The premiere episode is finally over and I can honestly say it was an awesome premiere of an old favorite but it’s not without some gripes as I will explain in a later post.  This post will just be a recap of the action for those who were not by the tube.
Well I guess I should start from the begining when the show came on and NBC showed clips of previous Amercian Gladiator shows of the 90’s. After those clips ended they went into previews of the new American Gladiators along with interviews with some of the contendors in street clothes.
After all the interviews were done then came time to meet the hosts and Hulk Hogan made his grand entrance like a pop star through a hidden door that raises him up through the stage with smoke all around, Laila Ali’s entrance was exactly the same. After both host’s are introduced they go through the pre-show details about what the show entails along with what the contenders will win. Now comes the time when Hulk Hogan introduces all the Gladiators in no certain order.
With all the Gladiators introduced the show is set to begin with the female contendors introduced first. Jesse Adams (Foster) was introduced first along with Koya Webb before their first event Powerball.
Females 1st Event (Powerball) - The three gladiators going up against them in Powerball are Stealth, Venom and Siren. Koya ends up winning Powerball 6-2 over Jesse Adams (Foster) but Jesse injurs her knee pretty bad when Stealth tackles her to the ground. Jesse could not finish the event and was forced to withdraw from the competition. Waiting behind the scenes was her replacement Venus Ramos, a rehabilitation doctor who inherates Jesse’s 2 points.
Males 1st Event (Powerball) - Chad Knight and Anthony Abbatemarco do battle against Titan, Wolf, and Toa. Anthony wins this event 12-2 putting Chad Knight down big.
Females 2nd Event (Joust) - This time around Joust is done 15 feet above water with Crush being the Gladiator. First up is Venus Ramos who gets tossed off the podium quickly by Crush. Next up is Koya Webb who battles it out with Crush to a tie and picks up 5 points.
Males 2nd Event (Hang Tough) - Militia goes up against Anthony Abbatemarco and Chad Knight. Anthony’s up first and picks up ten points when he successfully gets to the other side while Militia injurs his arm and cannot continue. Taking Militia’s place in the event is Wolf. Wolf takes down Chad Knight pretty easy with no fight.
Females 3rd Event (Earthquake) - Fury goes against Venus first and battles her to a tie with Venus picking up 5 points. Next up is Koya who gets tossed off earning 0 points.
Males 3rd Event ( Hit & Run) - Anthony goes up against Titan, Toa and Wolf and comes away with 10 points. Chad is up next and he gets knocked off the bridge during the event earning himself 0 points.
Females 4th Event (Pyramid) - Both contendors compete in this event similtaneous with one Gladiator focused on each of them. Venom gets matched up Venus and Crush gets Koya. Venus gets 5 points while Koya gets blanked.
Overall this puts Venus at 12 points and Koya at 11 giving Venus a half second head start for the final event, the Eliminator.
Males 4th Event (Pyramid) - Toa gets matched up against Anthony and Chad gets Mayhem. Anthony scores 5 points while Chad gets nothing.
Overall Anthony is leading the event 37-4 over Chad. This gives Anthony a 16 and half second start over Chad in the Eliminator.
Females Final Event (The Eliminator) - Koya gets out to a big lead and cannot hold off Venus after she has major trouble with the conveyour belt 3:37.6 seconds
Mens Final Event (The Eliminator) - This event is done without Gladiators and test the contenders stamina and overall endurance. With the big lead you would think Anthony could cruise to a win but that was not the case as Chad caught Anthony but could not overtake him. Anthony won the Eliminator with a time of 2:10.3.
Anthony Abbatemarco and Venus Ramos move on to the final 8.
For the second hour I will do a recap but it will not be as extensive as the first hour. We meet our male contenders Molivann Duy who will go up against Jeff Keller. For the females it’s Bonnie Blanco going up against Shanay Norvell.
Males 1st Event (Gauntlet) - Jeff gets 8 points while Molivann has a tough time with Justice and only scores 6.
Females 1st Event (Powerball) - Shanay makes quit work of the Gladiators and scores 10 points. Bonnie Blanco also makes it through for 10 points.
Males 2nd Event (Joust) - Mayhem goes up against both contenders in this event and steps onto each podium giving both contenders 10 points each.
Females 2nd Event (Wall) - Shanay will be chased down by Venom while Bonnie has to out climb Stealth. Both make it to the top and score 10 points.
Males 3rd Event (Assault) - Jeff got off two shots at the Gladiators target but was hit with a tennis ball by Justice and only received 2 points. Molivann got off two shots as well and ran out of time giving him 2 points.
