In the last Pit column we talked about some movie news, including Ghostbusters 3, the next Muppets adventure, and FOX’s upcoming reboot of Marvel Comic’s Fantastic Four. Today lets look at some television news bits.

Lets start with a show that has been breaking Cable ratings records left and right, the AMC zombie horror series The Walking Dead. The show had it’s Mid-Season finale and left us with a reunion and a cliffhanger to keep us on our toes until it is back on the air come February 10th. The network will also be giving us something pretty cool to chew on starting on February 14th; an encore presentation of the first and second season of the show broadcast is beautiful black and white- just like the comic the show is based on. AMC previously did this with just the pilot, but it will be pretty awesome to see more episodes in a style that is close to the comic book. Speaking about the comic (spoilers), this past week issue #105 hit stands and sees Carl across enemy lines after confronting Neegan last issue. The official description for the issue is short and to the point, “Sing me a song.” Will Carl live through this?

Cult fan favorite Gillian Anderson will be returning to television after a ten year break. The X-Files star will be joining NBC’s upcoming prequel to the Hannibal series of books for an undetermined amount of episodes. She joins Mads Mikkelsen, who portrays the title character made famous by Anthony Hopkins, and Hugh Dancy who steps in as FBI agent Will Graham, who was expertly portrayed by William Petersen in  Michael Mann’s Manhunter and later by Edward Norton in Brett Ratner’s sub-par Red Dragon. Anderson’s character will get to look into just what makes Hannibal tick as she is described as “Dr. Lecter’s personal psychiatrist” by Bryan Fuller, the creator of the new series. Fuller is the man behind Dead Like Me, Wonderfalls, and Pushing Daisies. Most recently he tried to revive/reboot the Munsters with Mockingbird Lane.

After failing hard last year with H8R and more recently having mediocre results with the musical chairs inspired game show Oh Sit! (which was renewed for a second season), The CW is getting back into the reality game with two new shows; The Hunt and Perfect Score. The Hunt is the CW’s attempt at building their own version of Survivor meets The Hunger Games. They describe the show as an “intense wilderness competition” that sees twelve teams of two players facing off in games to test their survival skills and endurance.  The second new show, Perfect Score,is a dating game show that gives players the chance to win cash prizes if they are able to identify their “perfect match”. Neither show has a premiere date. On the narrative side, The CW also has a young Wonder Woman series tentatively titled Amazon in the works as a complement to Arrow. In the very least you need to give props to the Network for keeping their slate fresh and with a lot of variety.

Thanks to Danny Mays.

“Wipeout” has become one of the most popular game shows on television today. This game show is not like a traditional game show, yet it has risen to immense popularity. It has become almost as iconic as shows like “The Price Is Right,” “Jeopardy,” and “Family Feud,” except it is much more action packed.

The show Wipeout is incredible because it shows how people overcome very difficult obstacle courses. These obstacle courses often feature mud slides and soapy stairs that are difficult to climb, in order to reach the end. It is almost ridiculous to see the types of obstacles that people must go through in order to reach the end point. As people make their way through these difficult and very physical courses, they often fall or slip throughout the course. It almost looks like people are risking their lives, just to make it through the obstacle course. One also wonders how people do not get injured while making it through a “Wipeout” course. Part of the appeal of this program is simply wondering how people make it out of the obstacle courses alive! It is thrilling to watch this program with friends or family.

The show “Wipeout” is one of the most hilarious game shows on satelite tv. It adds more punch and excitement to the typical “game show” format. For a refreshing new take on game shows, “Wipeout” is a great change of pace.

Okay, so most of the shows I usually watch are on hiatus still, but that doesn’t mean that nothing is new.  Tonight at 9pm is an all new episode of Deal or No Deal, hosted by Howie Mandel.  I’ve loved Howie since the first time I saw Walk Like a Man and Little Monsters, and that love only grew when I realized that he was the voice of Gizmo in Gremlins and when I got hooked on Bobby’s World. In the game show, players have to close between 26 briefcases filled with different amounts of money in a chance to win up to 1 million dollars. It’s enjoyable to watch greedy players lose a couple hundred thousand dollars after following bad advise from their equally greedy familes. On the flip side, I love it when good natured people walk away with a ton of money in the game of chance. The 26 models holding the briefcase aren’t so bad either.

What else is on tonight? Not much…

8PM

• NBC: Greatest Holiday Moments (Home Video Comedy)

10PM

• NBC: Momma’s Boys (Reality)

With the new season of “Smallville” a week away, and “My Name is Earl” and “The Office” premiering on September 25th, we have slim pickings tonight.  It is times like this that I take to watch some of the more bizarre things on TV, like FOX’s Americanized version of one of the goofiest Japanese game shows I have ever seen (thanks to YouTube), “Hole in the Wall” (aka Human Tetris).

In the game show, teams of players must contort their bodies to match different shapes cut into huge Styrofoam walls that are rushing towards them. If they make it through the wall, they get points, but if they can’t, they end up in a pool of mucky water.  Trust me when I say that it is much funnier to watch…