The Game Show Forum
The Game Show Forum => The Big Board => Topic started by: Jeremy Nelson on July 21, 2007, 02:33:49 AM
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Here's an article which discusses NBC's fall schedule. Apparently, AG has been talked about at the Peacock Network:
http://www.realitytvworld.com/news/new-nbc...cts-1012662.php (http://\"http://www.realitytvworld.com/news/new-nbc-chief-announces-fall-scheduling-changes-and-new-projects-1012662.php\")
So what do you guys think- Is AG a good idea as a primetime network offering, or do you think it should stick to syndication if developed?
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If they do decide to develop it, I'd think it'd be better fit on weekend afternoons, just where it was before. Primetime isn't the place.
/curious to see if they'd dig any of the old Gladiators out for this, if they ever decide to do it
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NBC better know what they're doing here. I smell trouble if they do try to put this on in the fall. Weekend syndication is a much better avenue here just like back in the old days. I just hope they don't utilize that Gladiator "smackdown" thing in the tale end of its original run. What was the point in that? It's a competition show not WWE. Yuck!
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And here I've been trying to figure out how I can (again) recreate the Assault course in my parent's backyard...
Somehow the idea of weekend syndication does not surprise me. However, I feel as though this IS something that NBC could actually try as a network offering. The question is how. Primetime, you're right, I've debated it and I can't find a working place for it except Saturday nights, which would be an instant curse. I'm curious if the noon slot on NBC Saturdays would work, but I would hate to see it constantly pre-empted by other sports events, you know?
As far as the Gladiators of the past, it would be fun to see them again, but more likely in the roles of coaches to the contenders... or even to the new Gladiators. Actually, you might have to put them on both sides, since I'm not sure any of the old champions would help out (especially if the long-standing rumors about Two Scoops are true). Either way it would be fun.
But now for the REAL question: Do any of you here on the boards feel you have what it takes to make it on the revival? Right now, I know I can't, despite my 2nd Dan in Tae Kwon Do. But heaven knows I'm sure gonna train my butt off.
So let's see... 24 chin-ups in 30 seconds... 40-yard dash in under 5 seconds... 20-foot rope climb in 10 seconds... shuttle run in under 15 seconds... and a little makeshift Powerball setup...
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[quote name=\'PYLdude\' post=\'158074\' date=\'Jul 20 2007, 11:45 PM\']If they do decide to develop it, I'd think it'd be better fit on weekend afternoons, just where it was before. Primetime isn't the place.[/quote]I'm curious now about the other times that the show aired. We got it at 11:35 pm Saturdays, which meant I missed out on Almost Live! for years and years. At least I have reruns.
I would really go for this. If the show was done properly, as a serious competition, but not so over the top that everyone thinks more of it than what it is--after all, you have people in costumes designed by the Star Trek costumer--then it could work. There's no way you could improve on the old, at least up to the point of the redesign in the fifth series.
[quote name=\'Sonic Whammy\' post=\'158110\' date=\'Jul 21 2007, 10:27 AM\']
And here I've been trying to figure out how I can (again) recreate the Assault course in my parent's backyard...[/quote]You too? That was some fun times, especially once I received a foam ball launcher gun-thing as a gift, so we could use that instead of old tennis balls that mom was through using. For a guy with no depth perception, I racked up more than my fair share of kills.
/nostalgia FTW
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[quote name=\'Sonic Whammy\' post=\'158110\' date=\'Jul 21 2007, 01:27 PM\']
And here I've been trying to figure out how I can (again) recreate the Assault course in my parent's backyard...[/quote]Considering the number of people in Japan who recreated obstacles in/on/around their homes (not for Gladiators, though), you'll manage. ;-)
Yeah, this definitely has a chance, provided it's taken seriously enough and doesn't devolve into WWE-style hijinks or bring up any bad memories of Dog Eat Dog.
Since Saturday is so deadly, perhaps the best spot for it would be Sunday Nights after football's done. I almost hate to recommend this too, but how would you think it would work if it was paired with The Biggest Loser on what I guess would be Wednesday?
ObGameShow: Apparently, there were 2 spin-offs of AG in Japan. I say apparently, because I got it off of Wikipedia.
