July 12, 2018 

 

By STEVEN HERBERT 

City News Service 

 

“TKO: Total Knock Out,” a physical and funny obstacle course competition series where competitors fire projectiles in an attempt to knock down the runners attempting to complete the course, premieres  on CBS.

 

Executive producer Mark Burnett, a producer of “The Apprentice,” “Survivor,” “The Voice” and “Shark Tank,” called “TKO: Total Knock Out,” “an obstacle course meets dodgeball.”

 

Each episode has five contestants. While one person runs the course, the other four are at “battle stations,” firing “huge Frisbee-like objects” at him or her, according to executive producers Holly Wofford and Jane Y. Mun.

 

The two contestants with the episode’s fastest times compete for $50,000.

 

The series is hosted by comedian Kevin Hart.

 

“The minute Mark Burnett pitched me, I got it and we decided to work together,” said Hart, who is also one of the show's executive producers.

 

Said Sharon Vuong, CBS’ senior vice president, alternative programming: “‘TKO: Total Knock Out’ is a larger-than-life competition series that’s all about having fun. With Kevin’s gift for comedy and passion for fitness, he brings a distinct voice to the show that no one else can.”

 

Hart “brings so much levity and comedy to the show,” Wofford and Mun wrote in response to a set of questions emailed to them. “He’s an observer of life, he finds humor in everything he sees and does.”

 

Wofford was a co-executive producer of “Survivor” and an executive producer of the NBC obstacle course series “American Ninja Warrior.”

 

Mun produced “The People’s Choice Awards” and “The MTV Movie Awards” with Burnett and the 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards.

 

“As producers making this show, we never laughed so much in our lives,” Mun and Wofford wrote. “If this show brings half the laughs and smiles we had in making it, then we’ve done our job.”

Category: Arts & Culture