American Gladiators

[ChadTower]

They show the old one regularly on ESPN2.

[shardian]

They show the old one regularly on ESPN2.

What about the Nickelodeon ripoff?  What the heck was that thing.... "Guts"?

Are you talking about Double Dare? that show had an elimination course at the end.

[AtomSmasher]

I think they may need to eliminate powerball.  Some woman got her leg screwed up on the first show, and the preview for next week looks like a man has to splint his leg after it.  With so much tackling, it's no stretch that these are only the beginning of the injuries in it.

Theres going to be plenty of injuries with or without powerball.  With the full contact type events, theres just no way around it.  My uncle was actually one of the "gladiators" on the AG ripoff show Battle Dome, and he broke his ankle in the first season (a very nasty break, done on camera so we could see the replays of it snapping) and tore a bicep in the second season.

Overall the show seems very similar to the original with a couple noticable exceptions.  Obviously the eliminator has been ramped up big time, but they also seem to be giving "personalities" to the gladiators.  It seems like in the original they were barely mentioned, but now some of them wear costumes and even say a few lines in character (most notably is Wolf and Hellga).

[shardian]

Are you talking about Double Dare? that show had an elimination course at the end.

Nope.  Guts:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickelodeon_GUTS

I mean, obviously it was toned down, but it was definitely an American Gladiators ripoff.

I remember that show. It was pretty neat.

Legends of the hidden temple was another of the neat Nickelodeon shows back in the day. Ahhh, the good ol' days of youth.

[JackTucky]

I swear to god, allah, buddah, the flying spaghetti monster and anybody else who'll listen, if I see one more New York fireman, Iraqi vet, housewife who married their childhood sweetheart, guy who married their childhood sweetheart, ethnic stereotype or person that sure thinks they have to say a clever pun after each question is asked (and those puns are NEVER funny) I'm going postal and killing every single frikkin television producer that's ever made a reality show in the last 10 years!!!!!!!  And is it me or are these people always terribly one-dimensional?  I mean it's nice you are a vet, but is your life so sad that this the sole thing that defines your entire life?  Every question to these people is replied with "well I'm a soldier/marine/fire fighter/some city worker still bragging that he DID HIS DAMN JOB on 9-11 6 YEARS after the fact/ect. so ....."  I feel sorry for these people.  I mean I'm a single loser and a dork and I have more going on then them.  I have friends and family and obligations and hobbies and interesting stories to tell regarding all of that.  I think they exploit the one decent quality they have hoping the gameshow people will rig the contest in their favor or something.  Well that's illegal so it ain't gonna happen so get over yourselves.  Also true heroes are modest so quit getting on television and embarrasing yourself and everyone associated with you.

I'm beginning to like you Howard.

=J

[hypernova]

Wolf may have sucked in Hang Tough, but he beat ass in Pyramid on Sunday night against the old guy.  Pyramid looks like a sweet event to watch for the men.

Will they make Hellga do Hang Tough?  I don't think she could do that for 30 ticks alone, AND pursue a contestant.  I honestly don't see that happening.

There better be some more events...here's what I remember so far:
Old:                                          New:
Assault                                     Earthquake
Pyramid                                    Hit and Run
Hang Tough
Powerball
Wall
Joust
Gauntlet

Looking at the site, that looks like everything.  Back in the day, You got the football one, the upside down pyramid thing with balls and the bungee cords and jumping.  What's some more old games?

Theres going to be plenty of injuries with or without powerball.

I would agree.  But powerball seems to have far more potential.

[shardian]

Atlasphere baby!

[ChadTower]

I want the rolling ball thing (was that Atlasphere?)!

Did hypernova miss the one with the bungee jumping grabbing balls off the cylinder?  I can never remember the names of these things.

[shardian]

I want the rolling ball thing (was that Atlasphere?)!

Yep. Man I always wanted to do that event. I think that is why I liked Fusion frenzy on X-box so much. That is one of the mini games on it.

[ChadTower]

I went to a small carnival once where they had one of those for kids.  I wanted to get in the thing so badly... except it was only 4' tall so that would be more like a tiny little prison cell.

That's actually not a bad idea.  When prisoners act up, put them in an atlasphere small enough that they can't stand up and put it on a conveyor belt for a while.

[JimmyU]

Human Cannonball = Best Event Ever!!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEssSgC4w4w&feature=related[/youtube]

[Jdurg]

What was that game where they were upside down on this strange velcro racetrack and where attached to slots by some harness and they had to outrace the Gladiators to the finish line?  That one was pretty cool.

Also, Double Dare was super sweet on Nickelodeon.  I always wanted to get on that game show.  Kind of ironic that Marc Summers who openly admits to having pretty bad OCD, was the host of one of the messiest shows on earth. 

