Image Credit: Greg Gayne/The CW

Phil Gurin, creator and executive producer of The CW’s Oh Sit!, knows there’s something inherently goofy about a game show that revolves around an extreme game of Musical Chairs. But according to him, that’s kind of the point: “We absolutely don’t take the show seriously. Nobody should,” Gurin explained in an interview this afternoon. “It’s meant to be pure fun.”

And Oh Sit! is fun, in an over-the-top, Wipeout meets Guts meets an elementary school classroom sort of way. (Its resemblance to classic Nickelodeon game shows is no accident; Gurin once worked as a writer on both Double Dare and Wild and Crazy Kids.) The rules are fairly straightforward: Music plays as contestants navigate a circular obstacle course, nabbing cash each time they pass one of several green lines. When the live band stops playing, players must scramble for a seat on “chair island,” which stands in the middle of the arena.

Gurin and his team were careful not to let their creation get too complicated. “The most successful game shows of all time are always the simplest,” he said. “Listen, Wheel of Fortune is Hangman. Hollywood Squares was Tic-tac-toe.” By riffing on a childhood classic, Oh Sit! engages a similar strategy: “There is not one country where they don’t play musical chairs,” Gurin declared.

And like its competitive cousins, Oh Sit! isn’t afraid to embrace its silly side.  READ FULL STORY »