Mark_Thompson's Blog

“HOLE IN THE WALL” Premieres September 11 on FOX

Story Created: Aug 8, 2008

Story Updated: Aug 8, 2008 

HOLE IN THE WALL, the body-bending, mind-twisting, global game show phenomenon from AMERICAN IDOL producers FremantleMedia North America, will premiere Thursday, Sept. 11 (8:00-9:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX.



HOLE IN THE WALL became an instant ratings success story on-air and online after launching on Japan’s Fuji TV in July 2006, where it continues to rank No. 1 in its timeslot. The format swiftly created waves around the world, with FremantleMedia currently producing versions in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, Colombia, Denmark, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Malaysia, Mexico, Russia, Sweden and the U.K.



Hosted by Brooke Burns (“Dog Eat Dog”) and Mark Thompson (“Guinness World Records: Primetime”), HOLE IN THE WALL is one of the trickiest, fastest, funniest and wettest shows on the planet where speed, agility and a hearty sense of humor are essential tools to survive. During each episode, two teams of three compete against each other in multiple rounds of play, facing various barrier walls speeding toward them with weird and wacky cut-out shapes. Each team must contort their bodies individually or in unison to fit through the wall or be swept away into a pool below. As players struggle to strike a pose, points – and dignity – can be easily lost with a simple miscalculation. As the rounds progress and the pace heats up, mind over matter, quick thinking, coordination, agility and clever teamwork play a crucial role as each team strives to maneuver through walls literally closing in on them. The team with the most points at the end of the competition will win $25,000 and the chance to face the dreaded “Blind Wall” for the opportunity to win an additional $100,000.

I need you, and everyone you have ever met to watch my new show HOLE IN THE WALL. 
I really think you will be entertained and the whole family can watch.  Even if you don't speak english you can get and enjoy this show.  
Come to think of it, I'm far more tolerable on television if you do not speak english.
Thanks for your help everybody!!


Fox schedules Hole in the Wall against Survivor

Fox announced today that it was going to take Moment of Truth off the fall schedule and replace it with its new import, Hole in the Wall, a game show that involves nothing more than people trying to jump through differently shaped holes in a styrofoam wall that will knock them into a pool if they don’t make it.

That’s significant because Fox planned to use its lie detector show to kill off Survivor. Now, the new Fox game show debuts Sept. 11 at 8 p.m. ET, and one week later, Survivor Gabon will debut in the same hour.

This is probably bad news for Survivor. Hole in the Wall already has a cult following online (check out the “human Tetris” videos on YouTube), and the novelty of a fun new game show versus a familiar reality show might affect ratings, at least initially. 

Plus, Moment of Truth was both soulless and ultimately kind of boring because it was so disingenuous, pretending it wasn’t so soulless. If you’re going to be so callous and destructive, go for it, don’t just shut off the cameras after destroying families. Fox’s decision to ditch host Mark Wahlberg’s show (for now) is clearly strategic. There’s an appetite for happy fun dumb shows right now (hello, Wipeout).

More significantly, as The Hollywood Reporter notes, Moment of Truth’s “ratings [dropped] sharply during its summer run, [so] ‘Hole’ likely will stand a better chance of overthrowing CBS’ time-period champ.”

What a wild summer it is in California. Dry lightning and other sources having ignited half the state.

As for us in SoCal, the Santa Ana season is not even here yet.  Our horror show begins in the latter part of August into the fall typically.

After a dry season like the one we have had, it'll be up to homeowners to do the brush clearing and all the other stuff we hear about. Then it will be up to nature to give us a break. Finally, we have to hope that the fire freaks are not out this season.

It's an interesting fact that increasingly the way in which fires are fought and communities evacuated is being re-thought.

There is evidence that the evacuation techniques employed by different communities, while effectively saving lives, may not save the most property.  Owners may actually have a shot at helping to save their own homes. 

I always thought those people were crazy for staying behind (and some may be) but in the following interview with an Arizona State professor and fire fighting expert he explains the contrary.  those people may represent the only shot  at saving their house that there really is.