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[quote name=\'TLEberle\' post=\'158149\' date=\'Jul 21 2007, 10:42 PM\']
[quote name=\'PYLdude\' post=\'158074\' date=\'Jul 20 2007, 11:45 PM\']If they do decide to develop it, I'd think it'd be better fit on weekend afternoons, just where it was before. Primetime isn't the place.[/quote]I'm curious now about the other times that the show aired. We got it at 11:35 pm Saturdays, which meant I missed out on Almost Live! for years and years. At least I have reruns.
[/quote]
In the NYC area, I remember the show airing Saturday afternoons at 1 following WWF Superstars on WNYW until partway through season 7. It was quite a combo for me, I say. (It also aired late nights at midnight later that day, with previous seasons' reruns IIRC.)
As for the rest of the run, I know they moved the show to WCBS towards the end of its run where it aired sporadically (I don't remember seeing the Grand Championship or a few of the special episodes at all, at least until Spike TV showed them in reruns), and the first season I think was on WNBC late-night Saturdays.
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In Norfolk, for the first couple of years it aired on Saturdays or Sundays at around midnight. Then I guess it caught on because it moved to Saturday afternoons at 12, and stayed around that time until its cancellation.
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Heck, now that I think about it, my friends and I used to recreate a lot of the events from the show. Hang Tough was played on monkey bars, we used a slide for Tug Of War, and whenever we went to the local rock-climbing wall...well, I don't have to go any further with that one :)
I remember the summers when I went away to camp and how we used to play Assault with water balloons. During my 3 years as a counselor, we never lost to the campers. Good Times.
As said before, as long as they don't turn it into a caricature of the original, or WWE-it, they will be fine. I think that a Friday night slot would be best. It's better than a Saturday slot, and it can still be used to promote Sunday Night Football. My hope, if it goes through, is that it adapts some of the elements from UK Gladiators. I preferred their presentation to ours, with the exception of Adamle and Czonka.
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[quote name=\'rollercoaster87\' post=\'158186\' date=\'Jul 22 2007, 03:50 AM\']
My hope, if it goes through, is that it adapts some of the elements from UK Gladiators. I preferred their presentation to ours, with the exception of Adamle and Czonka.
[/quote]
So long as it doesn't have Fash... "Well done, you got yourself SIX POINTS!!" If they do revive it, they had damn well better use the Conti theme. None of that "AG" crap.
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When I saw AG originally, it was when I was living in the DC area, and I beleive that the entire run aired on WDCA 20 at 11am.
I think I'm in agreement with what I think the concensus is. If this show is revived, it needs to stay true to the best part of the original run....not too medieval like the first season, and not too futuristic like the latter seasons. Around the mid point of the series was my favorite. I had my favorite Gladiators I cheered for, but I loved the fact that the show made it a point to showcase the athletes/contenders more to the point where you had to get behind a Lucian Anderson, or a Two-Scoops due to their intensity/personality.
Putting this show on a Friday or Saturday night will just not work, even if you paired it with a hot show like DoND. Sunday nights after football won't work either, because if the Sunday night game gets boring (low scoring/blowout), people are going to tune out and go watch The Simpsons.
I think the idea mentioned earlier in the thread of pairing it with Biggest Loser may work best, especially if AG is revived as a family-friendly show as it was back in it's original run.
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After watching the reruns on ESPN Classic I started to think that this show would be great for a revival, the only problems I have are American Gladiators's original run was on weekends in syndication and as so many other people have said it before it worked best then, another problem with reviving it is finding hosts and gladiators for the show, also in today's TV landscape I don't really know if the show would work agian especially on network TV. Although if NBC were smart and decide to revive the show I would bring back the original tournament format and possibly put it after NBC's Sunday Night Football in the fall. Although this idea might be tricky because a lot of NBC's affilates put on local post game shows or things like that after the games, KING 5 our NBC affilate for example after the games last year aired The Mike Holmgren Show and Best of Almost Live. As for the timeslot of the show, I do recall the show was at 11:35 PM or 2/3 AM during part of the run. According to some of the newspaper TV listings I got from Microfilm of the Tacoma News Tribune at the library I usually visit, the show was listed as being on KTZZ 22 on Sunday evenings I believe at 6 or 7 PM.
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Well I guess Mike Adamle had other plans...
Hulk Hogan is close to signing as the host... (http://\"http://www.tvweek.com/blogs/james-hibberd/2007/10/hulk_hogan_finalizing_deal_to.php\") (and I sorta like this move to a point...looks like they're going to try to go over the top cheesy like the original...)
