Uh Oh!

"For other uses, see Uh Oh"Infobox Television


caption = Set for the Uh-Oh! sketch on It's Alive.
bgcolour = green
show_name = Uh Oh!
format = Game Show
creator = Rick Watts
Frank Young
runtime = 30 minutes
starring = Host:
Wink Yahoo
Mayhem games hosts:
Tearin' Aaron
Jumpin' Joe
Slashin' Sam
Speed Round host:
Quizmaster Patricia
Slime Tour hosts:
Shaun Majumder
Christian Hagen
Erin Strimatis
Akua Otupiri
Co-host:
The Punisher
num_seasons = 6
country = flagicon|Canada Canada
network = YTV
first_aired = 1997
last_aired = 2003
preceded_by = "It's Alive!"

"Uh-Oh!" is a Canadian game show, featuring children aged from 10-14 aired from 1997 to 2003 on YTV but it was actually taped at CIII-TV in Toronto Ontario. It was a spin-off of the popular variety show "It's Alive!", where "Uh-Oh!" was part of its game show segment. Re-runs of the show have aired on "Discovery Kids" since 2003.

Concept

Plot of each episode

The game was played with three colour-based teams that would be pitted against each other in each episode. The goal of the game was to have more points than the other two teams. Teams would consist of two players each and would be either Blue, Green, or Red. Audience members would also pick sides and wear clothes of the colour they supported. Team members would either spin the wheel for half of the episode or, participate in whichever activity the wheel would choose. The team members would participate in games which would nearly always involve goo and would be silly. If won, games would provide points for the respective team. On each round the Blue team took their turn first, then Green and Red.

Every episode began with an uncredited announcer (known only as “Mr. Voiceman”) who asked the audience a question such as “What do you say when ... ”; the audience would respond “UH-OH!” In approximately two minutes, Mr. Voiceman would introduce host Wink Yahoo with a statement themed to his opening question such as “The only (Canadian/North American) TV personality who ... ” with a response of cheering from the audience. Yahoo would respond in kind to Voiceman, and then in turn introduce the other onset officials, after which he would ask Mr. Voiceman to introduce the players, who were thereupon introduced (again in sync with the question that opened the episode). After this Voiceman's duties were very small: to announce the prizes won by the studio players, Round 2 players, and lucky audience members.

Origins

"Uh-Oh!" was created off of a sketch on "It's Alive!" in its second season as a game show parody where contestants were chained up and answered questions. If a contestant answered incorrectly, a man called "The Punisher" would pour slime on the contestant from the rafters.

In the show's third season, realizing that the game show parody could actually work as a real game show, "Uh-Oh!" debuted as part of the slate of game shows during the show's game show segment. The game was much shorter than its spin-off, with the game consisting of one round of two spins each. Quickly becoming the most popular game show in the segment, the game was played more frequently than its other games. After "It's Alive!"'s cancellation in 1997, Uh-Oh! became its own show in 1998, playing with the exact same rules as when it was on "It's Alive", except that there were now two rounds, with an additional round between the two rounds called Slime Tour, which was basically the obstacle course segment from "It's Alive" involving different teams whom were competing against each other in their own competition. (See "Round 2" section below)

Characters and hosts

* Wink Yahoo (Scott Yaphe) was the wacky, zaney and extremely enthusiastic host of "Uh-Oh!". He wore his hair in a large pompadour and wore flamboyant sequined suits. He would sometimes taunt team members and showed no compassion when a team would lose all their points. He would always get overly excited when a player landed on the "Uh-Oh!" space and would always feign regret if the player got the Uh-Oh! question wrong or be disappointed if the player got the question right. Yaphe is the only cast member from "It's Alive!" that moved over to Uh-Oh!
*Slashin' Sam (Samantha Cook) and Jumpin' Joe, the latter replaced by Tearin' Aaron (Aaron Alexander) during the first season, introduced and refereed the Mayhem games.
*Quizmaster Patricia (Patricia Ribeiro) instructed players at The Dump, and quizzed them for Speed Round. During season 4, she also assisted with Uh Oh! Deluxe.
*Slime Master Shaun (Shaun Majumder), replaced by Slime Master Ryan (Ryan Belleville) in seasons 5 and 6, hosted the Slime Tour and narrated the action.
*Christian Hagen, Erin Strimaitis and Akua Otupiri assisted the Slime Master in introducing and refereeing the various Slime Tour stations.
*The Punisher was a masked character dating back to the "It's Alive!" segment, though he appeared in a somewhat reduced role on "Uh-Oh!". At the start of the show, the Punisher was released from a cage and went on a rampage. The punisher would sometimes attack audience members with goo. Wink would eventually say "Punisher...control!". The Punisher would then retreat to the slime booth. During to commercial breaks, the punisher would also mess with the audience. He would also often have a couple of water guns with which to torment them, and gooey pies was one of his favorites during seasons 5 and 6. His responsibilities in the game were limited to dragging contestants to the Uh-Oh! booth, and pouring goo on them if the answer was wrong. He would act disappointed if the answer was right. The Punisher was played by the same actor during the first four seasons, and then replaced for the final two. The actors' identities were never revealed. In season 1, he would turn the cranks in certain mayhem games.