Check it out and tell me what you think.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92
372857

Okay all you don't worry, be happy peeps...here's the latest thing to throw to the side and not worry about...water. :)

The population of the west has exploded at a rate so staggering that water resources are stressed beyond what the region can bare.

Conservation is part of the solution, but it's unlikely that without substantial solutions to supplement conservation along the lines of desalination plants, and the expansion of gray water use, etc. we will not be able to attack this problem effectively and it will grow in magnitude to eclipse the problems we have with fuel.

There is profligate waste of water here and across the west, from Las Vegas to Arizona, don't we need to consider ways to draw down our per capita use of water in the west.

Just a quick thought.

 Well, I uh...geez...um...I just presumed that  I would be the ONLY one featured, but okay....I share the ink (to say the least) with a few others.

Here's the LA Weekly piece that features me and those OTHER people who do what I do  :)

http://www.laweekly.com/news/news/sunny-and-mild-gettin
g-to-know-our-fair-weather-friends-of-local-news/19030/

It was some time ago that I blogged about what I had heard from a leading surgeon regarding cell phones and brain tumor growth.

You may recall that I had mentioned being told that while he had no definite results, it was that doctor's opinion that there is a correlation between cell phone use and brain tumors he had seen.

The overwhelming numbers of tumors had occurred on the side of the head to which the person holds the cell phone he told me.

Well, if you read the article from this week's New York Times, below, it is all detailed there:

Experts Revive Debate Over Cellphones and Cancer function 

What do brain surgeons know about cellphone safety that the rest of us don’t?

Last week, three prominent neurosurgeons told the CNN interviewer Larry King that they did not hold cellphones next to their ears. “I think the safe practice,” said Dr. Keith Black, a surgeon at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, “is to use an earpiece so you keep the microwave antenna away from your brain.”

Dr. Vini Khurana, an associate professor of neurosurgery at the Australian National University who is an outspoken critic of cellphones, said: “I use it on the speaker-phone mode. I do not hold it to my ear.” And CNN’s chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, a neurosurgeon at Emory University Hospital, said that like Dr. Black he used an earpiece.

Along with Senator Edward M. Kennedy’s recent diagnosis of a glioma, a type of tumor that critics have long associated with cellphone use, the doctors’ remarks have helped reignite a long-simmering debate about cellphones and cancer.

That supposed link has been largely dismissed by many experts, including the American Cancer Society. The theory that cellphones cause brain tumors “defies credulity,” said Dr. Eugene Flamm, chairman of neurosurgery at Montefiore Medical Center.

According to the Food and Drug Administration, three large epidemiology studies since 2000 have shown no harmful effects. CTIA — the Wireless Association, the leading industry trade group, said in a statement, “The overwhelming majority of studies that have been published in scientific journals around the globe show that wireless phones do not pose a health risk.”

The F.D.A. notes, however, that the average period of phone use in the studies it cites was about three years, so the research doesn’t answer questions about long-term exposures. Critics say many studies are flawed for that reason, and also because they do not distinguish between casual and heavy use.

Cellphones emit non-ionizing radiation, waves of energy that are too weak to break chemical bonds or to set off the DNA damage known to cause cancer. There is no known biological mechanism to explain how non-ionizing radiation might lead to cancer.

But researchers who have raised concerns say that just because science can’t explain the mechanism doesn’t mean one doesn’t exist. Concerns have focused on the heat generated by cellphones and the fact that the radio frequencies are absorbed mostly by the head and neck. In recent studies that suggest a risk, the tumors tend to occur on the same side of the head where the patient typically holds the phone.

Like most research on the subject, the studies are observational, showing only an association between cellphone use and cancer, not a causal relationship. The most important of these studies is called Interphone, a vast research effort in 13 countries, including Canada, Israel and several in Europe.

Some of the research suggests a link between cellphone use and three types of tumors: glioma; cancer of the parotid, a salivary gland near the ear; and acoustic neuroma, a tumor that essentially occurs where the ear meets the brain. All these cancers are rare, so even if cellphone use does increase risk, the risk is still very low.

