Sebar's Blog

I finally had the chance to sit down and watch our favorite Mark Thompson in action, and what action it indeed is. Hole in the wall is a raucous show filled with lots of spunk, a party atmosphere and fierce but friendly competition by two teams. Based on a Japanese type game show of similar theme, Hole In The Wall pits two teams of three players, usually men against women whereby the men are the blue team and the ladies are the red team. The object is to stand in a narrow play area and position yourself to get through a custom shaped hole in the wall. The main problem is that the holes can be almost any shape and some holes are questionable at times for the players to get in. One lady contestant said her bust size was to big to fit, and this honestly was the case. In other cases the hole types can also be played with position strategies, as positioning oneself correctly is the best yield for winning.

Oh, did I mention also that while you must stand in a narrow play area, that the wall is moving at the contestant at a fairly nice clip. The first wall is a single, then we get the double whereby two players must pass through, then the triple wall. At the end of the triple wall the team with the most points goes on to the blind wall. Now what is a blind wall you might ask? The winning team takes a player and puts blinders over his eyes. His or her two team mates must then very quickly tell them what position to face in. If they do this they win a hundred grand. While the format of the show is very energetic, this will carry it for a while, however, I believe that over time, the show will wear thin as viewers find the same walls and holes to become repetitive. That then, could spell doom for a format that honestly is quite good. So the big question thus becomes what to do to keep the show to hold interests of the viewing audience before they later wane and thin, taking television points ratings with them?

Well the base format as I mentioned isn't bad, and the spirit for the show along with a cheering crowd and a great hostess, not to mention the cute blond gal with the microphone, make for a tight package indeed. It is my belief that since the show concentrates around the wall, additional wall gimmicks could make the difference. Such as perhaps a reflective wall with a mirror coating. Actual glass mirrors would be quite dangerous if the glass broke, but a plastic coating could do the trick. A mirror of the contestants would make getting through even more challenging. Perhaps dangling silly string or objects that were harmless but attached to the wall would work.

The Play Area!

An enlarged play area would also benefit a bit more. The current area is just to narrow. I think a larger play are, longer runway that the wall travels and more speed of the wall would actually intensify certain aspects of the show.

The wall itself.

The wall as mentioned could have objects added. Perhaps another thing to make things tougher a thin cellophane film that contestants have a tough time seeing would also generate interest and excitement. So since the show revolves around the wall so to speak, add-ons pertaining to it would make the wall a more intense object to overcome.

Finally there is something else to consider. Time! The show is way too short. 30 minutes is unheard of for most game shows. The show needs an hour, more money at stake and also the aforementioned gimmicks to help boost it for a long term audience. While it works now out of newness, that over time may well wind down. The good news is that I see a cult following for this show, so if FOX ever dumped it via low ratings, it would continue on perhaps on a cable channel.

Overall out of my five stars I give this a three in a half. 1.5 for Mark, 1 for the blond girl with the mic, and 1 for the show. If I were only to consider the format for the short term my rating goes up, but since I like to look down the road and see what happens my 3.5 rating out of 5 stands for now. However with certain changes the show could go to 4.5 stars out of 5.

American Author, Poet, Songwriter and Filmwriter
"Mark Paul" Sebar
The Power To Write The Best!