American Gladiators fails to deliver... again!

I mentioned in another post a little while back that I thought it was sad that NBC was resorting to reviving American Gladiators now that we are still in the midst of the WGA writers' strike. In the weeks since, I was starting to warm up a little to the idea when it was announced that Hulk Hogan and Laila Ali would be hosts. I thought that perhaps this would being viewers in and maybe even make it more interesting. Well, now that I've actually sat through the season premiere, I am requesting those two hours of my life back. It was the same tired idea that failed to deliver a couple decades ago. It was a novelty back then, but even the star host couldn't make this any better than it what it is, a replacement show. And while many of the competitors talked about coming back "next season," I've got some news... unless that's next week, I really doubt this show will see a run of over a couple months and that's being generous. Sorry Hulkster!

Who thrives during the writers strike?

So I have been thinking about this whole Writers' Guild of America writers strike and how the networks are preparing to air re-runs and back-up shows. I guess what hit me the most was that NBC was actually lowering themselves enough to air American Gladiators. I still can't believe that, but whatever. Now I understand that most of the shows wouldn't work on NBC with the viewer demographic, but NBC, like ABC, owns many cable networks. The difference between NBC and ABC in this regard is that most of NBC's cable affiliates offer serial dramatic television and made-for-television movies. ABC on the other hand owns networks like ESPN. While it might not be a long term solution, NBC could gather shows from USA, A&E, Bravo, or even Sci-Fi. Until that time, it's 90-mile-per-hour tennis balls and men in tight shorts - Yikes!