NBC Looks to Revive “American Gladiators”

17 Jul

Posted by Alex Davis as NBC, New Show

EDIT: I am very sorry, I completely forgot to put the source and just realized it now. This won’t happen again. This came from Variety.
After the awful move of holding off 1 VS 100, NBC might be redeeming themselves soon as new entertainment executive Ben Silverman has confirmed that he is looking on making a new take on the campy classic American Gladiators under his Reveille banner. He declined to discuss how it would fit under NBC’s brand, and he also did say that it’s not a done deal yet, but there is one being planned as of now at least.

So here’s a fun question for you readers: can the show be revived properly? I mean part of the fun for the show for me was how corny and cheesy it was. And part of that came from the tone of the late 80s and early 90s. I really don’t know if they can revive the show properly without making it either too serious or too goofy. However, if they can do it properly, I am completely on board. I’d rather have 1 VS 100, but I’m a big fan of American Gladiators and would love to see it again somehow.

22 Responses

Gary
1
July 17th, 2007 at 2:12 pm

A blast from the past of AG. Wow is all I can say. As long as they don’t try to stage any of the events and probably bring back the more popular events from the original show like Assault/Danger Zone, Atlashperes, Joust/Duel, as well as bring in to the US some of the events that didn’t make it here origianlly like Pursuit, Dogfight, Pendulum, etc. What’s the top prize for the contenders?
Measles!
2
July 17th, 2007 at 2:35 pm

Bringing back American Gladiators seems like a risk to me. If they kept it like the 2nd and 3rd seasons of the show, I think it could work. What they need are Gladiators who people can appeal to, like the old show had with Nitro, Gemini, Zap, Ice. I’d personally love for Nitro to have some sort of role on this potential revival as well.

POWERBALL FTW :D
Darryl Heine
3
July 17th, 2007 at 2:38 pm

Could one of the former male American Gladiators - either Gemeni or Nitro as my picks - be the host for the NBC rival of American Gladiators? We couldn’t rehire Mike Adamle since he now works for an NBC Chicago newscast nor Gladiators 2000 host Ryan Seacrest since he is contracted with FOX to do American Idol.
Jordan Hass
4
July 17th, 2007 at 3:10 pm

Just to take a guess, they are going to keep all those infamous games “Joust” , “Atlasphere” and “The Eliminator”.

Create it in a tournament, where the first win is worth $5,000 and the grand prize is $250,000.

BUT!

Instead of just “Gladiators” they are going to Gladiators that are characters (Think “Malibu”)

As well as special “Celebrity Gladiators” where people are against WWE Superstars and former boxers.

Who wouldn’t want to play “Human Cannonball” with Hulk Hogan?
Scott
5
July 17th, 2007 at 3:26 pm

Worst idea I’ve heard since National Bingo Night…and just wait until the gratuitous cross-promotions start (Nitro-like guest on Deal or No Deal). Really, if this is the kind of fare Silverman will be giving us at NBC, Kevin Reilly at Fox will be giving NBC a huge comeuppance…
Jordan Hass
6
July 17th, 2007 at 3:44 pm

I will bet $10 that at least one of them will be on 1 vs 100 if they both manage to stay on the air at the same time.

WE GOT 10 HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS!
8 BARTENDERS
and 6 AMERICAN GLADIATORS!

ITS ONE
VERSUS
ONE HUNDRED!!!
Chris
7
July 17th, 2007 at 4:42 pm

Incredibly awful idea. NBC has a lot of quality programming (The Office, 30 Rock, Friday Night Lights, etc.); I wish it would spend time developing shows in that vein rather than looking for a quick cash-in through a cheesy, idiotic relic of the past.
Justin
8
July 17th, 2007 at 6:26 pm

Awesome idea! I see it on a Saturday or Friday night for sure and like Alex said, the more corny, the better. lol!
David Palomares
9
July 17th, 2007 at 6:56 pm

The series is overdue for a revival, there was an attempt in 2001 but didn’t work out. I think the series could work out now, there are some things I do worry about. like the Female Gladiators and competitors.
Kevin G.
10
July 17th, 2007 at 7:05 pm

