Just when I think stuff like the Michael Bay Transformers movie threatens to neuralize the best parts of my childhood, ESPN Classic begins airing reruns of American Gladiators.
AG was the quintessential American game show--average Joes and Janes risking life and limb for a modest cash prize. I still maintain that, despite (or perhaps because of) its circus-like atmosphere, it is the most realistic game show ever produced.
It was also the most forgiving, which might be strange to say about a show that forced contestants to scramble up a rock wall while being chased by a freakish Adonis twice their size. But if I'm going to lose a shot at 10K, I'd rather it be because I nearly got my head taken off fighting some dude named "Turbo" with a giant Q-Tip than because I lost some octogenarian's putting contest.
Classic has made the somewhat disappointing decision to air AG from the very beginning, when everything was in the awkward feeling-out stage: back when Joust took place on a single narrow platform, when Joe Theismann was the Tango to Mike Adamle's Cash, when people like this dude haunted the Gladiator "locker room" (where they eventually did put a camera to help advance the show's narrative, mostly involving a Gladiator snarling and launching spittle like in a pro wrestling interview).
It's still worth watching if you've got Classic (7 PM weekdays, 9 AM weekends), and it will only get better when they reach the episodes where AG really started hitting its stride--the deadly-serious color commentary of Larry Csonka, the dream team of Nitro and Laser, and (good God) the terrifying hamster-ball demolition derby called Atlasphere.
Unfortunately, there's no good video of the 'Sphere, so here's some footage of my other personal favorite: Breakthrough and Conquer. The testosterone meter is off the charts here--Quick! Score a touchdown! Done? Good. NOW WRESTLE THIS GUY!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment