Riot (TV series)

Did You Know?

• The show was produced by Shine America with Steve Carell's banner Carousel TV.
• Filming took place during February 2014.

Format

Two teams of celebrities and comedians compete in a series of competitions involving singing, dancing, and creating comedy sketches while facing mental and physical obstacles. Guest team captains instruct the teams to perform unscripted improv skits, some on a set tilted at 22½ degrees and others in complete darkness viewed via night-vision cameras.

Games

Slide Show: players perform on a set built at a 22-degree angle with cameras tilted to appear level, played twice per episode. A Bunch of Jerks: players wear suits attached to cables and are jerked up nearly 20 feet when they make a mistake. Mime Sweeper: a performer mimes an image for another to guess; failure results in being knocked off by a medicine ball. Alphabody: two players form letters of a four-letter word using their bodies. In The Dark: scenes are acted in a pitch-black room viewed via infra-red cameras. Shadow Puppets: players act out titles behind a back-lit screen. Floored: players perform on the floor with an overhead camera making them appear standing. Dogs at Work: a dog dressed like a human interacts using human hands.

Reception

Riot received mixed to positive reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes it scored 57% based on 7 reviews; Metacritic gave it 63 out of 100 from 5 critics, indicating generally favorable reviews. Neil Genzlinger of The New York Times wrote that the show was hysterical. Diane Werts of Newsday called it goofy fun. Brian Lowry of Variety found it exhausting and noted the stunt-enhanced physical gags did not merit the name 'Riot'. Neil Drumming of Salon described the premiere as harmless but manic.

Release

After four weeks, Fox pulled Riot from its Tuesday night schedule due to poor ratings. The show debuted with a 0.5 rating in the 18–49 demographic and 1.34 million viewers; episodes 3 and 4 drew a 0.4 rating. Fox stated it would find a better time slot and fill Tuesday with reruns. Local-language versions have aired in Thailand, Finland, Portugal, Denmark, Spain, Brazil, Ukraine, Romania, and Vietnam.