I was pretty excited (yes, I’m a nerd) about NBC’s remake of the original American Gladiators series that began airing last weekend. I setup the DirecTivo to nab the season and Kim and I have been watching it ever since.
I’m always a bit leery of any remake but I figured that because the first one was so absolutely cheesy, this version couldn’t be any worse. When I began watching the original in 1989 I was only 10 years old and I never remember it being cheesy but as I watched reruns of American Gladiators on ESPN Classic, I realized just how bad it was (check out that link for some classic YouTube clips of the old-school version).
In the NBC remake, American Gladiators is a lot less about the Gladiators themselves and more about the competitors and their “hardships” such as needing the money for their mother who lives in a trailer park or the guy who lost everything in Hurricane Wilma. I guess this format fits more into the whole “Reality TV” theme that is so prevalent these days.
Kim is thankful that the American Gladiators themselves don’t do nearly as much talking as she finds it horribly annoying. She has gone so far as to hand over control of the remote to me while the show is on so that she isn’t inclined to fast forward everything except the challenges themselves. I think part of the “charm” of the show is the cheese but she obviously doesn’t fully agree ;)
The challenges, at first glance, seem pretty much the same as they used to be with Powerball, Joust, Pyramid, Gauntlet, Assault, Hang Tough, The Wall, and The Eliminator being included in the NBC remake but after you look a little closer, they are obviously different. The most noticeable is the different in the “basket” opening sizes in Powerball which now allows for the contenders to shoot the ball like they are playing basketball to score points. The openings in the older version were so much smaller that they could barely get the balls in as they ran by.
They have added two other new challenges (to the US version) which include Hit & Run and Earthquake. They also suspend the contenders and Gladiators over water for many of the events which adds almost nothing to the challenges except a bunch of wet hair.
Overall, aside from Hulk Hogan being the MC, the show is great IMHO — especially that the referee is from the movie Dodgeball (unverified but pretty certain), and it’s one that I will keep watching until they take it off the air after two seasons because some other incredibly lame show takes its place.
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