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American Gladiators getting the "30 for 30" treatment

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colonial:
Per Deadline, ESPN is planning to devote an episode of its popular "30 for 30" sports documentary series on "American Gladiators."

https://deadline.com/2021/04/american-gladiators-doc-espn-30-for-30-vice-studios-ben-berman-1234732187/

Not much has been revealed about the documentary, only that it will focus on show co-creator Johnny Ferraro and feature "many of the larger than life Gladiators." Also no announcement on when it will air, where it will air (ESPN has been mixing up premieres on both the mothership and ESPN+ streaming), and how long it will be.

The documentary is being produced by Vice Studios, which has a decent track record with docu-style programming ("Dark Side of the Ring" is hit-and-miss depending on the subject).

I'm curious if Mike Adamle will be able to participate given his health issues (he announced in 2017 that he has dementia). He and his wife were featured in an NBC Chicago special on his life last February.

Also curious how much they will touch on the 2008 NBC revival.


JD

weaklink75:
Should be interesting- wonder how much they'll talk about how the show was created. And I also wonder how many of the original Gladiators will be interviewed for this (I know 2 of them have passed- Siren and Hawk)..

SuperMatch93:
I wonder if they'll discuss Gladiators 2000 or the attempt at a live show in Vegas that fell apart due to a securities fraud scandal.

(Fun fact: I went to high school with Mike Adamle's daughter.)

colonial:
There's definitely a lot of directions this documentary can go through, and this could easily be a two-hour documentary if edited and presented correctly. I'm just getting a vibe that it will be narrowly focused on Johnny Ferraro and his ups and downs and go about an hour.

-- If the doc can get Ryan Seacrest on the record, then we'll probably have something on "Gladiators 2000."
-- A quick look at the "Gladiator" ripoff shows is also likely, especially if they can get Terry Crews on the record (given his time on "Battle Dome")
-- I can imagine there will be a long look at selling this show to the public initially (IIRC, "Roller Games" got all of the initial media attention and prime syndie slots in Fall 1989 while "Gladiators" was lucky to get even a mention). I was on a family vacation to Universal Hollywood in 1989 and "Gladiators" was one of the shows taping at the studio that day. To say they were struggling to fill the seats would be an understatement. A Universal intern came up to my family while we were standing in line for rides, drinks, photos, etc. to ask if we wanted tickets to see "Gladiators." After the third line interruption by the same intern, my mother told the guy that she'd place him headfirst in a trash can if he bothered us again. He didn't bother us again.

Hopefully the doc will also feature some of the memorable contestants, such as Wesley "Two Scoops" Berry. 


JD

Jeremy Nelson:

--- Quote from: colonial on April 12, 2021, 10:37:48 AM ---I'm curious if Mike Adamle will be able to participate given his health issues (he announced in 2017 that he has dementia). He and his wife were featured in an NBC Chicago special on his life last February.

Also curious how much they will touch on the 2008 NBC revival.

--- End quote ---

I'm excited, and I REALLY hope they can get Mike for this. He was a fitted glove for that show.

They've got to touch on the cardboard inserts in the stands in Season 1.

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