Females 3rd Event ( Hang Tough) - Bonnie is first up and gets tangled with Fury who ends up slipping off and falling into the pit below. Bonnie was unable to make it to the platform and only picks up 5 points. Shanay makes it look easy and gets to the platform pretty quick earning 10 points.
Males 4th Event (Pyramid) - Molivann draws Titan who throws him around like a ragdoll and Jeff draws his nemesis Wolf who does the same. Neither contender scores any points on this event.
Females 4th Event (Hit & Run) - The Gladiators make quick work of the contenders and neither scores any points.
Males Final Event (The Eliminator) - Molivann wins with a time of 2:13.4. Jeff is completely exhausted and gets stuck on the travelator.
Females Final Event (The Eliminator) - Shanay wins with a time of 2:22
Molivann Duy and Shanay Norvell move on.
Entries (RSS)
January 7th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
I have to say that I really liked American Gladiators last night, but like anyone, I saw room for improvement and differences between this version and the original seasons.
1) The ‘baskets’ in the Powerball are way bigger than on the original. I guess it’s not inherently bad, but no way could anyone have made a jump shot like the ones made last night. I think the smaller baskets would discourage contenders from trying to throw the ball into the basket, which, I think, would be a good thing.
2) I liked the events Hit & Run and Earthquake, but the Pyramid is preposterous. It’s almost impossible for the contender to score unless as happened in the first male pyramid, the Gladiator throws the event. Toa had no business jumping over Anthony near the end like that. He was just trying to add some intrigue to the event that is just plain too hard for the contenders. The Gladiator has higher ground, doesn’t have to go anywhere (only protect what is given to him) AND has to run less distance on the upper levels to catch up to a contender running around on the lower levels.
3) The Eliminator: Pretty much every element of the Eliminator could be improved. While not a total disaster, it was hard to watch at times.
The swimming portion should be removed entirely. The danger of drowning or hitting one’s face on the bar, the slipperywhenwetness and the requirement for additional equipment makes swimming more trouble than it’s worth. Also, swimming alone exhausts some people to an unnatural degree, which I think we saw in the first female matchup. The swim also made it much more difficult to hold on in the barrel roll and the handbike (which looked much more difficult than the handbike from years past) as well as making traction way tougher on the travelator.
The cargo net looked like a real struggle. It looked less taut than in the past and didn’t offer any yellow lines to help the contenders see the next step up the net.
Could the producers have chosen a less exciting way to finish the Eliminator than running through a wall of foam cubes? Why not have a finishing tape or something that could make narrow victories more exciting?
Also, where was the Gladiator involvement on the Eliminator? I know that’s something that the original show struggled with, but they could do something like the Hit & Run as the contenders run across the balance beam (which looks to be about 15 inches wide). I always liked the version of the eliminator on the original AG that featured the contender breaking through a paper doorway near the end. If he guessed right the contender would get through unobstructed. If he guessed wrong, a Gladiator would be on the other side, waiting with a padded blocker to slow the contender down. This added a nice element to the Elminator, I think.
All in all, it was an exciting show, but not all that much better than watching an old episode on ESPN Classic.
January 7th, 2008 at 2:51 pm
As for format, it’s funny how Hulk Hogan doesn’t actually ask any questions. He just says, “Anthony, you’re a New York fire fighter.” Then he puts the Mic in front of Anthony who has something rehearsed about making his brothers proud.
Why not just bring Mike Adamle and Larry Csonka back? They’re almost certainly available, right? Adamle is doing sports for the NBC affiliate in Chicago, so you’d think he’d jump at the opportunity. Doesn’t Hulk take more off the table than he brings? He was inappropriately over the top when he should have just introduced the upcoming event and always looked uncomfortable holding the microphone. Also, I don’t know if people noticed, but at one point Laila Ali was interviewing a contender from about 3 feet away, holding her arm straight out to put the microphone in front of his mouth. It was kind of awkward. She could have taken a page out of Larry Csonka’s book and stood super close to the female contenders and created weird sexual tension at every opportunity.
Watch the interview at the end of this clip to check out Larry’s technique. He would do this for pretty much every interview. Stand overlapping the woman, holding the mic in your right hand and with your left arm wrapped around her to ensure she can’t pull away. In this clip Larry even pivots after the first interview, and switches hands with the Mic to wrap his right arm around the contender’s mother. He truly is a master in his craft.
http://tinyurl.com/yse8gw