American Gladiators is returning in 2008!

[Myst]

Well, the Australian version of Gladiators has just started up again too. Obviously, we lose a lot out to the American version - your games sound similar, but have added flair (fire? I want fire!).

The new version, however, is quite poor. Especially compared to the old one which I loved to death. The games are about the same, but the eliminator has been changed. No hand-cycle thing for the guys this time, and no paper wall for them to jump through at the end. No rolling logs for them to navigate either.

Also, the Gladiators themselves suck. Sure, they're strong physically, but in order to be able to carry on the persona that they've been given, they need to be able to act too. They can't.

Finally, the ref seems a bit weak. "Gladiator, are you ready?" is surprisingly less entertaining when the referee doesn't have a booming voice. It loses its whole effect, and that disappoints me.

Still, I'll likely continue to watch it, just to relive my childhood. Perhaps it was always like this, but my memories have distorted the reality.

[Rob1981]

The second season of the new American Gladiators is a lot of the same: them talking a good percent, with less focus on the events.


I think it's stupid to see interviews before AND after just about every event. Why not have more action, instead of the repetitive trash-talking?

Each week they've been revealing "new" events and Gladiators. Many of the new events are remakes (or exact copies) of events on the old shows back in the 1980's and 1990's. The new Gladiators haven't been too impressive yet either.

The show is an hour and half, when it should just be one hour. If they cut a lot of the talking, it would work just fine. I guess NBC has nothing better to air. The television schedule is reality and competition shows for several months, due to the regular shows being in reruns now.

My advice: watch the old American Gladiators on ESPN classic if you can. Otherwise, just watch this once in a while.