American Gladiators (2008 TV series)

Infobox Television
show_name = American Gladiators


caption = The 2008 "American Gladiators" logo.
genre = Sports/Sports entertainment/Game Show
director = J. Rupert Thompson
developer = John Ferraro and Dan Carr
presenter =
starring = Hulk Hogan Laila Ali List of Gladiators
voices =
narrated = Van Earl Wright (play-by-play)
theme_music_composer =
opentheme =
endtheme =
composer =
country = USA
language = English
num_seasons = 2
num_episodes = 21
list_episodes =
executive_producer = John Ferraro
producer = MGM Television (inherited from Goldwyn) Reveille Productions
asst_producer = Dan "Nitro" Clark, coordinating producer
editor =
location = Season 1: Sony Pictures Studios Season 2: Los Angeles Sports Arena
camera = Multicamera setup
runtime = 60, 90, or 120 minutes (includes commercials)
network = NBC
picture_format = 1080i (HDTV)
audio_format = Stereo
first_run =
first_aired = January 6, 2008
last_aired = present
preceded_by = "American Gladiators" (1989-1996)
followed_by =
related =
website = http://www.nbc.com/American_Gladiators/
imdb_id = 1092447
tv_com_id = 74956

"American Gladiators" is an American competition TV show airing on NBC and Citytv in Canada. Hosted by Hulk Hogan and Laila Ali, [cite news|url=http://www.gladiatorszone.co.uk/international/america/newseries.php|title="Laila Ali and Hulk Hogan are confirmed as new presenters of 'American Gladiators'"|accessdate=2007-10-31|date=2007-10-31|publisher=Gladiators Zone (UK site)] the show matches amateur athletes against each other and the show's own "gladiators" in contests of strength, agility, and endurance. It is a remake of the original series of the same name which ran from 1989-1996, with elements of the UK version of the 1990s. The show is refereed by Al Kaplon, a former American League umpire, who can also be seen as the referee in "". [ [http://www.alkaplon.com/index.html Al Kaplon's website] ] Play-by-play narration is handled by Van Earl Wright.

Season 1 was taped at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, California. [cite web |url=http://www.nbc.com/American_Gladiators/about/index.shtml|title=American Gladiators| accessdate=2008-01-08] Beginning with Season 2, the show moved to the Los Angeles Sports Arena. It is produced by Reveille Productions and MGM Television.

"American Gladiators" premiered on Sunday, January 6, 2008; an average of 12 million people watched the two-hour premiere. [cite web |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/08/arts/08arts-STRONGDEBUTF_BRF.html?ref=arts|title=Strong Debut for Gladiators| accessdate=2008-01-08|last=Toff|first=Benjamin|date=2008-01-08|publisher=New York Times] All other Season 1 episodes aired Mondays at 8:00 ET/PT, [cite news| url=http://www.zap2it.com/tv/news/zap-nbcschedule-mediumpremieredate,0,2251811.story|title="NBC Slots 'Medium,' Firms Up Schedule"|publisher=Zap2It|date=2007-12-07|accessdate=2007-12-07] except for the finale, which aired Sunday February 17, 2008 at 7:00 ET/PT. Season 2 premiered May 12, 2008, on NBC, with a two-hour episode. [cite web |url=http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117981858.html?categoryId=1417&cs=1|title=American Gladiators Season 2|accessdate=2008-03-06] The two-hour Season 2 finale aired on August 4, 2008 at 8:00 ET/PT. While the final two-hour episode of Season 1 was devoted entirely to the finals, the Season 2 finale consisted of the third semifinal round followed by the finals.

In April 2008, before Season 2 began airing, NBC announced tentative plans to bring "American Gladiators" back for a third season in the summer of 2009. [ [http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117983342.html?categoryid=1060&cs=1 Full NBC schedule takes shape] ]

In September 2008, Season 1 of "American Gladiators" begain airing on Sky One in the United Kingdom.

