History Series / AmericanGladiators

* SpeedRound: Beginning in season 4, whatever event was last that day would be dubbed "Crunch Time" and be worth more points than usual.

* WorthyOpponent: The Gladiators would often congratulate the contenders after an event if they did well, or at the least survived. Whenever someone got injured, many of the Glads, even Nitro, would often express [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone remorse for causing the injuries]].

* '''Assault''': A "[[StormingTheCastle storm the castle]]"-type game, where the contenders try to shoot a target above the Gladiators’head before the Gladiators can shoot them with a tennis ball cannon.

* '''Assault''': A "[[StormingTheCastle storm the castle]]"-type game, where the contender tries to shoot a target above the Gladiator's head before the Gladiator can shoot them with a tennis ball cannon.

!!GameShowTropes in use:
* BonusRound: The Eliminator is technically one of these.
* DoubleTheDollars: On some occasions in season 4, Powerball became "Super Powerball", where three goal baskets were laid out in a straight line (three points for the ones on the left or right, five for the center) and only two Gladiators were present.
* GoldenSnitch:
** In the most well-known version, the points from the first six games were converted to half-seconds of head-start time in the Eliminator. And yes, large deficits ''have'' been overcome.
** The travellator at the end of the Eliminator in the revival provided a snitch-within-a-snitch: failing to reach the top on your first try all but guaranteed that your opponent would catch up with you.
* Personnel:
** TheAnnouncer: John Harlan (announcer for ''Series/NameThatTune'', the 1971-75 run of ''Series/{{Password}}'', ''Series/AllStarBlitz'', and the original US versions of ''Series/CatchPhrase'' and ''Series/Wipeout1988'') did normal announcing duties from 1990 to 1992 (he only came onboard after Joe Theismann left). Van Earl Wright did play-by-play in the revival.
** GameShowHost: Wrestling/MikeAdamle hosted for the entire run, with Joe Theismann for the first 13 weeks. Theismann was replaced by Todd Christensen for the remainder of that season followed by Larry Csonka from 1990-93, Lisa Malosky from 1993-95, and Dan "Nitro" Clark for the final season (1995-96). Wrestling/HulkHogan and Laila Ali hosted the NBC revival.
** StudioAudience
* SpeedRound: Beginning in season 4, whatever event was last that day would be dubbed "Crunch Time" and be worth more points than usual.
----

** StatuesqueStunner: Shirley Eson (Sky) fit this trope too, standing at 6'3'' tall.
* AmericanTitle

* GladiatorGames: Well, ''duh''.

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

* IconicSequelCharacter: Larry Czonka only came onboard with the second season in 1990; Joe Theissman and Todd Christensen preceded him.

** Joe Theismann was co-host. (It's said that the first 13 have never been released on DVD at the behest of Theismann.)

* DemotedToExtra: By 1992, 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.

* MarketBasedTitle: The British ''Gladiators'' renamed Joust. They called it the Duel.

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 channel 136.

* AmericanTitle

* {{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 Czonka 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.

* UnnecessaryRoughness: There were a few instances of the Gladiators and contestants mixing it up in the heat of competition. Once, Turbo actually '''punched''' a contestant during Swingshot.[[note]]Who, oddly enough, was Kyler Storm, during a "Battle of the Best" special.[[/note]]

** StatuesqueStunner: Shirley Eson (Sky) fit this trope too, standing at 6'3'' tall.

** TheAnnouncer: John Harlan (announcer for ''Series/NameThatTune'', the 1971-75 run of ''Series/{{Password}}'', ''Series/AllStarBlitz'', and the original US versions of ''Series/CatchPhrase'' and ''Series/Wipeout1988'') did normal announcing duties during the first years of the original run. Van Earl Wright did play-by-play in the revival.

* ChekhovsGunman: Several times Todd Christensen compared a contender to Larry Csonka whenever they bull rushed the Gladiator in the Breakthrough portion of Breakthrough and Conquer. The next year he would be replaced by the aforementioned Csonka.

* 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.
* {{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, updated its music package, replaced Larry Czonka 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.

* SigilSpam: In the last couple of seasons, the stylized "AG" symbol was everywhere.
* SpecialGuest: A few movie and TV actors showed up as contestants. Creator/DeanCain, at the height of his popularity as Superman in ''Series/LoisAndClark'', specifically participated because he was a college football player and [[TheCastShowOff wanted to show off]] (and he did extremely well, scaling the Wall in record time amidst all the jokes that he really couldn't fly). His opponent was John C. [=McGinley=], later known for being Dr. Cox on ''Series/{{Scrubs}}''. Debbie Dunning from ''Series/HomeImprovement'' was also in an episode.

* SpinOff: ''Gladiators [[{{Trope2000}} 2000]]'', a kids' version with two pairs of contestants and Gladiators as coaches. It tried to be educational by shoehorning puzzles and questions related to health and fitness into the games (i.e. the Pyramid became the Food Pyramid by adding oversized food for players to collect, Snapback required placing bones on a diagram of the human body, and the Eliminator incorporated questions into its obstacles for bonus points). MGM, who owns the series, put said spin-off back into syndication in 2008 to tie in with the NBC revival.

* 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 a candy product, would be plugged before an event. The later seasons had the in-studio video walls marked as the Slim Jim Superscreens.

* '''Assault''': A "[[StormingTheCastle storm the castle]]"-type game, where the contender tries to shoot a target above the Gladiator's head before the Gladiator can shoot him with a tennis ball cannon.

* '''Powerball''': Contenders attempt to put balls into cylinders while the Gladiators try to stop them.

* '''Swingshot''': Contenders attempt to grab balls from a center pole using a bungee cord.

The original series (which ran until 1996) was aired in syndication, and later become popular re-run 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 is currently 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; however, it seems to have fallen into DevelopmentHell. Currently, reruns of both the 1989 original and the 2008 revival can be seen on Creator/PlutoTV channel 136.

Originally the Gladiators were to be larger than life characters with fake backstories, but this was dropped from the original pilot and instead they were portrayed as normal ex-jocks with fancy names like Ice, Turbo, Nitro, Sabre, Hawk, Tower, etc. The popularity of the Gladiators helped keep the show going, even as Gladiators themselves left the show with a great deal of regularity over the course of the first couple of seasons. The most popular include Lori Fetrick (Ice) and Lee Reherman (Hawk), the latter of which went onto the most successful career of the Gladiators after the show was cancelled. Also of note was contender Wrestling/RicoConstantino, who would later have a short stint in Wrestling/{{WWE}} as...[[TheDanza Rico]].

The original series (which ran until 1996) was aired in syndication, and later become popular re-run fodder for [[Creator/SpikeTV The New TNN]], and later 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 is currently 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; however, it seems to have fallen into DevelopmentHell. Currently, reruns of both the 1989 original and the 2008 revival can be seen on Creator/PlutoTV channel 136.