{"id":8123,"date":"2021-03-22T08:00:38","date_gmt":"2021-03-22T12:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev2.worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/worldscreen.com\/"},"modified":"2021-03-23T12:25:10","modified_gmt":"2021-03-23T16:25:10","slug":"matt-kunitz-talks-rebooting-wipeout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/matt-kunitz-talks-rebooting-wipeout\/","title":{"rendered":"Wipeout’s Matt Kunitz"},"content":{"rendered":"

Matt Kunitz, co-creator and showrunner of <\/em>Wipeout, tells <\/em>TV Formats about the \u201cbigger, bolder, edgier\u201d update and navigating the unscripted landscape today.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

On April 1, TBS in the U.S. will premiere the long-awaited Wipeout<\/em> reboot. Upon its initial launch on ABC back in 2008, the obstacle-course format quickly blazed a trail across the globe, notching up local versions as well as a slew of tape sales on the U.S. edition. Off the air now for seven years, the show returns with new hosts in John Cena, Nicole Byer and Camille Kostek, a revamped obstacle course, a new pairs format\u2014and, of course, a lot of wipeouts. Matt Kunitz co-created Wipeout<\/em> and serves as showrunner of the TBS reboot. He tells TV Formats<\/em>\u00a0about the \u201cbigger, bolder, edgier\u201d update\u2014which is produced by Endemol Shine North America and distributed by Banijay Rights\u2014and navigating the unscripted landscape today.<\/p>\n

TV FORMATS:<\/strong> Take us back to the beginning; what inspired you to create Wipeout<\/em>?
\nKUNITZ:<\/strong> I was the executive producer on Fear Factor<\/em>, which had just come to an end. One of the things I loved about Fear Factor<\/em> was the big physical side of it. But whenever people talked about Fear Factor<\/em>, all they ever talked about was the gross! Scott Larsen, co-creator of Wipeout<\/em>, and I spoke and said, Is there a way we can come up with a show that has all the fun of Fear Factor<\/em>, without the gross? From that conversation, Wipeout<\/em> was born.<\/p>\n

TV FORMATS:<\/strong> When did the discussions start to bring it back, and how did it land at TBS?
\nKUNITZ:<\/strong> Corie Henson, the head of TBS\u2019s reality division, was at ABC when we did Wipeout<\/em>. When she got her new role at TBS, they told her they wanted a big new tentpole show. Corie started a conversation with Sharon Levy at Endemol Shine\u00a0and me about what it would take to bring the show back\u2014how we make it bigger, bolder, edgier. We were excited because one, I love Corie and I know she loves the show, so I knew this was a franchise she was going to take care of. We could have gone to another network that didn\u2019t understand it and they could have destroyed the franchise. But I knew we were in very good hands with Corie. Also, TBS is known for comedy, so it felt like a great place for the show. It all came together pretty easily.<\/p>\n

TV FORMATS:<\/strong> What are some of the new elements in the reboot?
\nKUNITZ:<\/strong> One of the biggest things we did was bring in some major star power with John Cena, Nicole Byer and Camille Kostek. They bring to the table a tremendous comedy background that elevates the show. It\u2019s loud. And each of them brings their own unique audience to the table. John\u2019s fans started with WWE and now he\u2019s a big movie star. They are not necessarily the same fans that are watching Nailed It!<\/em> with Nicole Byer. Camille is a Sports Illustrated<\/em> swimsuit model, she\u2019s hosted other shows and she was a cheerleader. A Nicole Byer fan may not have been a John Cena fan, but after the first episode, I\u2019m confident those Nailed It!<\/em> fans are going to become John Cena fans and the John Cena fans are going to become Nicole Byer fans. Their chemistry is fantastic. When we were in discussions about them coming on board, they each said, How do you want me to be? I said, I want you to be you. I don\u2019t want you to come on and pretend to be host, to be host-y, host-y, \u201cWelcome to Wipeout<\/em>!\u201d I want you to be your natural personality. There\u2019s something very special about each of them. I wanted that to be able to shine on the show. We didn\u2019t do a chemistry test, so there was a risk of, What if they don\u2019t get along? We had John and Nicole meet before their first day on set. They clicked. By the time they came to set, it was like they were work husband and wife. They had a love\/hate bickering relationship, which is funny. Nicole is constantly teasing John, who looks at her with those puppy dog eyes. We\u2019re trying to make room in the show for that natural banter, just to let them be themselves. We try not to script it as much as possible, and it\u2019s working.<\/p>\n

TV FORMATS:<\/strong> I imagine they all wanted to try the obstacle course!
\nKUNITZ:<\/strong> I think everyone has this false sense of, I can do that! But when you get out there, you realize it\u2019s hard! That water is cold! That fantasy of, wouldn\u2019t I do great on that course, quickly evaporates. It\u2019s a real obstacle course. Sure, it\u2019s hilarious to watch people run through it, but I\u2019ve had opportunities to test it before and have said, No, thank you. I know if I try it, I\u2019m going to wipe out\u2014the course is designed for wiping out\u2014and I\u2019m going to get ridiculed by my entire crew. I try to avoid that!<\/p>\n