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[quote name=\'weaklink75\' post=\'165360\' date=\'Oct 2 2007, 06:21 PM\']Hulk Hogan is close to signing as the host... (http://\"http://www.tvweek.com/blogs/james-hibberd/2007/10/hulk_hogan_finalizing_deal_to.php\") (and I sorta like this move to a point...looks like they're going to try to go over the top cheesy like the original...) [/quote]
Assuming they try to mirror what made the original good as much as 2007 allows (and with the production company involved there's at least hope), they'd most likely go with a tandem hosting setup like the original series. As such, Hogan would probably fill the Csonka/Malosky/Nitro co-host position. As far as Adamle, last I heard he works at an NBC O&O station (forget which one), which at least might make it a bit easier to bring him on board should they go that route.
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"Gladiators" must be flavour of the month - they are bringing back "Gladiators" to the primetime schedules here in Australia as well (although not until next year). Whilst I'm personally not the biggest "Gladiator" fan, I think it could work out.
Is is possible with the reincarnation of the format on both sides of the Pacific, that an International version could be on the cards again?
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[quote name=\'Seth Thrasher\' post=\'165379\' date=\'Oct 2 2007, 09:04 PM\']
[quote name=\'weaklink75\' post=\'165360\' date=\'Oct 2 2007, 06:21 PM\']Hulk Hogan is close to signing as the host... (http://\"http://www.tvweek.com/blogs/james-hibberd/2007/10/hulk_hogan_finalizing_deal_to.php\") (and I sorta like this move to a point...looks like they're going to try to go over the top cheesy like the original...) [/quote]
Assuming they try to mirror what made the original good as much as 2007 allows (and with the production company involved there's at least hope), they'd most likely go with a tandem hosting setup like the original series. As such, Hogan would probably fill the Csonka/Malosky/Nitro co-host position. As far as Adamle, last I heard he works at an NBC O&O station (forget which one), which at least might make it a bit easier to bring him on board should they go that route.
[/quote]
That would be the NBC in Chicago. Also, he's done a lot of work for NBC the last few years (according to Wiki, he's commentated for a couple Olympics, and was a sideline commentator for the XFL, among others). If he wants to, I'm sure they'd let him host the revival.
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Well it's official... (http://\"http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news.aspx?id=20071003nbc01\")but the press release worries me a bit-the Gladiators aren't supposed to be out and out "bad guys"-just the other team who are competitive but sportsmanlike. (The AG-like show "Knights and Warriors" did the "bad guy" theme- it can work, as I thought the show was underappreciated- but it's not AG's style).
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[quote name=\'weaklink75\' post=\'165438\' date=\'Oct 3 2007, 04:07 PM\']
Well it's official... (http://\"http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news.aspx?id=20071003nbc01\")but the press release worries me a bit-the Gladiators aren't supposed to be out and out "bad guys"-just the other team who are competitive but sportsmanlike. [/quote]
There's only one reference to the Gladiators as "villainous", and that might just be press release hyperbole. The audience was always meant to root for the challengers and, by extension, against the Gladiators whose job it was to stop them. I'm not too worried about that part.
If you're going to be worried, be worried about who's hosting. Shows like this don't work when they're hosted by a "character" as opposed to a real person, and even though Hogan has been playing his character so long that it's second-nature to him, he's still going to be performing, not hosting. The show worked SO much better than its inferior knockoffs in part because the hosts treated it like a real sporting event. There's no real evidence that the Hulkster has any idea how to do that, and quotes like "Gladiator-mania is gonna be running wild, brother" do little to convince me.
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[quote name=\'Matt Ottinger\' post=\'165440\' date=\'Oct 3 2007, 04:19 PM\']
[quote name=\'weaklink75\' post=\'165438\' date=\'Oct 3 2007, 04:07 PM\']
Well it's official... (http://\"http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news.aspx?id=20071003nbc01\")but the press release worries me a bit-the Gladiators aren't supposed to be out and out "bad guys"-just the other team who are competitive but sportsmanlike. [/quote]
There's only one reference to the Gladiators as "villainous", and that might just be press release hyperbole. The audience was always meant to root for the challengers and, by extension, against the Gladiators whose job it was to stop them. I'm not too worried about that part.
