Jared Rea

I just spent the last two hours bouncing in my seat as giddy as I was 14 years ago on Saturday mornings. It was also the first time in years I actually felt excited over cheering on a bunch of muscular weirdos running around in spandex. American Gladiators  is back alright and I have no idea how we survived without it.

There’s gladiators to love (Crush.. sigh), contestants to hate (Jeff Keller was a top of the line douche) and moments to completely mark out, such as Wolf’s ridiculous Canadian Destroyer during one of the Pyramid event. It’s a lot more brutal than it ever was which is great, but the show isn’t without its share of problems. A lot of the events could use some tweaking, such as the length of the Hang Tough field being way too short and the hoops in Assault being absolutely gigantic. When someone can drop a bomb from halfway across the field and score a point, you know you have a problem. Still, the original show featured a ton of tweaks as seasons progressed, so I’m hoping the revival does the same.

NBC is really on a roll with all of these high quality remakes and judging from Bionic Woman and now American Gladiators, I’m incredibly stoked for Knight Rider now. I mean, it has a Will Arnett as a talking car. How bad can it be? In case you missed it, another episode of American Gladiators will be airing Monday night at 8PM. Be there for mayhem, MAYHEM, MAYHEM!