Time for a physical challenge!!!!   (gotta wash my hands, gotta wash my hands, gotta wash my hands).

[ChadTower]

Also, Double Dare was super sweet on Nickelodeon.  I always wanted to get on that game show. 

Me too.  Badly. 

[Howard_Casto]

I went to a small carnival once where they had one of those for kids.  I wanted to get in the thing so badly... except it was only 4' tall so that would be more like a tiny little prison cell.

That's actually not a bad idea.  When prisoners act up, put them in an atlasphere small enough that they can't stand up and put it on a conveyor belt for a while.

Wasn't that the plot for the running man?

[ChadTower]

I thought Running Man was where they deemed a guy an "enemy of the state" and then sent killers to hunt him as a reality tv show?

[Samstag]

Wasn't that the plot for the running man?

You must be thinking of another movie.  Running Man didn't have a plot.

[shardian]

Wasn't that the plot for the running man?

You must be thinking of another movie.  Running Man didn't have a plot.

I loved that movie as a kid. Now that I have read the REAL Steven King story, that movie sucks. I wish they would remake it as originally envisioned. It could be a KICK ASS movie - of course they would have to change the ending though due to the airplane thing.

[hypernova]

Heh, I remembered Atlasphere as I was writing, but forgot it when I was listing.

I mentioned the upside down pyramid.  That's the one with bungee cords and balls.

I remember the upside down track.

I'm looking these up.

So we have:

Atlasphere
Human Cannonball
Whiplash (a glad and contestant grab a "bone" and try to yank it from each other, or the cont. gets the glad out of the ring while holding it.)
Breakthrough and Conquer (the football thing with a wrestling match afterwards.
Sky Track (upside down race)
Swingshot (pyramid, balls, bungee)
Huh....what do ya know.  Maze (just like it sounds)
Tug of War
Snapback-this is listed on the wiki, but there's no video on youtube of it that I've found.  I've found keywords associated with it...bungee cords.  Was this one where they ran with a bungee attached?  I can't remember the object of the game if it was.

[xar256]

Snapback-this is listed on the wiki, but there's no video on youtube of it that I've found.  I've found keywords associated with it...bungee cords.  Was this one where they ran with a bungee attached?  I can't remember the object of the game if it was.

I think I remember that one.  Basically the contestant and a Gladiator were each hooked up to a bungee cord that was tied to a wall.  At the whistle both people ran as far as they could and stick a marker to the marker wall before they were "Snapped Back". 

[Cakemeister]

Heh, I remembered Atlasphere as I was writing, but forgot it when I was listing.

I mentioned the upside down pyramid.  That's the one with bungee cords and balls.

I remember the upside down track.

I'm looking these up.

So we have:

Atlasphere
Human Cannonball
Whiplash (a glad and contestant grab a "bone" and try to yank it from each other, or the cont. gets the glad out of the ring while holding it.)
Breakthrough and Conquer (the football thing with a wrestling match afterwards.
Sky Track (upside down race)
Swingshot (pyramid, balls, bungee)
Huh....what do ya know.  Maze (just like it sounds)
Tug of War
Snapback-this is listed on the wiki, but there's no video on youtube of it that I've found.  I've found keywords associated with it...bungee cords.  Was this one where they ran with a bungee attached?  I can't remember the object of the game if it was.

Are you making a list? Don't forget Assault, the wall climbing event, the rings, the eliminator, I'm sure there are others I'm forgetting.

[hulkster]

i for one thought the new AG.....SUCKS!  im obviously a huge hulk hogan fan, and he did alright....but the show sucks horribly.  they took the olympic feel out of the events, and so much of it looks staged.  i watched the first episode, but ill never watch another. 

[shardian]

I never liked human canonball. Wow, I swung on a rope and hope the gladiator screws up. Yep, that was a real skilled event there.

[Howard_Casto]

i for one thought the new AG.....SUCKS!  im obviously a huge hulk hogan fan, and he did alright....but the show sucks horribly.  they took the olympic feel out of the events, and so much of it looks staged.  i watched the first episode, but ill never watch another. 

Maybe you have yoru nostalgia glasses on, but the original Ag was incredibly cheesy as well.  There wasn't any "olympic quality" to be had back then either, but you were young at the time so you probably didn't notice.

[hulkster]

i for one thought the new AG.....SUCKS!  im obviously a huge hulk hogan fan, and he did alright....but the show sucks horribly.  they took the olympic feel out of the events, and so much of it looks staged.  i watched the first episode, but ill never watch another. 

