History Series / AmericanGladiators

''American Gladiators'' is a popular 1989-96 (revived in 2008) athletic competition-slash-GameShow where ordinary Joes and Janes went up against big, mean [[HeroicBuild musclemen and musclewomen]]. Think ''Film/TheRunningMan'' minus Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger, [[Series/FamilyFeud Richard Dawson]], and all the death and gore.

* CareerEndingInjury: Many contenders have had their runs cut short because of an injury sustained during an event. Contenders have been seen injuring their ankles, knees, eyes, pinky fingers, even their butt in one instance. This usually meant an understudy or a previously eliminated contender to replace them, though at least one instance saw a contender run the Eliminator by himself because [[EpicFail the opponent was injured at the very end and they were so far behind points-wise it didn't matter]].

* EpicFail:
** The Wall had a habit of making this happen, as a few contenders were pulled down by the Gladiators who just simply had to reach over from where they were standing. And on at least one occasion, a contender fell before their head start had ended.
** One game of Assault ended when the contender tore a knee ligament before he had even reached the first station.
** At least one run of the Eliminator was done alone because one contender had been injured just before the Eliminator and he was so far behind they didn't even bother with the replacement.

* ScaryBlackMan:
** How the show initially tried to portray Gemini.
** Titan was a real one, apparently. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pa8P25fe2as According to Nitro, Titan actually chased the ref into the stands in a fit after one too many personal fouls.]]

* IconicSequelCharacter: Larry Czonka only came onboard with the second season in 1990; Joe Theissman and Todd Christensen preceded him. The second season also saw the debut of referee Larry Thompson; he had been preceded by both the unidentified "executioner", then NFL referee Bob [=McElwee=]. Wesley "Two Scoops" Berry, perhaps one of the most famous contenders, didn't show up until season 5 in 1993.

* LicensedPinballTable: Averted; Creator/{{Gottlieb}} had plans to retheme a ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZelda'' pinball for ''American Gladiators,'' but the licensing deal fell through at the last minute. [[Pinball/{{Gladiators}} Click here for details.]]

* ADayInTheLimelight: Mike Adamle himself competed in a Season 6 celebrity show, coming up in third place. He was replaced on commentary by Nitro, which may have led to him replacing Lisa Malosky in Season 7.

Popular 1989-96 (revived in 2008) athletic competition-slash-GameShow where ordinary Joes and Janes went up against big, mean [[HeroicBuild musclemen and musclewomen]]. Think ''Film/TheRunningMan'' minus Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger, [[Series/FamilyFeud Richard Dawson]], and all the death and gore.

* AmazonianBeauty: Most of the [[ActionGirl female gladiators]] were pretty ripped (many were former [[UsefulNotes/{{Bodybuilding}} bodybuilders]]) and their [[LeotardOfPower clothing did]] [[{{Stripperiffic}} very little]] [[BareYourMidriff to hide that.]]

* IconicSequelCharacter: Larry Czonka only came onboard with the second season in 1990; Joe Theissman and Todd Christensen preceded him. The second season also saw the debut of referee Larry Thompson; he had been preceded by both the unidentified "executioner", then NFL referee Bob [=McElwee=]

* {{Retool}}: While the show evolved in mundane ways for its first four seasons (ie. adding events and gladiators, changing intros and what not), the biggest retool came in Season 5. Besides more new events and gladiators, the series changed its logo (with a new "AG" symbol modeled after the British "G" symbol"), updated its music package, replaced Larry Csonka with Lisa Malosky, and updated the Eliminator, specifically adapting part of the British version's course. The reverse treadmill was moved from the start of the Eliminator, as it was during Seasons 2-4, to the end. As it turned out, it was a lot easier to get up that treadmill at the beginning than at the end.

* ProductPlacement: The original version had the clock sponsored by Armitron from season two until the end of its run. Typically, a sponsor of some kind, usually an M&M/Mars product or a Creator/{{Nintendo}} game console, would be plugged before an event. From mid-season 1 onwards until they left Universal Studios, ads for the aforementioned M&M/Mars products could be glimpsed near the arena ceiling. The later seasons had the in-studio video walls marked as the Slim Jim Superscreens, with the Slim Jim logo in the corner during replays.

* TropeCoTropeOfTheWeek: The 2008 revival had Subway Replays and the "Toyota winning moment".

%% * GladiatorGames: Well, ''duh''.

