How 'Oh Sit!' Could've Been More Than Musical Chairs
With so many absurd reality shows at our fingertips, we expected the CW's musical chairs-based reality competition to be delightfully stupid. Instead, "Oh Sit!" -- hosted by Jamie Kennedy and Jessi Cruickshank and developed by Phil Gurin (the brains behind "Shark Tank" and "The Singing Bee") -- is more boring than anything else. Sure, it's great that the show clearly doesn't take itself seriously and doesn't blatantly promote sexism like the equally mindless "The Choice," but at the end of the day, "Sit!" is more of a sub-par "Wipeout" rip-off.
But not all hope is lost! There are several ways "Sit!" could be improved, none of which would take too much work. Might we suggest...
Make the Obstacles More Extreme
The race to the chairs includes a grueling obstacle course during which contestants fall into freezing cold water and cross frustrating moving bridges in order to ultimately claim a chair before they're all taken. Each chair holds a bonus cash prize and based on how well a contestant ran the course, their total earnings are tallied up to determine if they'll make it through the next round or be eliminated. Unfortunately, the obstacle courses themselves (as any "Wipeout" viewer knows) get a little boring after a while -- especially given that they rival '90s Nickelodeon game shows "Wild and Crazy Kids" and "Double Dare" in their G-rated danger. We say up that peril level and mimic the late, great "Most Extreme Elimination Challenge," where we can actually see some downright bizarreness. Better yet, do a course that pays tribute to the eternally awesome "Hole in the Wall" that topped every summer competition show in recent memory.
Focus on the Musical Chairs
For a show that's supposed to be about the beloved childhood party game, "Oh Sit!" is extremely underwhelming in the actual musical chairs department. The band that plays is terrible, too. How much more fun would it be in the chairs themselves spun around, had trapdoors, or were in hard-to-reach locations? Forget the weird cash twist -- right now, "The Voice" makes these chairs look totally lame.
Add Network Celebrities
The producers do their best to make us care about the competitors, but at the end of the day, everyone is basically dressed exactly the same and no one is particularly interesting. Why not add some CW talent to the mix? If we have to sit through watching men and women shoving each off of a rotating bridge, we'd rather have it be Jared Padalecki and Penn Badgley versus Candice Accola and Rachel Bilson. We're pretty sure the ratings would skyrocket -- at least by the CW's lowly standards.
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