If you're going to be worried, be worried about who's hosting. Shows like this don't work when they're hosted by a "character" as opposed to a real person, and even though Hogan has been playing his character so long that it's second-nature to him, he's still going to be performing, not hosting. The show worked SO much better than its inferior knockoffs in part because the hosts treated it like a real sporting event. There's no real evidence that the Hulkster has any idea how to do that, and quotes like "Gladiator-mania is gonna be running wild, brother" do little to convince me.
[/quote]
True-but I think Hulk is going to be in the Larry Czonka role here and do color commentary- they'll hire someone to be the play-by-play guy (they wanted the "name" first). We won't know if this was a good choice or not until we actually see a show...it does looks like they are going more "over-the-top" than the original series however.
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[quote name=\'weaklink75\' post=\'165441\' date=\'Oct 3 2007, 01:29 PM\']
True-but I think Hulk is going to be in the Larry Czonka role here and do color commentary- they'll hire someone to be the play-by-play guy (they wanted the "name" first).[/quote]
I direct you to Jesse "The Body" Ventura and The Grudge Match, as well as his XFL work, for examples of why this is still a VERY VERY bad idea.
Matt's right. AG got good when they dumped the stupid personas and treated it like the legitimate sporting event that it was.
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[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'165455\' date=\'Oct 3 2007, 05:56 PM\']
I direct you to Jesse "The Body" Ventura and The Grudge Match, as well as his XFL work, for examples of why this is still a VERY VERY bad idea.
[/quote]
I direct you to Jesse "The Body" Ventura's work in the Minnesota governor's office, for examples of why that was a VERY VERY bad idea.
At least the Hulkster was good as Thunderlips.
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[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'165455\' date=\'Oct 3 2007, 05:56 PM\']
I direct you to Jesse "The Body" Ventura and The Grudge Match, as well as his XFL work, Joey "Sunshine" Theismann and his color commentary on AG and MNF for examples of why this is still a VERY VERY bad idea. it could be worse.
[/quote]
Fixed that for you.
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[quote name=\'TeppanYaki\' post=\'165466\' date=\'Oct 3 2007, 05:49 PM\']
Fixed that for you.
[/quote]
Are you really telling me that Hulk Friggin' Hogan would be a better color man than Joe Theissman? Theissman sucks, I'm not denying you that, but c'mon.
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[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'165467\' date=\'Oct 3 2007, 07:52 PM\']
Are you really telling me that Hulk Friggin' Hogan would be a better color man than Joe Theissman? Theissman sucks, I'm not denying you that, but c'mon. [/quote]
Depends. If Hogan goes into business for himself, as he is prone to do, than no. On the off chance he puts the show first, then yes. After all, Joe did such poor color that Mike Adamle was doing all of the on-screen work during that first half season.
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[quote name=\'parliboy\' post=\'165492\' date=\'Oct 3 2007, 10:23 PM\']
On the off chance he puts the show first, then yes.
[/quote]
And we both know the odds of that happening. :)
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Bumped for relevant info: If you would like to attend a taping of American Gladaitors and live in or are planning to visit the Los Angeles area, go here: http://www.americangladiatorstickets.com/ (http://\"http://www.americangladiatorstickets.com/\") The flash animation is amusing for all of about 10 seconds.
One thing that perplexes me is that they're doing the whole "human set" thing. I would think that you would actually want your crowd to be visible for this.
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[quote name=\'Joe Mello\' post=\'167338\' date=\'Oct 19 2007, 09:21 AM\']
The flash animation is amusing for all of about 10 seconds.[/quote]
That might have been the most pansy-assed Joust I've ever seen. :)
One thing that perplexes me is that they're doing the whole "human set" thing. I would think that you would actually want your crowd to be visible for this.
Huh? The crowd will be visible just fine. What they don't want is the crowd overshadowing the game.
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Oh dear...that music they're playing is the Season 5-7 theme. Aka, the point at which the original Glads jumped the shark.
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Heaven help me, I just requested tickets for both December 1 tapings out of overwhelming curiosity. The ticket request form says I was number 95.
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Scott Robinson
(Hopes that they tape a full episode in one day and not just the same game over and over for multiple episodes. Especially if the game is Atlasphere.)
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[quote name=\'MSTieScott\' post=\'167391\' date=\'Oct 19 2007, 10:06 PM\'](Hopes that they tape a full episode in one day and not just the same game over and over for multiple episodes. Especially if the game is Atlasphere.)[/quote]
Is that what they originally did?