%% * StudioAudience

* ForeignRemake: The [[Series/{{Gladiators}} British version]] (and other European versions) took the format UpToEleven by transforming it into a big-budget, primetime spectacle that looked more like a WWF show than the more sports-like presentation of the original. The American audience did get exposed to the UK version during the international tournaments, and the NBC revival was based more off the European style too.

* UnnecessaryRoughness: Taken UpToEleven here.

* IconicSequelCharacter: Larry Czonka only came onboard with the second season in 1990; Joe Theissman and Todd Christensen preceded him. The second season also saw the debut of referee Larry Thompson; he had been preceded by both the unidentified "executioner", then NFL coach Bob [=McElwee=]

** During the early episodes of Season 1, Theismann said that the champions would have the possibility to become an American Gladiator. This was never mentioned again after the first half of Season 1, and while the second half did add four new gladiators (Laser, Blaze, Titan and Gold), none were contenders from the first half of Season 1. In 2020, Season 1 men's first half champion (and eventual grand champion) Brian Huston [[https://cdispatch.com/sports/2020-04-12/thirty-years-ago-msu-football-alum-won-american-gladiators-first-grand-championship-to-keep-funding-dream-of-playing-in-the-nfl/ said]] the producers realized neither he nor women's champion Tracy Phillips had the build to be a gladiator, so the idea was dropped.

** The first two seasons featured penalty points for failing to complete any obstacles properly, but the penalty was so small that several contestants chose to drop off the handbike and lift themselves back on the platform. After Season 2, the penalty for falling from the handbike was increased to 10 seconds for the men and seven seconds for the women.

** The scoring system was on a larger scale. The best possible score in Joust, Breakthrough & Conquer, Human Cannonball, and Assault was 100 points. In future seasons, the best possible score in each of those events was 10.

** Season 1 and Season 2 each featured five preliminary matches in the first half, with the five winners and three highest point totals among the non-winners moving on to the quarterfinals and being seeded 1 through 8 based on their point totals. However, this led to several immediate rematches (and one Season 1 contestant, Craig Williams, ended up facing John Shumski in *three* consecutive shows after he became the [[MyGreatestSecondChance alternate]] following injury to his actual opponent, Phil Carroll) in the quarterfinals, making the opening round sometimes seem pointless. Starting in season 3, the preliminaries were increased to six matches, with only the winners advancing to the quarterfinals. This didn't eliminate rematches because the highest-scoring loser in the quarterfinals would advance to the semifinals to face one of the three quarterfinal winners, but it did mean a rematch couldn't occur until the semifinals at the earliest.

* ObviousRulePatch: After the infamous Cannonball incident with Malibu, they quickly told contenders that they couldn't extend their legs out any more.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/american_gladiators.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:''[[OpeningNarration The Samuel Goldwyn Company presents... the American Gladiators! Let the games begin!]]'']]

The original series (which ran until 1996) was aired in FirstRunSyndication, and later become popular rerun fodder for [[Creator/SpikeTV The New TNN]], and later Creator/{{ESPN}} Classic. Creator/{{NBC}} revived the series in 2008 with a considerably bigger budget (and none other than Wrestling/HulkHogan as emcee), but essentially the same format and most of the same games. Arthur Smith of ''Series/HellsKitchen'' fame was shopping ''[[http://www.tvguide.com/News/American-Gladiators-Revived-Modern-Makeover-1084020.aspx another]]'' revival, which he stated would be spandex-free and have more of a ''[[Literature/TheHungerGames Hunger Games]]'' influence, stylistically. It never made it out of DevelopmentHell. Creator/SethRogen, of all people, was stated to have been working with MGM on another revival in 2018, but that too has disappeared without a trace. Currently, reruns of both the 1989 original and the 2008 revival can be seen on Creator/PlutoTV.

* MiniSkirtOfPower: A number of the later female Gladiators sported skirts on their outfits and these ladies were no pushovers.

* DemotedToExtra: By the 1992-93 season, John Harlan's announcing was largely limited to the intro, as often episodes would begin with a ColdOpen featuring the day's starting event; he wouldn't be introducing the Gladiators at the beginning either, or teasing the contenders for the next episode. He was ultimately sacked with the 1993 reboot.

* Bookends: The first event on the first episode of regular Season 1 competition, as well as the final event on the final episode of regular Season 7 competition, was Joust.