by Linda Holmes

It can be hard to know what you're getting with TV. Maybe all the jokes are in the commercials, maybe the boring lead character is downplayed in favor of a funny neighbor...you know how it can go.

Maybe that's why I have a soft spot for ABC's preposterous Wipeout, the second season of which premiered last night. If you think this promo is funny, you will find an hour of Wipeout absolutely hilarious. (Nobody ever seems to be injured, so as far as I know, you don't have to temper your enthusiasm with guilt.)

If, on the other hand, you think this is the sound you hear right before your civilization collapses and we all experience backwards evolution until we are one-celled bits of goo, there is absolutely no way I would endeavor to change your mind.

For all intents and purposes, this is an hour of people getting pies in the face. It has no redeeming value whatsoever. None at all. But remember: pratfalls have been around for a long time. Human beings have often, perhaps only in the shamed corners of their conscious minds, found other people falling down to be sort of funny.

But the real advantage of Wipeout is simply that you have every shred of information you need about whether you will like it, just based on watching the ads for it. It is, in that sense, unreviewable. Do I like Wipeout? Who cares? I can't review it. I can't sit here and tell you that I have insights into Wipeout. I can't "recommend" Wipeout, like, "Hey, try that Wipeout, you might like it!" And I can't "not recommend" Wipeout, because if you like that commercial, you're going to love it for an hour at a time.

You already know the answer that exists in your own heart. But I won't make you tell anyone.

categories: Television

2:49 - May 28, 2009

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