So I just watched American Gladiators

[Goufunaki]

First hour was pretty disappointing.

At the start, they made a big deal over this one woman because she's a single mom with like 2-3 kids and was wanting to win the prize money for them. She screws up her knee in the first event and gets replaced.

The gladiators themselves had their cheesy persona's, I expected that. But the only one from tonight to really stand out was "Wolf", with messy long hair and he howls. Some of the female gladiators were pretty nice, despite some muscle. Little muscle is ok.

I recognized some of the older events. Same as before, not changed in the least.

The Eliminator. Supposed to be the most difficult of all the events. Only a couple of things changed. The first obstacle was getting past this wall of fire. Then you realize it's on top of water and all the contenders had to do was simply swim under it, far from danger. Then they climb up some cargo net to the barrel roll, they hold onto it as it rolls down (which has been done on japanese shows before), pedal themselves across some rails above, climb a pyramid then slide down, run up a treadmill that's moving downwards, and the final wall, the freakin' wall they have to break through had no gladiators behind it at all to keep them at bay! wtf?

As much as I loved the original show, so far this new one isn't keeping too much of my attention. What say you (if any)?

[Jamos]

Re: So I just watched American Gladiators

What say you (if any)?

Meow. :3

[Maijo]

Re: So I just watched American Gladiators

Dude, I loved it. Best hours of TV i've seen lately

[truekid]

Re: So I just watched American Gladiators

the fact that they left virtually all of the base concepts intact means thumbs up from me.

plus Hulk Hogan! is it wrong that i wish LaiLa Ali was Mr. T instead?

[DarkwingChuck]

Re: So I just watched American Gladiators

I lost interest once I realized they were going to be all wussy about people getting hurt. First the contender that was eliminated when she wrenched her knee or ankle, whatever. Then five minutes later they announced one of the gladiators had to be replaced because he hurt his arm. It wasn't how those injuries were handled that I had a problem with, it just accentuated the fact that in these days of rampant lawsuits even with liability waivers they'll have to be a lot tamer than the original show. Also I'd be a lot more interested in watching it on weekend mornining/afternoons when I watched the old AG than primetime.

[John Mora]

Re: So I just watched American Gladiators

I don't really recall the old show being that brutal.

[Wavelength]

Re: So I just watched American Gladiators

American Gladiators was my favorite show back in the day, so the fact that they were able to keep most of what I liked intact was really nice. I enjoyed it, at least... I think it'll be worth an hour of my time each Monday. There's never anything good on TV on Mondays, anyhow.

The whole injury thing in Powerball was lame, and the replay and dramatic music each time they introduced a person or someone got hurt was even lamer. But the playing "nah nah nah nah, heeeeey, good bye" when a contender got zonked was pretty funny, at least the first few times.

Speaking of Powerball injuries, I was surprised they didn't disqualify the gladiator that bodyslammed the contender early on. They would have done that in the original, and it would have become a 2v2 matchup.

I'm liking the new gladiators, despite myself. When one male glad says to another male glad, "will you two women stop arguing? let's do this!", that it just pure gold. And Justice looks like an X-Men guy, which is just hilarious. "Stealth" is an awful name for a gladiator, though--and "Hellga," simply for its stupidity, is only one step higher. Leila was disappointingly useless, but Hulk Hogan makes a surprisingly decent host.

Earthquake seems like a hybrid of Conquer (from Breakthrough & Conquer) and Whiplash (a rather obscure event in the old show). It's OK, but I'm not crazy about it. Hit and Run is cool, but it would be so much cooler if both contenders were playing at the same time, on parallel platforms.

I'm a little disappointed by the new version of Assault; that was one event in the original that was fine-tuned to perfection over the years. I'm even more disappointed by the fact that Swingshot, my favorite game in the original, didn't make a return (it was an event where contenders and gladiators, attached to bungees, all jumped off of a large platform at the same time, and the contenders had to try to bounce off the floor and jump to a hanging cylinder in the center to grab balls off of it. the glads tried to prevent them from doing so.) But most of the other games were remade nicely, notably Gauntlet, Pyramid, and Hang Tough.

The new Eliminator is terrible, though. Skill has been mostly abandoned in favor of endurance. The penalties for falling off of things aren't great enough. The balance beams don't spin. The treadmill, which had the potential to upset three of the four matchups (and did upset one), is just weird and unnatural... why would you grab a rope halfway up a treadmill? I wanted to see them try to just run right up it. All in all, I think lots of the "events" from the obstacle courses on shows like Sasuke, Viking, or Ninja Warrior, would work a lot better than what they actually put on here. And the thing takes like 3 minutes, rendering a sizable lead going into it nearly useless. (In the classic version, a lead of more than about seven seconds was nigh insurmountable.) So, the only event that matters, on a show called American Gladiators, doesn't have any Gladiators in it!

And then there's the grossly unfair single-elimination structure. One loss (perhaps to the best contender out there) should not eliminate you from the show. I remember "seasons" of play in the classic, and I THINK that the only time they used a single-elimination structure, they first had "seeding rounds" to sort the top eight contenders into a "fair" single-elim, NCAA style bracket.

Oh well. For all my nitpicking, it was still enjoyable and interesting, and well worth watching again.

[lil_das]

Re: So I just watched American Gladiators

Told you guys it would suck.

[Wavelength]

Re: So I just watched American Gladiators

A few observations:

1: Powerball is brutal! That's two episodes it's been in now, and two season-ending injuries due to it. I'm not fitness expert, but it seems like giving the floor some more bend would be a good idea.

2: Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust" is getting old. Really old. Instead, each Gladiator should have their own theme music that plays when they zonk a contender. Owned by Toa? Listen to some Hawaiian music. Crushed by Wolf? You're treated to "Hey There Little Red Riding Hood" and the ensuing wolf howl. Dominated by Justice? Enjoy a clip of "I Fought the Law and the Law Won. For that matter, instead of the crowd giving the "thumbs-down," they should cut to fans holding up fans supporting their favorite Gladiator.

3: The Travelator is getting REALLY annoying. The first person to run straight up that ****er without touching the rope will have my support for the entire season (even if they annoy me by thanking God for their win). I can live with the rest of the Eliminator, but that part needs to be modified greatly. And renamed.

4: Lil_Das told us it would suck, and he was wrong again. Check out the poll results. Kitty! Kitty!

5: What are the scoring rules for Joust? Did they change them already? In the first episode, I think I remember a contender getting 0 points for a Draw. In the fourth episode (from 1/14), I think I remember them saying "5 points for a Draw." Can anyone shed some light on this?

[Wavelength]

Re: So I just watched American Gladiators

So I missed it yesterday... I've completely inverted my sleep schedule from nocturnal to morning-heavy, and it's making me get very tired very early.

Was Monday night's episode any good? And did the Travelator end up deciding either or both matchups?