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[quote name=\'Joe Mello\' post=\'167429\' date=\'Oct 20 2007, 10:21 AM\']
[quote name=\'MSTieScott\' post=\'167391\' date=\'Oct 19 2007, 10:06 PM\'](Hopes that they tape a full episode in one day and not just the same game over and over for multiple episodes. Especially if the game is Atlasphere.)[/quote]
Is that what they originally did?[/quote]
I don't know how they used to do it --- I'm just thinking economically. It's faster (and therefore cheaper) to leave the Assault field on the floor and tape five rounds of it in a row than to spend the time to take it down and set it up every day.
Did they play the games in a different order in each episode of the original series? If so, then they couldn't have taped the games in blocks.
--
Scott Robinson
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[quote name=\'MSTieScott\' post=\'167391\' date=\'Oct 19 2007, 09:06 PM\']
Heaven help me, I just requested tickets for both December 1 tapings out of overwhelming curiosity. The ticket request form says I was number 95.
--
Scott Robinson
(Hopes that they tape a full episode in one day and not just the same game over and over for multiple episodes. Especially if the game is Atlasphere.)
[/quote]
Sorry Scott...looks like the latter. At least this (VERY tentative) schedule I found on some American Gladiators forum doesn't list Altasphere anywhere...
So far, they have 11 days of production set up. We don't have an episode count yet. Rather, they have the events scheduled on each day, which will later be edited into the episodes. Everything is very tentative right now. I see one rough schedule that reads:
Taping Days:
1. Jousting
2. Gauntlet
3. Walls
4. Swing Shot
4. Hang Tough
5. Elimination
6. Championship.
This is real rough and will no doubt be refined and rescheduled. The taping days, however, are scheduled and confirmed, just the events are still undecided.
The fact that Powerball is not listed puzzles me greatly...wasn't that the most popular event?
EDIT: Seeing that Scott just beat me to the post...and has another question...I can't tell you off the top of my head...but the first 15 episodes of Season Six (what is currently airing on ESPN Classic) had only four different lineups of games.
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[quote name=\'Mr. Armadillo\' post=\'167610\' date=\'Oct 22 2007, 03:49 PM\']
1. Jousting
2. Gauntlet
3. Walls
4. Swing Shot
4. Hang Tough
5. Elimination
6. Championship.
The fact that Powerball is not listed puzzles me greatly...wasn't that the most popular event?
[/quote]
I'm more pissed that Assault isn't in the list. That was one of the most exciting games in the rotation.
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Remember...that list isn't final and is almost guaranteed to be changed. Also, by Season Six, they had 13 different events in the rotation...if they narrow it down to five, they're bound to leave off a couple popular ones.
But still...Swingshot? Powerball, Assault, and Breakthrough & Conquer all deserve a spot before that...and I'd give Pyramid and Whiplash the nod before it too.
/If I was in charge, it would be Powerball, Pyramid, Breakthrough&Conquer (or Gauntlet), Assault, and Joust.
//In that order.
///Obviously, though, I'm not.
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I just hope Hogan can do commentary better than he can wrestle.
ObGameShows: Drew Carey participated in the 2001 WWF/WWE Royal Rumble and eliminated himself.
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[quote name=\'MSTieScott\' post=\'167609\' date=\'Oct 22 2007, 12:49 PM\']
I don't know how they used to do it --- I'm just thinking economically. It's faster (and therefore cheaper) to leave the Assault field on the floor and tape five rounds of it in a row than to spend the time to take it down and set it up every day.
[/quote]
But at the same time, they're gonna wanna churn the contenders through in one day, right? So they might tape the shows out of order (to, like you said, bang out everybody's Atlasphere at once), but I gotta think that you'd see at least one full show per taping session, and probably more.
(Further, I think when they changed to the "Gladiator Arena" video-game-like studio, it expedited setup quite a bit, as now there are gridmarks on the floor to make it quick and easy for the staff to get props into place. I would bet that switching over the set from one event to another isn't all that time-consuming at all.)
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[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'167614\' date=\'Oct 22 2007, 03:28 PM\']
[quote name=\'MSTieScott\' post=\'167609\' date=\'Oct 22 2007, 12:49 PM\']
I don't know how they used to do it --- I'm just thinking economically. It's faster (and therefore cheaper) to leave the Assault field on the floor and tape five rounds of it in a row than to spend the time to take it down and set it up every day.