Format

Season 1 of the revival featured 24 contenders (12 male, 12 female), while Season 2 had 40 contenders (20 male, 20 female). Men and women compete in separate tournaments, with two men and two women competing in each episode. In each episode, contenders take part in several events against the Gladiators, trying to earn as many points as possible before the final event, the Eliminator. Each point separating the contenders translates into a half-second advantage for the leader (or a half-second handicap for the trailing contender). For Season 1, preliminary round matches consisted of four events plus the Eliminator; semifinals and finals matches were extended to five events plus the Eliminator (by comparison, the original series had either six or seven events plus the Eliminator). The first two preliminary matches of Season 2 had four events plus the Eliminator. All other rounds had six events plus the Eliminator. For 90-minute episodes, all the events were shown in their entirety, but for 60-minute episodes, two events for each gender were shown only in brief "recap" segments; those events can be viewed in their entirety on the NBC website.

In Season 1, the four male contenders and the four female contenders who won their respective preliminary matches with the fastest Eliminator times advanced to the semifinals; the winners of the two semifinals matches competed in the finals. In Season 2, the top six contenders of each gender advanced to the semifinals; after three semifinal matches, the two winning contenders of each gender with the fastest Eliminator times advanced to the finals.

The grand prize in Season 1 was $100,000, a 2008 Toyota Sequoia, and the right to become a Gladiator for Season 2. The cash prize and car remained the same in Season 2, but there was no explicit mention of the contenders becoming Gladiators.

History

After discussions with MGM, NBC confirmed in August 2007 that a revival would be produced by Reveille Productions and MGM Television for a mid-season debut.cite web|url=http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117970702.html?categoryid=14&cs=1|title=NBC pumps up for 'Gladiators' redo|accessdate=2008-01-10] Shortly thereafter, NBC announced a casting call on its website. [ [http://www.nbc.com/Casting/#gladiators NBC.com: "American Gladiators" casting] ] The first ad for the revival aired during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on November 22, 2007. Although some analysts believe that the show was revived in response to talks of an upcoming WGA strike, which was ongoing at the time of AG's premier, evidence of this is inconclusive. [cite web|url=http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/01/who-needs-writers-nbc-has-american-gladiators.html|title=Who Needs Writers? NBC Has 'American Gladiators'|accessdate=2008-01-10]

Gladiators

Female Gladiators

eason 1

eason 2

Female bracket

Male bracket

The numbers in parentheses indicate the ranking based on the Eliminator time from the previous round.
fnb|†Replaced the original Contender. Key suffered an ankle injury during Pyramid; Coats further aggravated his dislocated finger during the semifinal that he suffered in the Preliminaries, and was replaced by Reilly, the fastest non-qualifying winner.
fnb|1Contender was unable to finish the Eliminator.
fnb|2Davis' time was incorrectly listed as 9:42 on the post-game chart after Round 3 in the Preliminaries, and on the scoreboard page on the official website; the time listed is the time announced on-air.
fnb|3 During Round 1 in the Semi-Finals, both contenders' scores were incorrectly displayed during the Atlasphere event. The on-screen display for both contenders showed four points, but the final result was Davidson with two and Warren with zero.

pecial episodes

Season 2 featured a number of "theme" episodes. These episodes were "not" stand-alone episodes.

Episode 2: Both competitions featured cops who work together: Melvin Davis and David Moore work in the Chicago Police Department, while Abbe Dorn and Vicki Ferarri are partners working in Denver.

Episode 4: This episode was dedicated to the movie " The Incredible Hulk." Special "Hulk" themed elements to the show included: green lighting in the rafters and the pool; the use of green scoring balls in Powerball (one contender used solid green balls, the other used green and black balls); Gauntlet power pads being replaced by "Hulk Hands"; and Titan competing in Joust covered in green body paint.

Episode 5: Twin sisters Clinessa Burch and Lillian Thomassen competed against one another.

Episode 6: Two married couples—Jeff and Ally Davidson, and Aaron Simpson and Kendra Sirignano—competed (individually).

Episode 7: All four contestants had lost 50 or more pounds prior to competing on the show.

Episode 8: The female competition was called "The Battle of the Ages" as it pitted the youngest contender of the season, Annie Castellano, age 20, against the oldest contender ever on the show, Yoko Ohigashi, age 52.

ee also

*American Gladiators

References

External links

* [http://www.nbc.com/American_Gladiators/ Official American Gladiators Site (NBC)]
* [http://www.citytv.com/micro/americangladiators/ Canadian Official Site (Citytv)]
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* [http://www.americangladiators.com/ MGM American Gladiators Site]
* [http://www.americangladiatorszone.com American Gladiators Zone]
* [http://www.thenewglads.com American Gladiators Domain]
* [http://www.CorinnedeGroot.com Panther's website]