If they do it, the success basically hinges on one simple thing:

It should be a larger-than-life sporting competition welcoming people from all walks of life. If they break out the WWE-style nonsense and basically make the contenders “jobbers” to the Gladiators, the show doesn’t have a chance.
Nikolai
11
July 17th, 2007 at 8:01 pm

I love the idea of bringing it back. I am watching some of the old episodes on ESPN Classic and I can’t get enough of them. Measles!, about what you said about Nitro being involved, I believe he was a comentator in the last one or two seasons of the original. Let the games begin!
Joe Mello
12
July 17th, 2007 at 9:23 pm

Kevin hit the nail on the head. I think a reason AG worked for so long is because it wasn’t like wrestling.

It’s interesting to see how G4 is doing its American Ninja Challenge and now Silverman wants to do this. With all this worry about American being fat, you’d think stuff like this wouldn’t have been here sooner.
Netizen
13
July 17th, 2007 at 9:36 pm

Sounds like you could do with remaking it in the vein of UK Gladiators, a slightly more serious national competition with only a couple of ‘characters’ and restained sillyness. OK so a couple of our Glads weren’t entirely squeaky clean but for the most part they were great positive role models for kids and the spirit of sporting conduct ran through the whole thing. It’s recently been repeated on free-to-air TV here for the first time in 10 years and the only thing that has aged badly is the haircuts - the style of presentation and tone wouldn’t be out of place on screen these days at all in my opinion.

I’d love for a revival to be a success if it in any way could convince a company to do the same in the UK!
Scott
14
July 17th, 2007 at 11:05 pm

Unless they stay true to the original (as previously posted, Seasons 2 or 3), there is no point to bring it back.

If they are planning it for primetime, it’s not going to work. When it was syndicated, it ran mostly on Saturday mornings, which was where it thrived. To do a Monday Night Primetime show just doesn’t jive.

THe only saving grace is to package it with Deal or No Deal and 1 Vs. 100. Otherwise, it can’t stand on it’s own.
DaveC
15
July 18th, 2007 at 9:43 am

I think it could work if updated properly.

One thing that made it stand out is, even though it was a bit “campy” like Pro Wrestling, most people appreciated that it WAS real competition, not faked like WWF. As long as that came through, I think it would work well.

Considering this would be done on NBC, the production values should be higher, so, they should try to do the following: The “Gladiators” should be somewhat famous ex-athletes, instead of “nobody” bodybuilders with made up names. I guess this somewhat goes down the road of “Pros Vs. Joes”, but, I think it would add additional “star power” to the game.

One thing to think about… all of NBC’s new game shows (and many of the other network ones in the past few years) have been the player vs. “the house”, i.e., they don’t play another team/opponent directly. I would even say 1 vs. 100 isn’t really against another opponent, the “house” is the 100.

A new “AG” could definately model that way, since the “Gladiators” would be the “house”, and it could be done like “5th Grader”, where the person can pick an event and has to beat a certain “mark” to win that level of money. They can quit at any time, but, each round the “levels” go up, and once they have done an event, they cannot redo it.
Eric
16
July 18th, 2007 at 10:24 am

If it isn’t broke don’t fix it. If you are going to do revive a show like this revive it right. First Start off with the original 7 Events plus events like Hang Tough and Atlasphere which were just identifiable with the show as the original 7.Also, Have some sort of link to the original. Whether it be Mike Adamle,Larry Czonka,or one of the original gladiators. lastly, give it something that has its own identity. The reasons shows like Millionaire and Family Feud have worked with other hosts is that the hosts didn’t try to be the host(s) that hosted it before.
David Palomares
17
July 18th, 2007 at 12:51 pm

I just hope NBC doesn’t turn the show into Battledome.
Wheelloon
18
July 18th, 2007 at 2:12 pm

Like PYL, AG has the bonus of having great name recognition in the US, even though the original version aired its last show some years ago (AG went off in 96, IIRC).

One thing I’ll tell ya, my dad and I watched AG every Saturday morning in the early 90’s, and as a young kid, I absolutely loved it. Even though some of it may look a bit campy and corny today, back in 91 or so, when it was at its peak and every other person in this country seemed to watch it regularly, it wasn’t so cheesy and was the epitome of cool. What guy wouldn’t want slam Nitro in Assault, or joust with Gemini???