Last year, The American Journal of Epidemiology published data from Israel finding a 58 percent higher risk of parotid gland tumors among heavy cellphone users. Also last year, a Swedish analysis of 16 studies in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine showed a doubling of risk for acoustic neuroma and glioma after 10 years of heavy cellphone use.

“What we’re seeing is suggestions in epidemiological studies that have looked at people using phones for 10 or more years,” says Louis Slesin, editor of Microwave News, an industry publication that tracks the research. “There are some very disconcerting findings that suggest a problem, although it’s much too early to reach a conclusive view.”

Some doctors say the real concern is not older cellphone users, who began using phones as adults, but children who are beginning to use phones today and face a lifetime of exposure.

“More and more kids are using cellphones,” said Dr. Paul J. Rosch, clinical professor of medicine and psychiatry at New York Medical College. “They may be much more affected. Their brains are growing rapidly, and their skulls are thinner.”

For people who are concerned about any possible risk, a simple solution is to use a headset. Of course, that option isn’t always convenient, and some critics have raised worries about wireless devices like the Bluetooth that essentially place a transmitter in the ear.

The fear is that even if the individual risk of using a cellphone is low, with three billion users worldwide, even a minuscule risk would translate into a major public health concern.

“We cannot say with any certainty that cellphones are either safe or not safe,” Dr. Black said on CNN. “My concern is that with the widespread use of cellphones, the worst scenario would be that we get the definitive study 10 years from now, and we find out there is a correlation.”

well@nytimes.com

Two friends of mine died this week. Cancer took both these relatively young men.

The first is Tom Groener. You do not know the face but perhaps know his voice.   His signature deadpan "hello" and dialogue done with that unmistakable flat everyman quality generally made him a top commercial voiceover actor.

Cut and paste this link and you can hear some of him:

http://vbfile1.voicebank.net/sandboxes/11/Actors%20-%20
Commercial/Tom%20Groener.mp3

Tom, will be missed by all who had the pleasure to both work with him and even be around him in a studio waiting area. He was a great guy who made me smile.

The second friend of mine who died suddenly after a year struggling with cancer is Glen Gerberg.

Glen was a weather forecaster in Denver Colorado for years and had the quietest, easy going temperament, even as the world around him was coming to pieces.

I knew Glen and spent time with him at meteorology conferences (which I used to attend more regularly years ago) and we grew to be pretty good friends.

In fact, I saw Glen for dinner here in Los Angeles three months ago and got the word over the weekend that he had only weeks to live. I was stunned of course.

When I called him up he sounded fine. He was lucid and focused on his daughter's high school graduation. We spoke of her future at Berkeley and beyond and only made a broad brushed reference to his health.

He was dead the next day.

I guess all the cliches and hackneyed expressions are true about living for today and telling the people you love that you love them. But in the end, isn't all of that dwarfed by the reality of loss associated with talented, good people who were cheated out of some of the great days of their lives?

In the very beginning of it's run AMERICAN IDOL was a huge hit but still looked at by some in the recording industry as a bit "cheesy" or "mainstream".  Eventually, that wore off (you may differ with me but I think it took about two seasons).

When Prince appeared at an Idol finale it should have told everyone that Idol had arrived on every level.  Now the coolest mega-artists and producers are "angling" to get on the show for the most part.

Plus, major studios, actors, publicists and performers are jamming in the door to get their stuff on the show in any way possible.

It's been a win-win.  Good for the artists and good for Idol. 

And so tonight we benefited from a more mature Idol and we see all of this come together....

The Idol finale had a tip of the hat to older artists like Graham Nash, Donna Summer and George Michael and newer  phenoms like the Jonas Brothers.

This finale was the very best since Kelly Clarkson (season one).  It had everything from humor and fun performances like the "friends forever" number to a genuine overwhelming surprise ending.

David Cook clearly benefited from yet another Idol phenomenon.  Audience backlash against the judges.  After the apparent "coronation" of David Archuleta the night before the audience rose up and cranked out a whopping 12 million extra votes for Cook to give him a convincing win. 

It was terrific.

