"Oh Sit!" Review

Set Design- 9

Gameplay- 7

Show Flow- 8

Play-Along Factor- 2

Potential Viewer Ratings- 6

Hosts- 7

Overall Rating- 6.5

Three runners struggling over an obstacle to pick up
an extra $250.

Premise- Twelve contestants race around an obstacle course while The F.O.S. Band plays a song. Every time a contestant completes an obstacle and crosses a green “money line”, they win cash. When the music stops, the contestants will have to cross a bridge-like obstacle, depending on where they are, and sit in a chair located on an island in the center of the arena. The contestant who fails to make it to a chair in time will be eliminated. Each chair has a secret dollar value and the contestant who earns the least money in the race will be eliminated. Contestants can also be eliminated from the game if they are physically unable to finish the race, or hit another player above the neck or push them from behind while racing around the track. Four elimination races are played, leading up to the final race to climb Chair Mountain. In the fifth and final race, the remaining three contestants will once again race through the obstacle course until the music stops. At that moment, the contestants will have to swim to the island and climb the Chair Mountain. The first contestant seated in the chair at the top of Chair Mountain will win the game and keep the money they have accumulated throughout the game. The winning contestant could win up to $50,000 depending on how well they do in the races.

And now, for the review........

Is his score high enough to keep him in the game? 

When I first heard about the show, it took me a while to wrap my mind around the concept and visualize it as a working format for a game show. After watching the premiere episode, I was somewhat relieved by this Wipeout knockoff. With that be said, you can help but to think about the hit ABC summer series when watching the show. From the two commentators sitting in front of a green screen background, to the contestants’ corny and cheesy nicknames, and even down to the sweeper arms in the final round.   While it is a good strategy to try to copy the success of Wipeout, it has been proven before that imitation is not necessarily the sincerest form of flattery, as shown by almost all of the Millionaire knockoffs (It’s Your Chance of a Lifetime, Winning Lines, Twenty One, etc.).  

A member of The F.O.S. Band singing to keep
the contestants running.

Although Oh Sit is simply Wipeout combined with musical chairs, this show is just as competitive and entertaining to watch as well. The positive aspects of the show that won me over were the physicality of the competition, the talent of the F.O.S. Band and the weekly special musical guest performances, and the cash rewards based on the contestants’ physical ability in each race. It’s always fun to see game shows with a variety of cash rewards to see how close a contestant can come to winning the maximum grand prize. Similar to Press Your Luck, the contestants ultimately determine their financial fate. This game brings out the true colors of every contestant through competition. It shows how some people are chivalrous at heart like Javier the Marine helping a contestant up after she slipped while running, and how some are total jerks as Bobby so eloquently demonstrated through his overly aggressive gameplay by kicking a contestants in the helmet and dragged down one contestant by their neck (both victims were women contestants by the way). Even though it’s musical chairs, there are those who will take the game a little too seriously and try their best to literally destroy their opponent. You can be competitive without be reckless. Despite the bad continuity in some of the rules and corny American Gladiators-style referees, I’m glad the show has set strict guidelines for unnecessary roughness.

Jessi and Jamie commentating from the Sky Box.

As far as the commentary, Jamie Kennedy and Jessi Cruickshank do good job of putting in their two cents when it comes to announcing the play-by-play of each adrenaline-filled, even though the “butt” and “sit” puns, jokes, and one-liners get old after the first few minutes of hearing them. Tanika Ray is the ideal candidate for a field reporter for a show like this. Ray has great energy and an animated personality to match and it shows through every sideline interview and commentary she makes.  

Overall, Oh Sit is decent game show for the most part. Each race is filled with excitement, high stakes, fun, and intense competition along with good commentary to follow the action. I was slightly surprised to see that this was an in-studio game show. Nevertheless, the show's premiere episode pulled decent ratings by The CW’s standards. If you’re a fan of the show already, don’t get too attached to it. This show will only last for a season and I will be very surprised if the series is green-lit for a second season. 

Watch new episodes of Oh Sit! Wednesdays at 8:00pm on The CW!!!

**All screenshots have been taken from the actual episodes of Oh Sit!. No ownership is implied.**