TV's past: It's a Knockout!

Disclaimer: This is actually an old piece. I only posted it on my MySpace page about three months ago but I've always had the feeling of the opinions I express in this article, which as always are my own and may differ from everyone else. I do these pieces for two reasons. 1. To spark debate around the traps. 2. Because it amuses me and I enjoy doing it. So please feel free to leave a comment telling me why I am right or wrong.

This is probably going to come off sounding a lot like that Nostalgia Critic guy who's so popular nowadays. But you know what? I don't care

One of my favorite shows currently on TV is the game show Wipeout, but watching americans humiliate themselves is always fun. Wipeout is different though, it knows it's a silly show and doesn't take itself too seriously, often making fun of the contestants and their attempts to best the courses they take too

However the more I watch Wipeout the more I'm sure that this show wouldn't exist without a key plank from television's past to give them guidance



It's A Knockout!, one of the children of the 80's in Australia's guiltest pleasures has a lot of the sillyness that Wipeout gained as well as some ideas for games, but first a bit of backstory

It's A Knockout! was a concept the BBC devised from the French show Intervilles and ran an amazing 16 years on air, unlike Wipeout you weren't playing for yourself, no you and a team of about 10-12 were representing your home town so you could look like one giant loser at your local supermarket if you lost. Each show was played on the home teams park as the games and costumes got progrssively stupider throghout the series until finally one team, one town would stand tall and win....a freaking trophy? Are you kidding me? I had to do things like send a piano through a tiny hole with a sledgehammer and carry a mini moke with no wheels and all we get is a trophy? I guess the 15 minutes of fame at your local helps too but It's A Knockout got huge ratings, it became so freaking popular that Prince Phillip himself (The Queen's husband for our american readers) revived the show to have a celebrity it's a knockout featuring teams captained by members of the Royal Family

The Americans picked up the concept in 1975, calling their version Almost Anything Goes, it featured a young Regis Philbin as a field reporter in their second season, but the show was never really popular, people preferred to watch The Jeffersons and the show was yanked in 1976

In 1985 it was Australia's turn, the then fledling Ten Network picked up the rights to the show and actually put money into it, they bought a field in rural New South Wales to build a stadium where they could hold the events, teams from New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia would compete week after week hoping to qualify for the semi finals and the final to win the coveted trophy. Mostly the comedy came from what the costumes were but the games could prove to be just as hilarious



Look at that and tell me someone from Wipeout didn't think of the dizzy dummy from watching this show.

Sadly complaints from the locals about the noise meant the show had to be cancelled after its third season in 1987. But even in early morning repeats It's A Knockout! continued to garner ratings for Ten for 15 years afterwards.

Unfortunately Ten no longer own the rights to the It's A Knockout footage and one of the most unique game shows of all time seems forever condemned to gather dust in some vault somewhere. But there are still places you can find them, YouTube for example a guy by the name of ukgladiatorfan has put up at least 3 full eps to watch and I do recommend you do, not just because in it you'll see the genesis of Wipeout but because they're good wholesome family fun, for three years it was a great time to be an Australian on a Sunday night, if you wanted to see the big stories and were a little older, you watched Sixty Minutes. If you were a guy (or gal) looking for a cheap laugh, you watched Alf or Family Matters but if you were a young family. Mom, Dad, 2.4 kids it wasn't just a desire, it was damn close to a tradition you would sit down with Mom's roast in front of the TV at 7:30 on a Sunday night and tune into Network Ten for It's A Knockout! and just have a good time laughing at the sillyness of it. A lot of the time nowadays I wish I could go back there

Nearly 25 years later, it's still the name of the game.