[/quote]
But at the same time, they're gonna wanna churn the contenders through in one day, right? So they might tape the shows out of order (to, like you said, bang out everybody's Atlasphere at once), but I gotta think that you'd see at least one full show per taping session, and probably more.
[/quote]
For the love of all that is good, please never use the phrase 'bang out everybody's Atlasphere' again.
Ever.
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[quote name=\'Mr. Armadillo\' post=\'167627\' date=\'Oct 22 2007, 04:30 PM\']
For the love of all that is good, please never use the phrase 'bang out everybody's Atlasphere' again.
Ever.
[/quote]
"Not that there's anything wrong with that!"
/click, pop, boing
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[quote name=\'clemon79\' post=\'167614\' date=\'Oct 22 2007, 04:28 PM\']
(Further, I think when they changed to the "Gladiator Arena" video-game-like studio, it expedited setup quite a bit, as now there are gridmarks on the floor to make it quick and easy for the staff to get props into place. I would bet that switching over the set from one event to another isn't all that time-consuming at all.)[/quote]
However, I can't imagine them taping more than one episode in a day under that procedure. I'm thinking that in later years, especially when practically every game was being played in every episode and the Eliminator became elaborate as hell, they started grouping games together.
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OK, someone's going to WAAAYYY too much trouble to promote this thing. I just got a press release e-mail sent to me from someone with a gmail account tied to the show. Attached was a 2002 Usenet post I made praising the original series, which appears to be the entire reason I was sent the promotion.
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[quote name=\'MSTieScott\' post=\'167609\' date=\'Oct 22 2007, 12:49 PM\']I don't know how they used to do it --- I'm just thinking economically. It's faster (and therefore cheaper) to leave the Assault field on the floor and tape five rounds of it in a row than to spend the time to take it down and set it up every day[/quote]That might be faster, but eventually you aren't going to have enough players to make a full day worthwhile. The Grand Championship would take a week.
It seems like an adept property crew could get several of the games up quickly (Powerball, B&C) which would balance out the ones that are labor intensive or require rolling out heaps of foam mats. And the Wall just stands there, which would only require dropping a tarp over for hiding.
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Do any of the old-schoolers here know how it was done 20 years ago? I gotta think that in this day-and-age of shooting lots in little time, this is the way to shoot AG2.0
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[quote name=\'tvwxman\' post=\'167744\' date=\'Oct 24 2007, 10:20 AM\'] Do any of the old-schoolers here know how it was done 20 years ago? I gotta think that in this day-and-age of shooting lots in little time, this is the way to shoot AG2.0 [/quote]
Mark Kibort put up videos from his apperances on YouTube, and he's been fairly vigilant in watching the responses to his videos. I'm sure if someone bugged him there, you'd find an answer.
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During transitional periods wher ethe crew set up and took down events, there was someone keeping the crowd going, whether it was a warm-up guy, or a cheerleader. I know this is how it was done for most of UK Gladiators, but I'm not sure what they did for AG.
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Actually, I think it may have changed for later seasons, because starting with season 6, they scrapped the elimination-bracket system almost entirely and instead had 15 preliminary heats, bringing back the 4 highest-scoring men and 4 women, and then held a semi-finals and Grand Championship.
In seasons 1-5, it may have worked differently.
However, I can't imagine them taping more than one episode in a day under that procedure. I'm thinking that in later years, especially when practically every game was being played in every episode and the Eliminator became elaborate as hell, they started grouping games together.
To clarify, for those who haven't been reading up on this as much as I, for some reason, have, in season 6, they played 9 of their 13 games in each episode. Three events were played by both the men and the women, 3 were played by only the men, and 3 were played by only the women, meaning that taping was almost certainly done in spurts. This was not done in any of the earlier seasons, so they could have easily done it differently back then.
(I think I recall hearing it was done differently then...something about each episode being taped in halves, but I can't remember off the top of my head.)
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For seasons 3-5, they taped two episodes a day, one for the first half and one for the second. This way they could shoot shows with the exact same event lineup and air them months apart. This did create a problem with injuries, especially in season 3, where both Turbo, Lace, and Gold all get hurt in the middle of the first half, are fine at the beginning of the second half, and disappear again in the middle of the second half. Seasons 1 and 2 were split into halves, but they were aired in the order they were shot. Since they only had a handful of events back then, it wasn't as important to split them, since they played the exact same events every episode.