The outcome was such a forgone conclusion that you almost felt guilty tuning in to the finale to see what the judges had told us the night before.  And then....and then, the best finish we've yet seen and the Idol honor given to a genuinely sincere and grateful guy whose emotion at the end of the night said it all.

Congratulations to David Cook and all those who put together a great night.

I don't get it...you can believe it or not, but the fact is Jay Leno is dominating Letterman and Kimmel in key demos during late night.

I'm not necessarily a Leno fan or detractor but I certainly don't see how the network justifies cutting him loose when he's leading the ratings field in dominant fashion.

Now, the fact may be that NBC thinks Conan can command the same audience more or less, but if you are NBC, when you are winning the game so handily, why would you turn Leno loose???? Why not cut Conan a check for 40 million--his penalty if not given the show (which you will make up in 2 months of Leno's show) and march on into the next decade.

Am I missing something??? All you armchair execs help me please :)

If you and I had a business and it was run as poorly as the deadbeats we have sent to Washington are running the business of our country we would have a quick meeting and agree to throw them out on their backsides....and it's not specific to either political party.

$ 9 , 3 5 9 , 9 2 7 , 9 7 6 , 8 8 6 . 5 6 is the national debt as of this writing and for those who cannot get accustomed to choking down sick numbers, that's a 9 TRILLION dollar number.

The dirty secret is that sick number is not even the real deficit. It is a Treasury Dept put your best foot forward number that conceals the REAL DEFICIT. Yes, the real budget deficit....the debts we are going to have to pay long after these jerks who are living high on the tax payer hog leave their cush gigs in D.C. is a much higher number.

Call it the IMPLIED NATIONAL DEBT if you prefer. It's the true liability of the United States of America. That is, not only the Treasury bills, notes and bonds we sell to finance our annual deficit and past deficits. But all the promises we've made to make payments in the future...you know, Medicare and Social Security, etc.

That's how you get a ridiculous $55 trillion national debt.

Even with a war that has us hemorrhaging money (and, by the way, running up bills for the treatment of an entire generation of war torn soldiers with head traumas that will cause massive debilitating problems and expensive therapy for decades to come), the war is NOT the biggest weight on this country's economic future. The biggest problem is health care costs that are spiraling so quickly they will turn this once great nation into back of the parade carcass of what it once was.

Ask of your candidates what they plan to do about this. Usually you can get the best info on their websites because in this superficial culture the debates are increasingly about things like gays marrying and gun control.

Unless you are charging gays 40 billion per marriage and each gun owner 2 billion per gun they own, those issues ain't gonna protect us from being ground into dust by the death star of debt.

Let's get focused on the right stuff and get out of this mess.

Hmmmm the dropping of the 18.4 cent gas tax for summer will make almost NO impact on our pocketbooks (and I have a lovely pocketbook that matches my heels by the way!). The average driver will save 30 dollars--FOR THE WHOLE SUMMER.

If it didn't do anything, that would be one thing but the truth is that by dropping the tax on gas at the pump we face the likely prospect that demand rises with the apparent or perceived "lower" cost of fuel and the corresponding price rises will be permanent.

Plus, (or perhaps it should be first of all) there is no guarantee that the oil companies will pass along the corresponding savings to us. They don't have to by law. In fact, they will likely hang on to a bunch of that money. Why not?? That's Econ 101.

It's a miserable idea and President Bush supports it. I don't blame the President. After all he's a lame duck president who is managing an economy that has been run into the side of a mountain and there's no prospect for good news. So this LOOKS like it provides relief for consumers but as I just mentioned, IT DOES NOT.

Hilary is on board because she's fighting for her political life and wants to throw the crowd something to chomp on.

Well, at least we don't need the money as a country. I mean it's not like we are in debt or are trying to finance a war that we cannot pay for..oh wait...Yah I hate it too, but we need those tax dollars.

What do you think??

Before you read this you have to know I have NO ongoing health concerns and I am not a bit hypocondriacal ..... so how weird and a bit funny the following is:

Last night I awoke from a dream in which I am watching the 5pm television newscasts and I see a story come on.   The anchor, Furnell Chatman (yah, why him?), tells the audience  "Mark Thompson of Fox11 has just been diagnosed with testicular cancer".