Gameplay

Round 1

During round 1, one teammate from each team was designated to spin a 12-space segmented wheel which featured a variety of possible activities or results that could occur. Their partner was designated to perform the activity that the wheel landed on. Each team took turns spinning the wheel, with two cycles through the three teams.

In the first round, the wheel itself spun, and had pegs around the circumference. The chosen spot was denoted by a spring-loaded pointer that "clicked" past the pegs. Distribution of the spaces on the wheel changed through the series, but the first round spaces remained constant. Spaces on the wheel in the first round included 3 Uh Oh!, 3 Mayhem, 2 Speed Round, 1 The Dump, 2 Win and Spin and 1 Trade and Spin.

The Slime Tour/Field Games (Round 2)

The second round featured the Slime Tour, later renamed Field Games, which was footage shot at another location elsewhere in Canada; in its first season, the Slime Tour was mainly in Yukon. Three children, dressed in purple, yellow or orange, competed in a themed obstacle course race. After they were introduced, the three teams in the studio had to select which colour they thought would win the race. If they were correct, they earned 35 points.

The obstacle course was generally made up of several activities separated by a distance that would have to be run. Some of the activities required a physical skill; others simply required speed at completing a task. There was usually at least one task in each course that would get the contestant messy, and usually a task that required carrying something or wearing something through the rest of the race. The winner of the course won a prize for themself.

In season 5 the Slime Tour games in Barrie, ON were run in partnerships, with the contestant and one of their parents running the course in activities designed for pairs.

During season 1, both partners would be interviewed by Wink before starting the game action. It would often involve the previous round's action, and opinions for revenge on partners.

Round 3

The third round was played essentially the same as the first round, with the players switching roles with their partners. The wheel itself was replaced with an entirely different design. The wheel in the third round was stationary, and the indicator spun. The indicator was designed like a three-blade propeller; each blade was the colour of one of the teams, and framed the space on the wheel it landed at. A team landed on the space marked by the indicator of their colour. Spaces on the wheel were occasionally changed between seasons. Fixed spaces included 3 Mayhem, 2 Speed Round, 1 The Dump, 1 Win and Spin, 1 Lose and Spin and 1 Trade and Spin.

Season 1 had 3 Uh Oh! spaces, while in seasons 2-4 one was replaced with the Uh Oh! Deluxe space. Season 5 it was changed to Pick It, and Season 6 saw it become Fruit Gushers.

Games

* Uh-Oh!: The eponymous spot required the spinner to answer a multiple choice question while their partner was put in a glass booth. If they answered correctly, they earned 50 points; otherwise, their partner had "goo" poured on them.
**Uh-Oh! Deluxe: Introduced in the second season, the deluxe version of Uh Oh! was worth 75 points, and generally featured a more difficult question. The penalty was also doubled to two buckets of slime. In seasons 2-4 the second bucket of goo usually contained a more oily (shiny) type goo and often had sparkles mixed in it. Uh-Oh! Deluxe was changed slightly in the 4th season. Wink Yahoo would make the participants taste a smoothie while blindfolded (except in early episodes) and make them guess what ingredients it contains. Participants would still be given multiple choice answers. The choices were only shown to the home audience. The second bucket mixture was also changed, to become a more thick mixture inside a metal bucket.
*Mayhem: required the spinner's partner to complete a physical, often messy, activity with a 20 second time limit. Activities included searching for items in pools of goo, and using various methods to target shoot with various types of projectiles. Mayhem was worth a maximum of 50 points; these were sometimes awarded incrementally, such as 10 points for each item found; but mostly only awarded after a complete success.
*The Dump had the spinner drop a ball through a pipe into gameboard which had Plinko-style pegs, manually operated flippers, other obstacles, and several recepticles for the ball to land in. The receptiles were marked with a game result such as winning or losing certain numbers of points, stealing points from other teams, or winning points for other teams. The maximum winings were 50 points.
*Speed Round: was a lightning round in which the spinner's teammate would be asked up to 10 questions in 20 seconds. Each correct answer was worth five points for a potential of 50 points. Some questions had no wrong answer such as "Do you like [something] " and consecutive questions usually continued on a theme from the previous one.
*... & Spin: Win & Spin resulted in 20 points won plus an additional spin. Lose & Spin resulted in 20 points being deducted from the team's score, plus an additional spin to attempt to regain some points. Trade & Spin forced the team to trade scores with the spinner's choice of the other two teams, even if the spinner was in the lead. Each space resulted in a second spin; landing on one of these spaces during a second spin would result in the scoring effect, but not a third spin.
*Pick It!: This replaced Uh-Oh! Deluxe in the fifth season. The spinner decided whether to play Uh Oh!, Mayhem, The Dump, Speed Round, or Uh Oh! Deluxe.
*Fruit Gushers: This replaced Pick It! in the sixth season. Fruit Gushers was a sponsor of the show in later seasons. The space required the spinner's partner to bob for oversized Fruit Gushers floating within a giant Fruit Gusher. Each Gusher had a point value and team colour on it; that team won the points indicated.

Prizes

Prizes were awarded to the winning team at the end of each show and over the course of the series included Super Soakers, Mountain bikes, Bop It (later, Bop It Extreme) stereos. Members of the audience would always receive Hubba Bubba bubble gum.

In 2008 it aired on YTV for YTV Retro Week.