American Gladiators

Show Summary

Aired: 1989 - 1996
Show Type: Live Action
Country of Origin: US

4 contenders (2 male, 2 female) compete in games of physical strength against the "Gladiators" - very athletic body builders and/or athletes who attempt to halt the contestants from scoring points in any of the competitions.

The Gladiators were as follows:

Lazer, Malibu,Turbo, Hawk, Ice, Storm, Blaze, Siren, Jazz, Nitro, Electra.

Some of the games include The Wall, Assault, Hang Tough, Joust, Human Cannonball, Atlasphere, and Breakthrough & Conquer. The final game was The Eliminator, a giant obstacle course which the two remaining contenders competed against each other in.

When the show first premiered it was a relatively low-budget show with only 6 active gladiators (Gemini, Nitro and Malibu for the men and Zap, Lace and Sunny for the women). Mike Adamle hosted the show along with Joe Theismann. The original events were Powerball, the Joust, Human Cannonball, Breakthrough and Conquer, Assault, the Eliminator, and an event referred to as "Swingshot" that was only played by the women and was never shown on the show. By the second half of Season 1 (often referred to as Season 1b), the show had a bigger soundstage to shoot on and was much higher budget. There was also a 7th event, The Wall. Theismann was gone, replaced with Todd Christensen. Gladiators came and went throughout the run of the show. Malibu was gone after the first half of season 1 (although he did return for a live tour a couple of years later), along with Sunny (who injured her ankle in an unusual setup in Breakthrough and Conquer involving a "raised Conquer ring"). Gold replaced Sunny, Laser replaced Malibu, and Blaze and Titan also joined the show.
Season 2 saw the introduction of Atlasphere and Hang Tough to the show (2nd half of the season only), in addition to 5 new gladiatiors including Ice, Diamond, Thunder, and Turbo. Zap took the season off for materity leave. Todd Christensen was replaced on the show before the season started by Larry Czonka.
Season 3 saw The Maze enter the show, along with the proper full introduction of Swingshot. Human Cannonball did not appear during this season. There seemed to be a merry-go-round of gladiators due to injuries.
Season 4 started with few experienced gladiators since many of them had left the show after Season 3. In addition, a group of part-time gladiators also made appearances. This is why this season had the highest scores by contenders in the post-scored Eliminator era (Season 3 onwards). It helped that the show expanded to 8 events each show instead of 7. A new gimmick, "Crunch Time" was added. This moniker was given to Event 7 right before the Eliminator. New events included Super Powerball (a revised version of Powerball with only 2 gladiators and 3 scoring cylinders as opposed to 3 and 5 (all playings of which occurred in Crunch Time)), and Skytrack. Human Cannonball returned for the 4th season, but was permanently taken off the show after the season concluded, along with The Maze.
Season 5 saw a complete renovation of the entire set and a new theme for the series, along with the addition of 4 new events (Whiplash, Pyramid, Tug-o-War, and Gauntlet). In addition, 2 new gladiators (Hawk and Jazz) joined the show and remained for the rest of the show's run. Gladiators Tank, Rebel and Dallas also made rare on-air appearances during this season. Larry Czonka was replaced on the show by Lisa Malosky, who also was a sideline reporter during NBA games at the time.

Season 6 saw the return of Nitro to the show and the addition of the Snapback event, which was not well liked. It seemed to replace The Wall in the rotation, but The Wall returned before the season was over. The show reverted back to a 7 event competition this season, but with a new twist of certain events being played only by the men or only by the women. This was often done in a predictable pattern. Event 1 was for both genders, while 2 and 3 were split events. Events 4 and sometimes 5 were for both genders while event 6 ("Crunch Time") was a split event (Typically, one gender would do Gauntlet, while the other would do the Joust). The Eliminator (Event 7) was obviously for both genders.

Season 7 saw a slight retooling of the set and theme, and a shortening of the season (14 episodes, only the first 9 of which were the actual competition) for what turned out to be the final season of the show. Lisa Malosky was replaced in the booth by Nitro (Dan Clark), who had "retired" from being a gladiator at the end of the previous season.

American Gladiators

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