Not sure if anyone knows about this, but I'm watching "The Great Escape" right now, a brand new reality/game show created by the executive producers of The Amazing Race.

Last year in August, most of you remember that ABC aired 6 episodes of "Take the Money and Run", a series where you had to hide a briefcase holding $100,000 and then last through an intense interrogation process in a jail cell for 48 hours to keep the money. It seemed a bit fake, especially when some of the contestants blurted out the briefcase's hiding place to the interrogators. I found it boring and I forget how the ratings did, but I don't think they were too high.

Well, I can almost guarantee you that if ABC had decided to go with The Great Escape instead, the ratings would've been much higher.
The Great Escape, in many ways, mirrors NBC's 2006 show Treasure Hunters, in terms of the challenges that have been created.

Here is a brief explanation of The Great Escape, once again from the creators of The Amazing Race, with a $100,000 Per-Episode Prize up for grabs.

Quote Originally Posted by Showcase/TNT
This fast-paced, nail-biting series comes from the Emmy-winning producers of The Amazing Race and the Oscar and Emmy-winning producers of Apollo 13, The Davinci Code and 24. The Great Escape will take viewers on a thrill ride as competing teams try to escape from seemingly impossible situations, with the winning team taking home a huge cash prize.

Each week Rich Eisen (NFL Network) hosts The Great Escape. Three pairs of players are taken to a secret location that none of them has ever seen before. Upon arrival, the teams must race against each other to find a way out. Along the way, they are faced with a range of obstacles that they must overcome in order to make their way to freedom. Some challenges require brute strength while others call for brains and strategy.

To raise the stakes even higher, the players won't be alone. They will have to avoid detection by guards and others whose job it is to stop anyone and everyone from escaping. Players must rely on their wits, skills and whatever tools they can find to overcome obstacles, evade pursuers and make their way to freedom, where Eisen will be waiting to hand the winners a cash prize of $100,000.
Source: http://www.showcase.ca/ontv/titledet...itle_Id=286049

The Great Escape airs every Sunday night 10/9c on TNT in the U.S. and Showcase in Canada.

After watching this first episode, I'm amazed on how ABC could be so stupid as to greenlight Take the Money and Run last year, instead of going with something like this. It's fun, exciting, dramatic, because you don't know if you'll be caught, and with $100,000 on the line (same amount of money available in Take the Money and Run), this series could've easily fit on a major primetime network.

Props to TNT and Showcase for going ahead with it. Great job guys!

Tonight's premiere episode featured 3 teams of 2 contestants each, trying to escape Alcatraz without getting caught by prison guards. And with obstacles like keys being hidden in bars of soap, how could you not like the ingenuity of this series?