American Gladiators

12 May

Posted by Alex Davis as American Gladiators, NBC, Show Review

Here’s a comment box to discuss the season debut of American Gladiators today at 8:00PM ET on NBC.

Network: NBC
Airings: Mondays at 8:00PM ET
Host(s): Hulk Hogan and Leila Ali
Vote for how many stars you think the show deserves to the right, and then leave a comment!

American Gladiators is the ultimate televised extreme sports competition. Two men and two women face off against each other and the Gladiators in events of athletic prowess, skill, and determination. By the end of the regular events, each point the leader has equals a half-second lead in the final event: the Eliminator. Whoever crosses the finish line first wins and continues on through the tournament. The grand champions of the season wins $100,000 and a new car.

The first season admittedly had a lot of issues. They tried to reinvent the wheel a bit too much. They made some events too easy (see Power Ball and Hang Tough) or they made them far too hard and complex (see Assault and Eliminator). As season two news came in, we were told they made a lot of changes for the better, and it seems that they did.

Hulk and Leila are a bit better, but not much. Hogan says “brother” so much that it makes me want to mute the television whenever he comes on. Leila turned out to be the better host this season but she’s still really stiff looking. I hate to be one of those people who constantly gripes about the host for the show, but they really needed to actively approach the former host Mike Adamle. It’s really a shame they didn’t.

The events for season two are for the most part fixed and looking fun. Assault got rid of having to assemble the weapons thankfully, they put caps on Power Ball so you can’t free throw a ball into a pod, and they made Hang Tough longer. The Wall is even taller which is more amazing to watch. The Eliminator is still extremely exciting and fantastic until the travelator at the end. As seen by the first episode of the new season, it took the women competitors each at least six minutes to climb it. Slow down the treadmill or don’t make it as steep. It’s just too much right now and that’s honestly the only gripe. Rocket Ball is fantastic to watch. Vertigo is great also.

Overall, the show brings what I expected it to. It’s an over the top spectacle of unbelievably strength. It’s incredibly fun to watch and very easy popcorn television viewing. The real only issue I still have is just four events in a program before the eliminator, but I’ve grown used to today’s pacing. It never seem like it dragged. However, with only four events, a half second for each point you are leading isn’t much, especially with the ball busting travelator. Just make it a single point for each second and I’m 100% fine. It’s entertainment television viewing at its best and honestly the most amusing and fun game show on television today.

Rating:

Links
NBC’s Official Site
American Gladiators Official Site
Gladiators Zone

11 Responses

digitalbohemian
1
May 12th, 2008 at 9:45 pm

That was probably the greatest thing I’ve ever seen. Ridiculous, over the top, and gloriously cheezy. I loved every minute of it.

And I’m so impressed by Jet. She was ten times better than expected.
Rodney Flippen
2
May 12th, 2008 at 10:12 pm

I really enjoyed the Gladiator. I even love Rocket going up the wall real fast.
David
3
May 12th, 2008 at 11:29 pm

I loved Phoenix’s entrance- and she had no competition on Vertigo. Rocketball was good as well.

From what I hear, starting next week, it’s 5 events then the Eliminator instead of 4 (Just 4 events for 90 minute episodes wouldn’t work well) This week with two full shows basically, they just didn’t have quite enough time to get 5 events pre-Eliminator (especailly with the first female Eliminator..though with so many shutouts gamewise they probably did do 5, but one event was a shutout so they could cut it without effecting the points)
Chris Parsley
4
May 13th, 2008 at 9:48 am

I agree with that, and it doesnt seem to drag, but man I wanted AtlasSphere! I knew the red male contender (show 2) couldnt win the eliminator, but still keep cheering for him to do so, just filled gipped in the end they turned off the travelator to let him up, but ah well… :)
Chris Parsley
5
May 13th, 2008 at 9:50 am

one thing, actually two… Stop airing the damn Pyramid every episode, and two, get rid of the safety points in the middle on Assault, give the gladiator a chance to nail the contender as they go from station to station!
Kevin C.
6
May 13th, 2008 at 12:00 pm

A few things I noticed:

First, with the Eliminator, they need to do what was done on the original version. You fall off the handbike, tightrope walk, etc., you are penalized for 15 seconds before you can climb up. Otherwise, somebody can intentionally fall off the obstacle just to make it easier.

Second, the previous events should mean more when coming into the eliminator. The head start should be 1 second per point ahead.

Third, I still like Laila as co-host. But Hulkamania runs way too wild on this show and he has no business hosting.

Fourth, kudos for having the guy with one leg competing. He showed more heart than any other contestant (original or current version) on AG. However, it would have meant more if they didn’t shut off the Travelator when the other guy finished.

Finally, the new events (Rocket Ball and Vertigo) were very interesting to watch. Rocketball reminded me of a “Reverse Swingshot”. Also, the new gladiators (Phoenix, Jet, and Rocket) were good too.

Overall, the new season gets 4 1/2 stars from me (out of 5). Last season I would have given it 4 out of 5 stars.
David
7
May 13th, 2008 at 12:59 pm

The ratings ended up being absolutely horrible last night- and I expected it because you don’t go up against the final 4 on Dancing With the Stars and the first part of the House season finale. Once we get past Memorial Day and it’s against reruns, I expect a nice recovery.
Jackson
8
May 13th, 2008 at 5:30 pm

The original was 10 second penalty for the women when they fell, and 7 seconds for the men. Also, I think the ball pit does the job of stalling the contenders enough. It’s tiring wading through those balls and since the editors did edit the eliminator, it may very well have taken the contenders a longer time to crawl out.

The pacing is better, but I really do wish that they would keep it 5 events and a 1 hour episode.
Adam
9
May 13th, 2008 at 9:52 pm

What was NBC thinking when they put AG up against How I met your mother and Dancing with the Stars?
Keith
10
May 13th, 2008 at 11:04 pm

Rocket Ball was awesome, and amazing too watch too. Kind of reminded me of a more extreme version of Slam Dunk on Nickelodeon Guts.
Frogger49
11
May 15th, 2008 at 7:41 pm

I personally really don’t like the Eliminator. Why do they need to have the contenders go through the pool at the start? It just screws up the entire rest of the Eliminator. The splashdown at the end is fine, but putting the water there makes the Eliminator take probably 15-30 seconds longer at the least. As for the “Travelator” at the end, it seems to be at a much steeper angle than the one on the original show (which was 45 degrees, I think). This might be a 65 degree angle. The 45 degree treadmill was enough (especially once they moved it to the end in 1993 for Season 5). They could institute the bypass rule they had on the original show (3 attempts, then run up the side), but the slope is so steep that contenders basically can’t do that.

Having said all that, I like Rocketball. It is a visibly appealing event (and yes, it looks almost like Reverse Swingshot on Steroids). It looks like something that would be really cool to try, but you would have to worry about stuff like motion sickness. Vertigo, to me, looks really scary. Hopefully, future contenders can give the gladiators a better match than the 2 women Monday gave the new gladiator Phoenix. Atlasphere will apparently be back later this season, as will a new, British-based version of Skytrack, and a couple other new events.