REALITY CHECK / CRASH COURSE

You've got to admit, it might be fun to drive your car into bowling pins the size of a double-decker bus. On Crash Course (Wednesday, 9 p.m.), ABC's new competition series, this spectacle figures prominently among many other crash 'n burn driving fantasies such as driving on two wheels.

In this series, teams of two drive stock cars through extreme obstacle courses - combining the speed of NASCAR with the bizarreness of a Japanese game show. Wipeout on wheels, if you will. Orlando Jones ( Mad TV) and Dan Cortese ( Veronica's Closet) host this pedal-to-the-metal adrenaline rush that was taped, appropriately enough, in the original Motor City, Detroit, Mich.

Producers decided to ramp up the drama by casting teams who are already friends, siblings, lovers or married. It's a scenario that ensures tempers will get out of control, particularly when, as in one race, the passenger is given complete control of the brake pedal. As series executive producer Arthur Smith told The Hollywood Reporter: "Nothing brings out the worst in people than putting somebody in a passenger seat."

There is $50,000 in cash up for grabs for the winning team, but the real goal may be just to get out with your relationship alive.

Also airing

Gene Simmons Family Jewels (MuchMoreMusic Sunday, 6 p.m.).

Remember seeing Gene Simmons around town during the Toronto

Indy last month? Wonder if that'll turn up in Season 4 of his own

family reality series, which is launching on Sunday.