When I'm bored I read Frank Yu's China/Jpn/Twn newspage. Today I was reading an article called Spate of mishaps tests limits of Japanese TV's wackiest game shows I found this:
The obstacle-course genre dates back to a late 1980s show, "Takeshi's Castle," in which eager contestants -- clad in plastic helmets and knee pads -- screamed a hearty "I'll do my best!" before leaping onto swinging vines or wobbling through a field of giant rolling pins. Most ended face down in ubiquitous water traps for slapstick laughs, but there were some serious injuries as well.
Sound familiar? Humor Amarillo! Or "Yellow Humor", a show I used to watch as a kid in Spain, dubbed over by a couple of wacky Spanish announcers. A Google search turns up that it was pretty popular all over Europe. I found good links from France and from Spain (recommended).
Also, interesting trivia: the Takeshi from "Takeshi's Castle" is Takeshi Kitano, Japanese actor who went on to make super-violent shoot-em-up gangster movies, including the ultra-gruesome "Battle Royale".
On an unrelated note, don't you hate it when you over shoot Mozilla's Close Tab and hit Close Other Tabs instead?
I started a thread at Evernight Games called "Weblogs" to see if anybody else had one. It's getting a pretty enthusiastic response. Tomorrow I'll post a list of identities and URL's.