# American Gladiators to return? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 10, 2007, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-gladiators-to-return/415162 "2007-08-10T18:38:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Improv\_Geek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b3f665/32.png) [@Improv\_Geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Improv_Geek)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2007, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-gladiators-to-return/415162/1 "2007-08-10T18:38:04Z")
The AG Wikipedia page features a mention that NBC is [possibly going to revive](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Gladiators#2007_revival) the show! I realize this is probably just rumor, but I’ve done my part and emailed NBC saying how much I want the show to return. Please please please TV gods, let this be true. I’ll never ask for another tv show. Pwomise! – IG ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2007, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-gladiators-to-return/415162/2 "2007-08-10T18:42:39Z")
I was just too far ahead of its time. ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2007, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-gladiators-to-return/415162/3 "2007-08-10T21:19:06Z")
[QUOTE=Shagnasty] I was just too far ahead of its time. [/QUOTE] I think I was was too. ---
**Author:** ![Improv\_Geek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b3f665/32.png) [@Improv\_Geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Improv_Geek)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2007, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-gladiators-to-return/415162/4 "2007-08-10T21:54:32Z")
Alright it’s apparently not complete rumor. Some googling turns this up from the AOL Fanhouse blog, taking an excerpt from an NBC press release: > [@](#): > > One show that’s changing the definition of the word “future” as it relates to Mr. Silverman is “American Gladiators,” the Reveille-owned cavalcade of well-oiled, padded combatants that might soon reappear on NBC after NFL football. – IG ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2007, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-gladiators-to-return/415162/5 "2007-08-10T22:11:37Z")
Huh? “…on NBC after NFL football”? Hope you’ve either got DVR or you’re ok with staying up late. The only NFL football on NBC is the Sunday night game, which usually wraps up around 11:30pm or so. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Hildo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@Johnny\_Hildo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Hildo)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2007, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-gladiators-to-return/415162/6 "2007-08-10T23:24:16Z")
[QUOTE=Improv Geek] The AG Wikipedia page features a mention that NBC is [possibly going to revive](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Gladiators#2007_revival) the show! I realize this is probably just rumor, but I’ve done my part and emailed NBC saying how much I want the show to return. Please please please TV gods, let this be true. I’ll never ask for another tv show. Pwomise! [/QUOTE] So the TV gods give you the choice to bring back any one show in the history of television and you pick the show where people beat on each other with giant Q-tips? Leave a lot of unresolved questions for you, did it? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Hockey\_Monkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a183cd/32.png) [@Hockey\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hockey_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2007, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-gladiators-to-return/415162/7 "2007-08-11T00:27:07Z")
I recently started watching the old eps again on ESPN Classic. I loved this show when it originally aired and now I am suprised to find that I still love it. I hope if they bring it back it will be very similar to the old one. Anybody else have Gladiator crushes? Anybody? ---
**Author:** ![Improv\_Geek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b3f665/32.png) [@Improv\_Geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Improv_Geek)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2007, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-gladiators-to-return/415162/8 "2007-08-11T01:06:59Z")
As a kid I wanted to be a gladiator, I even had my name picked out: Eclipse. Hal, yeah after Sunday football is not anywhere close to good, but it’s aimed at the right market at least. And if they know going into it that there will be DVRs then hopefully they’ll plan for it and find some way to work around it. Johnny Hildo, yeah, I do want the show back. The show was a lot more than just the pugel stick fights. It was competition and hokey fun. It was a show I enjoyed a lot. – IG ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2007, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-gladiators-to-return/415162/9 "2007-08-11T01:39:23Z")
American Gladiators was one of my guilty pleasures as well. If it comes back, I’ll watch it. ---
