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TV & Radio

Mouthing off - Can Cannonball come close to the glory days of It's A Knockout?

Cannonball's giant waterslides and belly flops give us hope that the spirit of Knockout is not yet extinguished.

I'm actually really excited about Seven's new show Cannonball, and I'll tell you why: because I've been watching old episodes of It's A Knockout and I've identified exactly what Australian television is missing. I mean the real It's A Knockout, the  '80s one, not the reboot with HG Nelson and Charli from Hi-5, which suffered from chronic underspending and being shot in Malaysia. From the looks of things, Cannonball is going to bring us the genuine old Knockout spirit: a huge arena, roaring crowds, overexcited commentary, fiendishly difficult, yet still reasonably ridiculous challenges, and an overall atmosphere of hyperactive silliness.