Maybe you have yoru nostalgia glasses on, but the original Ag was incredibly cheesy as well.  There wasn't any "olympic quality" to be had back then either, but you were young at the time so you probably didn't notice.

well yeah, i remember thinking xmen the cartoon was the greatest cartoon ever created, but when i watched it recently, it wasnt as "awesome" as i remembered.  still, the old AG concentrated more on the event than where the contenders had for breakfast during the interviews.  the camera shots are too quick in the new one, and the fake drama just blows.

[Jdurg]

i for one thought the new AG.....SUCKS!  im obviously a huge hulk hogan fan, and he did alright....but the show sucks horribly.  they took the olympic feel out of the events, and so much of it looks staged.  i watched the first episode, but ill never watch another. 

Maybe you have yoru nostalgia glasses on, but the original Ag was incredibly cheesy as well.  There wasn't any "olympic quality" to be had back then either, but you were young at the time so you probably didn't notice.

Sadly, I think that is pretty true.  I LOVED the original American Gladiators, but less so as the series went on.  Thinking about it now, it's probably because I was getting older and that, in it of itself, is kind of depressing.  There is something about this new version that seems really different from the older version and yet I can't seem to put my finger on it.  As time goes on, I'm beginning to think that it's because I'm just getting older and don't have the same view on life and my surroundings as I did when I was 12 years old. 

[hulkster]

i for one thought the new AG.....SUCKS!  im obviously a huge hulk hogan fan, and he did alright....but the show sucks horribly.  they took the olympic feel out of the events, and so much of it looks staged.  i watched the first episode, but ill never watch another. 

Maybe you have yoru nostalgia glasses on, but the original Ag was incredibly cheesy as well.  There wasn't any "olympic quality" to be had back then either, but you were young at the time so you probably didn't notice.

Sadly, I think that is pretty true.  I LOVED the original American Gladiators, but less so as the series went on.  Thinking about it now, it's probably because I was getting older and that, in it of itself, is kind of depressing.  There is something about this new version that seems really different from the older version and yet I can't seem to put my finger on it.  As time goes on, I'm beginning to think that it's because I'm just getting older and don't have the same view on life and my surroundings as I did when I was 12 years old. 

well im not so sure....i still watch the old AG on espn classic and enjoy it.  yes it was a little cheesy, but the events were very real.  not to say the events now arent real, but it just seems like nbc is really trying to FORCE drama into the show that doesnt need to be forced.  they add dramatic music, the contenders falls look staged and fake, the contenders taunt way too much which serves no purpose.  i dont know, the old one just had an olympic "may the best man/woman win" type of deal that wasnt THAT campy. 

[hypernova]

Heh, I remembered Atlasphere as I was writing, but forgot it when I was listing.

I mentioned the upside down pyramid.  That's the one with bungee cords and balls.

I remember the upside down track.

I'm looking these up.

So we have:

Atlasphere
Human Cannonball
Whiplash (a glad and contestant grab a "bone" and try to yank it from each other, or the cont. gets the glad out of the ring while holding it.)
Breakthrough and Conquer (the football thing with a wrestling match afterwards.
Sky Track (upside down race)
Swingshot (pyramid, balls, bungee)
Huh....what do ya know.  Maze (just like it sounds)
Tug of War
Snapback-this is listed on the wiki, but there's no video on youtube of it that I've found.  I've found keywords associated with it...bungee cords.  Was this one where they ran with a bungee attached?  I can't remember the object of the game if it was.

Are you making a list? Don't forget Assault, the wall climbing event, the rings, the eliminator, I'm sure there are others I'm forgetting.

Already did in a previous post.  These were the ones we couldn't think of the name, or just downright forgot about.

[Jdurg]

Sadly, it looks as if NBC told ESPN that they no longer have the rights to show the old American Gladiators shows.  Ever since the new version came on the air, ESPN Clasic quit showing the classic, older series.  So this gives me one more ultimate reason to hate the new series.   

[shardian]

Who all is still watching? We look forward to it every week, the wife is a bigger fan than I am I think. Wolf is a riot to watch. They should just put him in every event...which they almost did last night.

Anyways, There is no way Evan can lose in the finals. It doesn't even matter if the other guy has a 20 second head start. The guy is a freak. I thought he was gonna have a heart attack on the show during his interviews. I didn't catch a word he said they came so fast. He so totally has to be hopped up on something. 1:23 in the eliminator? Good Lord!

Oh and if you haven't watched the show, catch this clip of pwnage. You have to be in super shape to even finish the eliminator.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Qo_rGV1AxE[/youtube]

[Jdurg]

I also see that ESPN Classic is showing American Gladiators again like they normally did.  Phew!  I thought NBC told them they couldn't play it anymore.  Thank god that's not the case.  Just two or three weeks of no AG!