Though I agree with others it doesn’t seem like a primetime show, if friggin’ Bingo, friggin’ Biggest Loser, and friggin’ Surreal Life can make to primetime, AG can make it. It might be good on Saturday evenings (though nobody watches TV then), or paired with 1vs100. The shows could complement each other with darker tones, and most men watching TV then don’t have anything better to watch on Friday nights anyway *heh*. TV audiences aren’t the greatest Saturday nights, but AG might still grab the lonely hearts at home away from whatever else is on (what notable is on network Saturday primetime anyway?)

If they are still in good enough shape, bring some of the Gladiators from the original back including Ice *ICE ICE BABY!!!!*, Gemini, Laser, Lace, Blaze, and Nitro (and yes, Dan “Nitro” Clark was the host the last couple of seasons for those who asked), and bring certain games back, i.e. Powerball, joust, Assault, and Atlasphere. It was an action-oriented show, so don’t let antics take from it, but if the ego trippin’ by the Gladiators isn’t there, it won’t be nearly as fun.

You’ll need some new gladiators, those that viewers can identify with, possibly a couple new games, and use the Eliminator format from 92. AG is NOT AG without the Eliminator. Like others, I always thought AG could feature a rotating celebrity gladiator every episode, along the likes of Hulk Hogan or certain sports players. I bet Michael Jordan could play a mean game of Powerball! Just don’t spend half the episode touting them please!

A tournament format should be the route NBC should go. 64 players to start, 32 men and 32 women. Depending on how much NBC wants to milk current trends, they could make the grand prize at the end of every season a half million or $1,000,000, put it in sweeps, and that would be one heck of a climatic way to end a tourney.
Ben Williams
19
July 18th, 2007 at 4:52 pm

As a summer/winter downtime series? Yes.

As a Fall/Midseason series? No.

But I already KNOW where this is going. Sad.
glenn
20
July 18th, 2007 at 6:24 pm

Like it. The problem after the middle 3 years was going away from athleticism and into gadgets (namely bungee cord devices)

Dan “Nitro” Clark was the cohost of the final 2 seasons btw so I think he’d do it again. He’s done publicity tours for AG reruns on ESPN classic and hosted a marathon so he’d be more than interested. What drug the show down was too many games in the rotation…if it was like seasons 2,3 and 4 (if only for larry czonka who was majestic as cohost while todd christensen in season 2 had no personality, season 1 was GOD AWFUL). My issue always was the contestants, they used to have charisma (RICO!) but then they became droning hulks. I agree that they need the gladitors to have more personality than physique (A la blaze, zap and gemnini) and less of the WWE mentality of the later versions.

Note that the departure from the middle 3 seasons into the more WWE mentality came from none other than the syndie distributers who often paired the show in a 2 hour block with WWF shows often as a lead in or lead out. This led to more of the staging of the last few seasons to fit more of a pro wrestling product which their worse and competiting shows (namely knights and warriors which was atrocious) were doing to create a better lead in/out for WWF…I always said if they broke the show from WWF they would have lasted much longer instead of turning into a joke so an NBC slot with a tighter tourney (and less convulted format with the 2 season match of champions then the two half format) could work…here’s how id do it.

Reality style format of 2 8 week strips per year in a fall spring alternation with 1 vs 100.

weeks 1-4: 4 quarterfinals

weeks 5-6: 2 semifinals

week 7: Women’s final

Week 8: Men’s Final

Prizes: $5000 for advancing in the Q finals
$10,000 for making the finals
$100,000 Runner up
$200,000 + 50,000 prizes (car+home gym system would be my choice) grand champion
All losers recieve a fitness related prize (think bowflex and later on full home gym systems) upon departure in addition to their cash prizes.

