NBC's original summer schedule had exciting plans to follow the 2020 Olympic Games in the form of a competition show unlike any other on television: Ultimate Slip 'N Slide. As the name indicates, the series would have featured contestants tackling a real-life water park of slippery rides (and slides) to try and slip their way to a cash prize. Unfortunately, a giardia outbreak causing diarrhea eventually resulted in the series' cancellation, but co-host Ron Funches has a pretty great outlook on the turn of events.
Ultimate Slip 'N Slide was previously intended to premiere with a two-night event following the Olympics, and even though the slip-and-slide isn't exactly an Olympic sport, it might have been a great way for viewers to transition from the Games to a different kind of game before the giardia outbreak and diarrhea meant production had to halt. Now that the halt has turned into a cancellation, comedian Ron Funches (who was set to co-host with Saturday Night Live alum Bobby Moynihan) took to social media with a fun take on the situation:
If Ron Funches is disappointed that the show, which NBC described as a "fresh take on Wham-O’s iconic 1960s outdoor game" in the initial announcement, was cancelled after months of uncertainty following the initial production shutdown back in June, then he has found an upbeat way to address it.
The cancellation is pretty unfortunate, as Deadline reported that filming on Ultimate Slip 'N Slide was almost finished when the shutdown happened, and it was the costs and logistics of restarting production that resulted in the show finally getting the axe from NBC. Ron Funches continued looking at the sunny side of the whole mess:
That's high praise indeed for Bobby Moynihan, if Ron Funches would be willing to get diarrhea daily to keep working with him! I do wonder if the "Goo Crew" nickname came about before or after the giardia outbreak, but also I think I might not want to know the answer to that question.
Hey, maybe Ron Funches and Bobby Moynihan will find an opportunity to work together again that doesn't involve diarrhea! They did both voice characters for We Bare Bears, after all. As for Moynihan at the time of writing, the SNL star hasn't posted about Ultimate Slip 'N Slide's cancellation, but Funches wasn't done:
There's a time and place for laughing about ridiculous, if unfortunate, turns of events, but based on Ron Funches' post on Twitter, his comedian friends really could have waited a little longer before yukking it up about Ultimate Slip 'N Slide's cancellation. Funches isn't quite a household name just yet, and the NBC show would have showcased him to a large audience, especially if some Olympics viewers stuck around the network even after the closing ceremony.
Ultimate Slip 'N Slide's intended premiere on August 8 at 10:30 p.m. ET was replaced by Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard's Family Game Fight. For some additional viewing options as the temperature begins to cool and with no slipping and sliding on NBC to be found, check out our 2021 fall TV premiere schedule!