**Author:** ![dgrdfd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb8c5e/32.png) [@dgrdfd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dgrdfd)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2007, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-gladiators-to-return/415162/10 "2007-08-11T01:48:10Z")
I will watch it too. I really think I could compete on the show. Anyone remember that one contestant they had play the gladiators named “Two Scoops” because he always ate Raisin Bran for breakfast? I don’t know why he stands out in my head, but he’s the only contestant I can really remember. ---
**Author:** ![Kid\_A\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Kid\_A\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kid_A_1)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2007, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-gladiators-to-return/415162/11 "2007-08-11T02:30:15Z")
Wesley “Two Scoops” Berry My friends and I still talk about how he used to push his car to work in the morning to stay in shape. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2007, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-gladiators-to-return/415162/12 "2007-08-11T03:34:10Z")
Oh, I used to love this show. It was on at around the same time as some other dumb fake sports shows like Roller Jam and I never missed it until the syndication times kept getting changed around like every other week. Nitro was totally hot and he had the best first-season costume, with the bandolier-style straps across the chest. Laser and Turbo were pretty tasty too. It started kind of going downhill when they started events like Sky Track. They reran on USA or someplace around five years ago. I used to put it on the TV in the exercise room at work while I worked out over my lunch hour. I’ve tried watching it a couple of times on ESPN Classic but it’s been so boring. The pace is so slow. There’s like 3 minutes of intro then 45 seconds of event then 2 minutes of wrap-up. I’d give it a shot, though, if they started in with new ones. ---
**Author:** ![I\_m\_No\_Saint](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/977dab/32.png) [@I\_m\_No\_Saint](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_m_No_Saint)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2007, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-gladiators-to-return/415162/13 "2007-08-11T04:37:57Z")
Didn’t some cable company try this a few years ago with a knock-off called Battledome or something along those lines? It didn’t work so well for them, from what I recall. ---
**Author:** ![Cyberhwk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7993a0/32.png) [@Cyberhwk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyberhwk)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2007, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-gladiators-to-return/415162/14 "2007-08-11T05:15:09Z")
God I loved this show. We’d always make it a point to get an episode in every Saturday. My sister and I always used to play “Assault” with nerf balls; one sitting on my bed with my trash can as the “target,” the other ducking in and out of hall doorways trying to hit it with a tennis ball. It was great fun. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2007, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-gladiators-to-return/415162/15 "2007-08-11T05:41:46Z")
Truly great TV: Stupid, violent, and so easy to follow even a drunk could do it. At lunch the guys were discussing Chicago Bears in the Football Hall of Fame. Since I know little about football but like to hear my own voice, I remarked that i saw Mike Adamle doing the sports on our NBC outlet. “Yeah, he’s been doing that for a couple years. And he’ll never be in the HOF.” Lame excuses: All I know about Mike Adamle is that he was once a Bear, he used to host _American Gladiators_, and my wife usually watches ABC’s local news. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2007, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-gladiators-to-return/415162/16 "2007-08-11T15:01:03Z")
[QUOTE=I’m No Saint] Didn’t some cable company try this a few years ago with a knock-off called Battledome or something along those lines? It didn’t work so well for them, from what I recall. [/QUOTE] Battledome tried to combine AG with professional wrestling. Rather than just doing the psedo-athletic competition, the “Warriors” and their managers had ongoing backstage drama as well as competition amognst themselves to be the Top Warrior or something. It lasted a couple of seasons but, again, was done in by erratic scheduling. I liked it. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2007, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-gladiators-to-return/415162/17 "2007-08-11T15:14:51Z")
I once got Zapp’s autograph. But I don’t know why. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2007, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-gladiators-to-return/415162/18 "2007-08-11T15:23:39Z")
So will they go back to the first-season standard of having the judges dress like medieval executioners? ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2007, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-gladiators-to-return/415162/19 "2007-08-11T15:45:01Z")
[QUOTE=friedo] I once got Zapp’s autograph. But I don’t know why. [/QUOTE] Because that’s Raye Hollitt - yum! ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2007, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-gladiators-to-return/415162/20 "2007-08-11T18:53:04Z")
Maybe with our empathy towards contestants dulled by shows like Fear Factor perhaps we could make this newer version more hardcore. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/american-gladiators-to-return/415162.md?page=2)