Then I flip over to see the anchor on channel 2 reporting the same diagnosis....and then, channel 7 as well.

Now I'm worried that my newscast on Fox11 is also going to report it at 10pm.  Plus, in the dream I am confused and worried because I don't know anything about this, and I suppose I must be wondering why the other stations would have such a keen interest -- make that ANY interest-- in me. 

then....

I wake up, check my private parts and go back to sleep.

What's it mean???

I don't get it...is this election really getting hijacked once again by someone's (in this case Obama's) remark about something that doesn't really have to do with soaring fuel prices, foreign policy that has lost it's way and a disintegrating economy?

It must be easier to focus once again on whether or not a candidate "shares our values" based on one comment, rather than whether or not a candidate has a notion about how to get us out of this colossal jam we find ourselves in.

Of course it's important to find a candidate that shares your values, but haven't these people all survived the rigorous tests of patriotism and basic values to get this far. Hey, they all share our values.

Get your checklist out and check off God and country. Now let's turn the attention elsewhere. We have to start focusing on things that are a bit deeper than the little sound bites that the cable networks can hang a whole day's programming on.

We are a better electorate than that and we can do better than to focus on whether or not someone's just like us. You know, a bible reading, tequila drinkin', target shooter who on the weekends will have time to concentrate on the considerable problems of this country.

When people say "y'know those actors should keep their mouths shut about politics and just act" or "Why do famous people feel they HAVE to give us their opinions on ...."

I've always felt that anyone should be able to talk about anything and their views may indeed weigh in as higher profile as a result of their station in life or celebrity. In fact, I've heard many a "celebrity" well educated and informed on the issues to the point that their celebrity begins to fade into the background.

But when these higher profile folk TAKE ACTION instead of just talk about it, THAT really sets them apart.

And so it was with American Idol Gives Back. Weren't you impressed by the number of singers and performers that visited the continent of Africa to point up the unfolding tragedy there? It was a devastatingly powerful window on a continent and people set adrift by political corruption and situations so complicated and mired in horror that one can scarcely understand how it all got that way. I was choked up on multiple occasions looking at it from the comfort of the USA.

When Forrest Whittaker, Annie Lennox, Bono and Daughtry take their bands or, in Whittaker's case their family to these places that are a world away, my respect grows and all cynicism melts away.

I've always been impressed by the DOING that goes on and less so by the talk. In the Idol Gives Back show I saw both.

There are other examples of the DOING coming out of this otherwise superficial, self-absorbed culture every day. That's the stuff of real value.

Is this great nation sagging toward the third world...????

Have you noticed? Slowly we are losing laps to the other industrial nations of the world.

The U.S is being battered by a world economy that cannot value our dollar like it used to (in fact many economists suggest t it's only a matter of time before the dollar will lose to the Euro as the standard trade currency worldwide) and even the quality of life in this nation is beginning to suffer.

Our roads, bridges and communications infrastructures have deteriorated to the point that lives are dramatically effected, even ended, by our inability to maintain these basic elements of life.

As great as our technologies may seem, across the Atlantic through Europe and in Asia as well there are examples of REAL technological advantages.

Many of these problems are not so much of our own making in the sense that they are the result of aging institutions and ways of thinking that create their own batch of problems. But it is our responsibility to maintain and improve this place we live.

It would be nice if we could give ourselves a cold slap in the face and begin to address the actual problems of this nation instead of blindly defaulting to sloganism or getting distracted by how personable or angelic our politicians are or are not.

The problem is that we ARE the coolest place in the world in many ways. We WERE the prettiest girl at the dance for a long time. The other kids on the international playground want to be like us in terms of a lot of cultural elements. I think we feel that. But everything else is lagging behind and even that envied culture/image that we export will evaporate if things don't change.

We ARE a great country that was once among the greatest countries but now we have to hustle and regain a lot of ground just to secure a decent future don't you think?