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American Gladiators feedback
By Zach Arnold | January 7, 2008
Last night’s show on NBC is getting panned in both broadsheet and blogger media circles (Awful Announcing). It’s interesting to read the reaction amongst the diehard sports fans (who seemingly take the offensiveness of AG as a personal insult).
It was amusing to watch Gina Carano defend her spot on the Pyramid by pulling guard and dragging her opponent back to the ground. The promo they showed of her beating up a contestant in the joust was entertaining as well.
Topics: Media, Pro Elite, Zach Arnold | 23 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
I watched about 10 minutes of it and then turned it off. I guess I was expecting and upgrade from the 1990’s version. Beyond the graphics and sets, it was basically the same show. Hogan came off poorly during the interviews. Ali is like Frank Mir interviewing the Featherweights… It just looks weird.
Likely will not be watching that show again.
I loved the original one as a kid. But the new one fucking sucks shit. The camera angles and the background music annoyed the shit out of me. It makes it look like another reality TV show or Dog Eat Dog. The original one made it look like an actual sporting event at least. Well except for season 1.
Funny thing when TOA did the little Balki Bartokomous song and dance.
I threw in a KOTC video after 15 minutes
New AG = Awful Game
Trapped in a hotel again, so I watched a few minutes of it, then switched over to a show on dwarfism.
Pretty awful stuff.
Yeah, Carano was shown during the promo video and interview with ESPN sinking hooks in on opponents from their backs as well, using MMA skills on the Pyramid.
Overall, AG was pretty terrible though.
Toa was doing the Haka, for the record.
I liked it for the most part, though the insanley fast camera switching and the sandbox on “assualt” annoyed the shit out of me.
Then again, I always loved the cheesiness of the original.
The ratings will determine the final verdict, as always.
i’m glad just to see the show back on, at least it entertains. the interviews sounded so canned, the enthusiasm from the contestants sounded so fake. i thought Carano could have done better tho
I didn’t have high hopes for it when I heard it was coming back, yet it still managed to disappoint me.
The Gladiators have no personality. All they did was growl or pose. They got owned by most of the contestants.
The contestants were lame. Their promos reminded me of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.
Hulk and Laila were terrible.
A sandbox? A smokescreen? A wall of fire? Please.
The fat ref is the real star of the show. He doesn’t allow any chicanery. I loved when he stopped the gauntlet when the old contestestant was “giving the gladiators the business”.
It depends on what you’re looking for as to how you view AG. If you want serious athletic competition, look elsewhere. If you want a silly, brainless hour of sports entertainment, heavy on the cheese, then AG could be for you. I personally enjoyed it, though I agree that Hogan and Ali were horrible hosts. I did love the color commentator though, especially when he mocked the contestants.
It was bad but not that bad. I was pretty pumped for it’s return. The first show was decent, I was pretty into it but when it came time for the second hour I was already sick of it. The reruns on ESPN Classic are much better. It just doesn’t have the same feel that it used to. The constant interviews are annoying and the play-by-play guy is terrible.
Meltzer is reporting it got a 6.8 rating with the final quarter being the highest.
The third or 4th week will be the telling sign of how well this thing does.
I wouldn’t look too much into the last quarter being the highest rated hour.
60 Minutes ran the Roger Clemens story yesterday. After that was over, a lot of people on the East Coast likely started to channel surf, adding to the ratings of AG.
Without the theme music of the original it will remain an empty husk destined for failure.
Carano flat knocked some chick out on the Joust tonight, lol.
Why do Americans feel the need to put “American” at the start of everything? Would nobody watch it if it was just called “Gladiators”, like it is in every other country in the world? Bizzare.
I saw that too Leland. Her legs went stiff as she was falling off of the platform.
Here is video proof that the show is RIGGED–Not Kidding!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBpODNPAZSU
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s cousin Tanoai Reed is “Toa.”
American Gladiators looks staged to me. Some person on Yahoo Answers said that AG can’t be fixed because it’s illegal to fix a show when there’s prize money involved. This is what happened in the 1950s with game shows and when the producers got busted, there were major repercussions. However in WWE they had story lines were they gave out prize money to wrestlers for “winning matches” too. If the WWE can pretend to give out prize money, I don’t see why AG wouldn’t.
American Gladiators, what kind of a moron would ever want to be on this show as a contestant. The gladiators out weight the contestants by at less 50 pounds. What is the compensation for permanent injury, nothing. Whats the payoff, very little. The gladiators, not a bad job for being an animal on T.V. physically trying to hurt someone. Lose the gladiators and have contestant vs contestant, same weight class. Oh hell get this crap off the T.V, why make these monsters famous. If they want 10 minutes of fame, lets see how tough they are in mma fighting or boxing. My last comment on this subject because I will not give the shows producers of my viewing interest.