Games:

Instead of random inserts I would go with 3 distinctive orders for the games for each round that all test various athletic abilities. I would go with more generic names than the catchy pet names of the 90s version. The only constants would be the eliminator to end and the Wall to begin (since this was the only effective game to test vertical agility the finals would be a full hour for one gender and consist of 10 events. The other games would test in order 1 on one confrontation (Powerball, B+C), mental athleticism (assault), strength (Hang tough), and coordination (Joust etc)

QUARTERFINAL LINEUP:

The wall
Powerball
Assault
The Rings (Hang Tough)
Joust
Eliminator

SEMIFINAL LINEUP

The Wall
Breakthrough and Conquer
The Maze
Atlasphere
Human Cannonball
Eliminator

FINALS LINEUP

The Wall
Powerball
Assault
The Rings
Human Cannonball

Halftime (place for inserts/highlights)

The Pyramid (special for the finals as a “twist” to the contestants)
Atlasphere
Joust
Breakthrough and Conquer
The Eliminator

ELIMINATOR

Reverse treadmill
Handbike
Cargo Net
Tarzan Rope
Military style wall hurdle
Sophie’s Choice hurdle lanes

Winner is the one breaking the tape with head start given for the leader

Scoring System for all events (as opposed to score points being given for individual goals in events where the contenders go head to head with the gladiators serving as obstacles like atlasphere or powerball):

Win/Outscore opponent = 10 points
Lose/Defeated by opponent = 0 Points
Beat the Clock/Draw Gladiator/Draw Opponent = 5 points

Rules changes

-5 points for any foul by a contestant (used to drive me nuts when gladiators would get cheap shotted just to stop the clock and take 0 points and go home)

Conversely a foul by a gladiator is an automatic win in any event. (aka no more powerball cheap shots with the gladiators thinking they can get away with an even money contest aka gemini and his chop blocks in seasons 2 and 3!)

If there is a withdrawl due to injury the competition is forfeited and the other contender plays the new opponent in a new game. (instead of the sub getting a lead or deficit)the footage of the injury and retape notice can be cited in the opening spiel and is more fair to the sub as it gives them a better chance of winning)

Gladiators will be more all around athletes and not just musclemen (a problem that plagued season 1 and the last few seasons. Zap and Nitro should be the prototypes not guys like tower or malibu who were persian cats so to speak ;))

For sponsor appeal, individual prizes should be given for the events that pit the contenders against each other.

Potential Gladiator Canididates (Id go with 5 gladiators each male and female…here are 3 id like to see on both sides of the gender line)

MEN

Rico Constintino (the greatest contender of all time is still cooking as a pro wrestler in indies and would bring great nostalgia and be a formidable opponent)

T-Money (aka the father in everybody hates chris…has expierence from battle dome and is still in awesome shape.)

Brock Lesnar (he’s an A hole but he’s got the charisma AND the athleticsm…given that he quit wwe in a quest to be a real athlete, he should be respected.)

WOMEN

Trish Stratus (Could BRING IT and is an incredible athlete and of course brings all the needed boobage, the sexy and sleek speedster a la ice)

Theresa Weatherspoon (Former WNBA star is blaze part deux and would also be tough enough)

Linda Miles (The former shanniqua is the epotimie of strength, speed and looks…the former Rutgers star also can bring it and was known as the best athlete of tough enough.)

fill out the rest with bodybuilder types who are less known.

HOSTS

Matt Vasgersian - his XFL expierience shows he knows the way between real and not real competition very well.

Dan “Nitro” Clark - the ONE and ONLY choice unless zonk comes back.

excuse the length but I am a big fan :-D
James
21
July 18th, 2007 at 8:49 pm

Glenn:

As far as gladiators, Rico would be a good choice. The thing I wonder is if they should have a mix of known (i.e. Trish Stratus) and unknown gladiators, or if it should be just unknown commodities, with a former gladiator as host or co-host. If it comes to pass, I would watch it, just for nostalgia.
Chris
22
July 20th, 2007 at 6:46 pm

If there is a withdrawl due to injury the competition is forfeited and the other contender plays the new opponent in a new game. (instead of the sub getting a lead or deficit)the footage of the injury and retape notice can be cited in the opening spiel and is more fair to the sub as it gives them a better chance of winning)

I disagree with this, as the remaining player would then be at a disadvantage being competing in x events prior to restarting.