TV Cynic posted in Ten Network schedule thread that brand new episodes would air at 7.30pm on Thursday and Friday this week.
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The amount of money they spent on promoting this show and itâs an instant flop. Thatâs what happens when you make it cheap and change the dates where the competition was too much. It wouldâve been better fodder early Jan.
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Revised for this week
By my calculations the series will continue next week (Sunday to Friday) including quarter and semi finals (Thursday, Friday) with the final to be on Sunday 4 February.
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Seems to be a staple of 10 though I think its been thrown at 7 with some of the franchises they have rebooted over the last few years as well.
Not really. Most of their shows have high production values. This is a rare example.
Episode 1 of Gladiators did comparatively well, especially in comparison to other reality shows and the time of year.
So the timing and promotional strategy seemed to be ok. But the production of the show let it down; viewers didnât like what they saw. Had it been better, we wouldnât be having this discussion.
Worth noting that WB Australia produces both Gladiators and Bachelors. Perhaps time to look at other production houses?
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Iâve just watched the first episode. Itâs so slow.
It takes 8m15s to get to the start of the first game, then thereâs a false start which takes another 45 seconds to replay then restart. Even allowing for the introduction of the next contender, it takes until 12 minutes to get to the second matchup of the first event. That was with a combined 11 seconds roughly of âgameplayâ in the first two games.
One of the strengths of the original was the fast pace of it. It felt like sport, too albeit with a slight pantomimey good v evil feel. This new iteration feels like WWE crossed with reality TV.
I will say Beau and Liz are fine, but we also donât need to see their cutaways during games either or the Gladiators.
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I fully believe that if 10 had put the money in and produced something similar to what the UK revival put out that it would have kept more of that initial premiere audience which others have said performed above other recent reality tentpole launches.
The same 4 events in the two nights with too much padding in between events means itâs just a hard format to stomach 3 nights a week.
I am sure there are clauses in the contracts contestants signed that say in the event of cancellation there will be no prize, but I canât imagine the two that have won are all too happy that a Season 2 looks unlikely based on 10âs programming decisions today.
If we assume 13 episodes, we can see the rest of the schedule playing out like this:
Tonight: Ep 3
Tomorrow: Ep 4
Friday 19/01: Ep 5
Sunday 21/01: Ep 6
Monday 22/01: Ep 7
Tuesday 23/01: Ep 8
Wednesday 24/01: Ep 9
Thursday 25/01: Ep 10
Friday 26/01: Ep 11
Sunday 28/01: Ep 12 and 13
All ready for Survivor to launch at 7:30 Monday 29/01
Really 10 should have put this on a week earlier like it was originally planned, clear of the tennis, if the schedule was this tight.
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Appears to be a Gladiators-sized âto be advisedâ hole on Saturday evening too - like they had on Thursday until it was confirmed - so it may well be an extremely quick burnout.
8.30-ish time slots set for Thurs-Fri and the TBA Sat slot is similar. (The time for Thursday will be same-ish everywhere as the Asian Cup soccer will be on 10 Bold in states where theyâd clash.)
If it had rated OK, you mightâve let it lead in to the Survivor premiere but thatâd be madness now.
As mentioned above, Gladiators is now at 7.30 on Thursday and Friday.
The only TBA on Saturday are 11pm and midnight.
The 12 episode run puts the final on Sunday 4 February with 6 episodes at 7.30pm next week if the current schedule is kept.
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Hmm⌠okay. Blame that on Nineâs guide that (in three states for some reason) is was still showing Ambulance being shifted forward to 7.30 and a TBA slot from 8.45-10.10. I see what youâre seeing everywhere else including 10âs own guide.
edit: Nineâs guide has caught up to the rest this (Thurs) morning, so no big deal there. But probably shows how much of a scramble Ten is in with their schedule right now 
I agree with this. Itâs not scheduling as the first episode did OK. People were interested and if it was good it could have been somewhat competitive with the Open. However it dropped half of itâs audience because the show wasnât amazing itself.
I canât take Halo seriously
These are the quarter-finals. The six male and six female qualifiers take part in three quarter-finals. While the quarter-final winners go straight to the semi-final, how will the fourth semi-finalist be decided?
I never understood why they intended to start Survivor a week later than their rival shows anyway - seemed dumb to give them a head start.
Canât be very often a flop is dealt with by rushing more episodes into the schedules, but in the circumstances a smart way to handle it. What were 10 showing against the Aussie Open last year and how did that rate?
And regardless of other issues these physical shows need variations from show to show in the challenges on offer - the weaker series are always the more repetitive series. You can perhaps get away with the same games a bit more if itâs airing weekly, but not night after night. At the very least you need to alternate things so Ep 1/3/5 etc. has one thing and Ep 2/4⌠has something different.
Presumably the fastest runner up in the Eliminator. Thatâs how the UK is doing it - 5 winners + fastest loser into three quarters, then 3 winners + fastest loser into semi.
The Bachelors was up against the tennis and did alright. Better than Gladiators but a far cry from when Iâm a Celebrity occupied that part of the schedule.
See also the hosts dressed the same for each episode which suggests multiple episodes filmed at once. I asked this question about the UK version with all the setting up required for each round but we apparently filmed one complete episode per session, but looks like the Aussie version probably filmed in blocks with one game filmed for multiple episodes then the set changed for the next.
If nothing else was wrong with the show that wouldnât really be a problem, but as things stand itâs just another sign of it being done on the cheap.
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Considering the time needed to set up and test the obstacles for the Eliminator, I think the Aussie version did the right thing. If one episode was filmed per session, it would go deep into the night and everyone would be tired at the end.
However, if the Aussie version is renewed, maybe the producers can consider the hybrid method for the heats and quarter-finals. Using the current season for example, the six heats are filmed across six sessions (one episode per session), except the Eliminator. The 7th day is then dedicated to the filming of the six Eliminators. Similarly, the three quarter-finals take place across three sessions (one QF per session) with the Eliminators to be filmed on day 4.
Youâre comparing the premier of Gladiators to a lot of other reality flops though and Love Island never does the business on linear but on streaming so I fail to see how thatâs a fair comparison. Plus a lot of those shows never should have been renewed in the first place.
A fair comparison would be the Bachelors in the slot last year, so by that metric it underwhelmed significantly especially considering the massive marketing push. I mean every 10 channel in nearly every ad break for over a month. It was exhausting and relentless. It certainly didnât generate enough viewers for the launch for a much publicized reboot.
Also it had zero real competition. Sport is sport so the people that wanted to watch were always going to watch that, but it had no reality or drama as competition.
The timing was terrible. Constantly changing premier dates and having 10 being without a tentpole show for a month. Networks canât afford to not have first run content in primetime at any stage these days and the period was way too long.
Yes the production was crap (Cheap looking, silly face makeup, too much padding, gimmicky staged locker sequences) but it would have failed anyway. Times have changed and many families donât want to watch rough physical contact or people injuring themselves. Plus the cringe factor alone permeating every facet of the show was way too much.
What was your excuse for Gladiators failing in 2008?
Australia has voted yet again that Gladiators is a sad relic that should have been relegated to the 90s.