It's a fact that falling can be funny. Look no further than Charlie Chaplin — or, for a more modern example, all those falling videos on YouTube [1].

But would you watch a show that was nothing but people falling, over and over again, on purpose?

ABC is about to find out: The network is picking up a reality show called Wipe Out [2], from the folks behind Fear Factor, that will feature "the most crashes, face plants, impacts and wipeouts ever seen on television." Um, woohoo? Also, instead of that sort of amusing, voyeuristic thing those YouTube videos have going for them, the show's falls will all be carefully designed.

The series will feature 24 contestants working their way through a series of obstacle courses that are "designed to make people crash and burn," with the promise that the wipeouts will begin almost immediately. Four finalists will move on to the even tougher Wipe Out Zone, with each episode's winner taking home $50,000.

Do you think it's true that, as one of the producers said, "there's just something inherently funny about watching someone wipe out"? Does that still hold true if you know the wipeout is coming? Does this show strike anyone else as Jackass without the edge? And really, how long will it be before even the biggest falling fans get really, really bored?

Source [3]