Good-Bye, “Ben-Hur”

I hadn’t ever seen the original “Planet of the Apes” from start to finish (though I knew of the key scenes and had seen Burton’s remake…) until this weekend when it just so happened to hit AMCHD.

Glad about Gladiators

My wife never saw the original “American Gladiators,” so she isn’t familiar with “Joust” or “The Eliminator.” But even she was thrilled by Titan throwing the “Spider Monkey” off three rows of the “Pyramid.”

I should stop for a second, because if you didn’t see last night’s two-hour premiere, you don’t know what I’m talking about, and that’s a dirty shame. At least take an hour tonight (8 eastern, 7 DFW time) to check out the fury of Fury and the other Gladiators as they literally slam into relatively average Joes and Josettes during events that range from embarrassingly one-sided to straight up contests of oddness.

While I assume swimming under fire just makes for better TV, “The Eliminator’s” treadmills are still the biggest challenge and make for the best example of how much energy contestants have to expend just to finish the race. At the same time, you’ve got other events — I’m looking at you, “Earthquake” — that just hand it to the Gladiators. I mean, the first time you see the event, the Gladiator BODY SLAMMED the contestant. Unless you used to wrestle in high school, best of luck winning against someone who’s at least been up on the platform against an opponent before.

At the heart of the show, though, it’s still the classic feel of competitive, over-the-top action that made the first incarnation great. I’m glad to have my childhood friend back, and now that we’ve got another “Gladiators” fan in the house, we’ll be watching the hard hits for a while.

Already got a favorite Gladiator, or just want to remember their names? Check out this slideshow of the new Gladiators.