[AtomSmasher]

I don't think the new AG wasn't doing too well since last week they moved it to 10pm and from the looks of the leader board they also skipped a whole bunch of episodes in order to quickly get to the finals.  Although this week they did move it back to 8pm, so who knows.

[Jdurg]

Frankly, I don't consider "American Gladiators" to be a primetime show.  Move it to Saturday Afternoon at like 1:00 or 2:00 when people are more apt to watch it.  When the original was on, I don't remember it being shown on Primetime Television.  I always remember watching it after Saturday Morning Cartoons were over.   

[ChadTower]

Frankly, I don't consider "American Gladiators" to be a primetime show. 

It is when you drop the 7 figures it costs to get Hulk Hogan to host.  He doesn't do anything cheap.

[shardian]

I don't think the new AG wasn't doing too well since last week they moved it to 10pm and from the looks of the leader board they also skipped a whole bunch of episodes in order to quickly get to the finals.  Although this week they did move it back to 8pm, so who knows.

Umm...what? Where are you located? The show was on at 8 as usual last week, and they haven't skipped any episodes.

[AtomSmasher]

I don't think the new AG wasn't doing too well since last week they moved it to 10pm and from the looks of the leader board they also skipped a whole bunch of episodes in order to quickly get to the finals.  Although this week they did move it back to 8pm, so who knows.

Umm...what? Where are you located? The show was on at 8 as usual last week, and they haven't skipped any episodes.

I'm near Los Angeles, California and it was definitely on at 10pm for me.  I almost made a comment about it here last week, but since this thread was drifting into obscurity I thought that no one else was still watching it.  Also, the top scores on the leader boards suddenly jumped way up, which tells me they skipped some episodes.  It is possible I'm wrong about that, but I remembered two weeks ago a women had finished the eliminator with a time faster then all but one of the men, and then last week all but one of the men had times faster then all of the women.   

[shardian]

Must be a West Coast thing then. Does the show normally air at 8pm for you in CA? If so, then that explains why it was bumped to 10. The President thing started at 9pm here, and lasted for a good while.

Still, you shouldn't be missing episodes. The last few episodes were set up so that the highest times were bumped from the top 4, which is why the mens board got low. There were three guys who posted crazy fast eliminator times. The last few women winners stunk it up, so even though they won they went home. Either way, all of the episodes are online at nbc.com
Take a look thru them and see if you are indeed missing some eps.

[AtomSmasher]

Must be a West Coast thing then. Does the show normally air at 8pm for you in CA? If so, then that explains why it was bumped to 10. The President thing started at 9pm here, and lasted for a good while.

Still, you shouldn't be missing episodes. The last few episodes were set up so that the highest times were bumped from the top 4, which is why the mens board got low. There were three guys who posted crazy fast eliminator times. The last few women winners stunk it up, so even though they won they went home. Either way, all of the episodes are online at nbc.com
Take a look thru them and see if you are indeed missing some eps.

Ya, the late start could of just been a west coast thing.  I understand how the top board works, but it shouldn't have changed from the end of one show to the beginning of the next, and especially shouldn't have changed that much.  I'd also like to point out that there were only 5 episodes before the semifinals aired.  (Jan. 6, 7, 14, 21, and 28). That means there was a total of 5 winners (per gender), which then means there would of only been one winner who didn't make it to the top 4.  I dunno, seems like they skipped a bunch of episodes to me.

[shardian]

The first episode was a double episode - there were 2 male and 2 female winners. There were then 2 "elimination" episodes at the end before the semi's. You have seen them all. Pretty short season huh?

[AtomSmasher]

The first episode was a double episode - there were 2 male and 2 female winners. There were then 2 "elimination" episodes at the end before the semi's. You have seen them all. Pretty short season huh?

I never said I saw them all.  I missed the first episode, didn't feel like watching the semi's last night, and I think I also missed one in the middle.  It's one of those shows I only watch if nothing else is on.  But still, it sounds like there were only 6 winners per gender total (unless the 2 elimination ones your talking about happened last night before the semifinals, which would make it 8 winners total, still not very many, but at least believable for a full season)  and it still doesn't explain how the leader board significantly changed from the end of one episode to the beginning of the next 

It looks like you were right about the presidential speech being the reason it was pushed to 10pm, it wasn't because of bad ratings like I thought.  A quick check online and I see that the show is actually getting decent ratings and is even signed up for a season 2, so it looks like my assumptions about the bad ratings were wrong.  I still think they skipped a couple episodes, but it doesn't really matter since I have no proof one way or the other.

[hulkster]

i cant believe the ratings are good for this show.  its gotta be staged, and even if it isnt, they totally botched the show.  all they needed to do was to take the old formula, get a new set, throw in some new events and boom...done.  id season pass on my dvr, and be totally content.  but NO....they had to make it all dramatic and crap.