon.Īfter an awkward pause, Hanabusa corrected him. "Are you committed to continue the grant programs that are identified, I believe, as the Japanese American Confinement Sites grants program, which were funded in 2017? Will we see them funded again in 2018?" Hanabusa asked.
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