TV FORMATS:<\/strong> Did you update the obstacle course for the reboot?
\nKUNITZ:<\/strong> TBS wanted it to be a little more athletic than it was in the past. So we worked on a balance between athleticism and humor. They wanted decision points, so on many of the obstacles, the contestants have to make choices: this route or that route. You don\u2019t get to sit and watch previous people run the course. You have to look at the course and think, if I go to the left, I\u2019m going to get hit by three sweeper bars; if I go to the right, there are only two sweeper bars, but I have to leap over those podiums. What\u2019s going to be easier? Those choices make it more of a competitive show. We also wanted a bigger focus on the contestants. We\u2019ve done that in two ways. One is we\u2019re doing all pairs. If you\u2019re out there running the course by yourself, you\u2019re not talking that much. You\u2019re just trying to power through the course. If you\u2019re out there with your mother and she\u2019s screaming at you, you\u2019re communicating and that communication helps the audience get to know you. Those pairs can be husband and wife, father-daughter, work partners; we have the whole range. The other thing we\u2019ve done to get to know the contestants better is, in addition to having Camille do interviews, we\u2019re doing packages on them.<\/p>\n

For me, with reality casting, it\u2019s always been [to find people who are] super relatable, so you can live vicariously through them when you\u2019re watching the show. You don\u2019t have to be a super athlete to be on this show. That\u2019s what sets us aside from many of the other competition reality shows. The people who come on maybe didn\u2019t train that much, but that\u2019s what makes it fun. It\u2019s the world\u2019s largest obstacle course, designed for people who probably shouldn\u2019t be on an obstacle course!<\/p>\n

TV FORMATS:<\/strong> What has it been like producing during Covid-19?
\nKUNITZ:<\/strong> We were the largest television show to be producing during Covid. We had 300 people on our crew. We are entirely outside, which is a huge benefit. It takes months to build the course. We went into it with Covid professionals and experts to work out how to do this safely. That\u2019s everything from social distancing to wearing masks the whole time, keeping track of who is around so if there ever were a case, we would be able to quickly trace and separate those people, so they\u2019re not able to spread it. And obviously a very robust testing regime for the crew and cast. We did an amazing job, given we had so many people\u2014300 a day for almost six months. We had a few cases that popped up after Thanksgiving when it was sort of expected, but there was no spread\u2014we were able to identify them immediately and then remove those people from the set.<\/p>\n

Wipeout<\/em> is a big escape show, so we don\u2019t want people watching it and thinking about Covid. We don\u2019t talk about Covid. You don\u2019t see people in masks. It\u2019s a non-issue when you\u2019re watching the show. That\u2019s a testament to everything we had to do behind the scenes to make it safe for everyone to be on the show.<\/p>\n

TV FORMATS:<\/strong> Wipeout<\/em> was a big seller internationally when it first came out. How did the international versions differ from yours?
\nKUNITZ:<\/strong> In the earlier days, we set up a home base in Argentina. Over 40 countries came to do their own versions. It was interesting to see how they did it differently from us. Yes, they were on the same course. Yes, they were running the same obstacles. But to be honest, I think we did it better! A lot of it has to do with the budgets. A lot of other countries would send fewer contestants because that would save money, and they would show the full run of the contestants. That\u2019s something we generally don\u2019t ever do. When we do our first part of the course, the qualifier, we do montages. We only show the best moments of each contestant running that course. That keeps it fast, it keeps the pace going, it keeps the comedy going, and the viewer never gets bored. Some of the foreign versions played slower because they would show whole runs. Having said that, different countries have different ways of watching television. That might work in that market. I prefer to keep it fast-paced and keep it moving. You\u2019ll never get bored watching the U.S. version of Wipeout<\/em>.<\/p>\n

TV FORMATS:<\/strong> It was a show known for attracting a co-viewing audience. Has that element been retained for the new version on TBS?
\nKUNITZ:<\/strong> That was a huge goal for me and TBS. We want families to watch it together. Having said that, TBS is edgier than ABC. When we do get edgy, those jokes will go over the head of the 8-year-old you\u2019re watching with. And the adults will get that humor. Nicole Byer has a blue side. We flirt with that. You\u2019ll hear us bleeping our hosts, which is something you don\u2019t usually hear!<\/p>\n

Ten years ago, a police officer had come on set. I walked up and said hello. He said to me, this is the only show on television that I can watch with my 16-year-old daughter and it brings us together as a family. It was a huge moment for me. I realized this goofy, silly, fun show is actually doing some good in bringing families together. I\u2019ve heard that over and over again. Something about people falling down is just universal. Kids love it; adults love it.<\/p>\n

TV FORMATS:<\/strong> What are some of the biggest shifts you\u2019ve witnessed in reality television over the last few years?
\nKUNITZ:<\/strong> The biggest shift is where you find the viewers. Back in the day, it would not be unheard of for us to get an 8.0 in the demo. Today, 1.4 is considered a success! We used to have 18 million people tune in on a single night to watch a show. Those numbers don\u2019t happen anymore. But we\u2019re still finding the viewers\u2014through social media, streaming, video on demand. That\u2019s different for us. When you\u2019re editing these shows, you\u2019d have the traditional thought of saying, We\u2019ll be right back after the commercial. Now, most people aren\u2019t watching that commercial because they\u2019re streaming the show, they\u2019re watching clips on Facebook, it\u2019s on-demand. So we tweaked the language there. We\u2019re aware that our audience is coming from many different places. You may not have 18 million people tune in on the first night, but we\u2019ll still get those numbers\u2014it\u2019ll just be spread out over a couple of weeks. I like that we\u2019re able to find people however they watch TV. My kids are teenagers and they have no idea what network television is. They watch all the shows, but they\u2019re streaming them. They don\u2019t understand the idea of, a show is on at 8 p.m. Monday night. That is completely foreign to them. These are the viewers of the future. I learn from them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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