Just to add. I can’t get Christie Whelan Browne out of my head who’s playing a character
I think the First EP did ok - Marketing did its job and got 400k viewers in the door. Not bad, considering the time of year, and if it was a well-produced show, it would have gotten people talking, and numbers could have increased, or at least maintained at that level.
I do think it would have reached a slightly higher audience if it were to avoid sports - I think Gladiators, as a vibe is closer to straight-up sports than a straight-up reality show (MAFS, Aus Idol or Aus Survivor (even with a substantial physical element with their challenges)). I think it would have more from sports-interested viewers than entertainment-interested viewers. But a dud-show is a dud-show regardless of the type of audience could have captured. Of the audience it did capture, over half of those who check out the first ep did not come back for the second or third.
I disagree about the first ep. I think 10 was hoping it would have got near what I’m a Celeb was doing when it was shown in January, at least close to 500,000. Both were geared towards the family market.
Gladiators looked like a Tag replacement, you know 7’s flop from a couple of years ago. Spartan flopped as well. Only Ninja Warrior in a similar vein has done any good recently so the odds were firmly against Gladiators niche appeal.
How many 10 year old are watching the Australian open though? I don’t think the time of year was that bad, like I said you only have to compete against sport (It would have flopped against Idol/MAFS even harder especially with kids being back at school and the casual non sport audience looking elsewhere) and as I’m a Celeb has shown there is a family market at this time of year, especially as the BBL is waning.
Though I do get what you’re saying about the physicality and it being closer to sports.
Honestly when I heard this was coming back again …. I thought hmm is it still relevant do people want to watch a bunch of adults in skin tight outfits playing games or this calibre ? Well I enjoyed it , it’s definrtly not the same viewing of the original . I like to think the 2008 version does not exist.
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It would be more enjoyable to watch out the production didn’t look so “cheap”… The 90s Gladiators was much better, this one is just ok. I didn’t watch it tonight though.
Do we think this show would still do well on Saturday nights ?
Seven use to program it at 6.30 after the news.
I watched a couple of episodes of Season 2 of the original series tonight, having seen the opener of the 2024 version and there really is no comparison.
The 90s version is way tighter, it races through the episode at breakneck speed but nothing feels rushed. As I mentioned, the new version feels ponderous in comparison.
I think the 90s version holds up quite strongly (yes, there’s the outdated hairdos, fashion and sets to an extent).
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I remember watching Seven’s re-boot in 2008, when they had the Beijing Olympics, there was a big marketing campaign, still have the Gladiators poster somewhere (recall Tiff Hall - of TBL later seasons and wife of Ed Kavalee fame and AFL legend Kouta were on the show).
This year was one of the network’s most dominant, after winning 2007 for the first time in many years and pretty much every timeslot they owned…
I can’t remember this series’ ratings? Were they actually that bad, for then? Anyone remember? I might try TVT archives or old newspaper articles for a refresher of the previous iteration.
According to the promo shown at the end of tonight’s episode, the son of referee Hammer, Torey, would take part in heat 5 tomorrow (Friday). Wouldn’t there be conflict of interest?
Torey would be up against Kalani, the son of Delta (Karyn Alley) from the 1995 series.
UPDATED 19/1/2024
I believe the 90s original series is on YouTube. Worth watching to compare.
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I think it’s a mistake to think of it as a reality TV show which is an alternative to sport - it’s a Sports Entertainment show, and scheduling it against one of the biggest sports events of the year did not make sense. You are losing much of it’s target audience instantly.
Of course anything against MAFS is a lamb to the slaughter but it would have been a very good family alternative, but as you say likely still have flopped, especially being the product they’ve made.
The obsession with stripped shows is really coming back to bite Seven and Ten especially now as there are so few options to actually launch something new. If most shows were still aired weekly they’d likely be opportunities throughout the year to launch new formats on certain nights of the week, but thanks to their almost always being a big franchise running throughout the year they are few and far between now.
If it gets another series a big if it needs to be much like the new UK series and the OG 1990’s version better music,more games.Actually who at channel 10 decided to air this show the gladiators and the contestants are alright but the show is shit.
The wiki page for the 2008 series has them. Debuted to 1.8 then settled mostly around 1.2 - numbers networks would obviously be thrilled with nowadays!
I loved the 90s version. It came and went rather quickly - Seven chose to run three series quite literally back-to-back across 1995-96, so assumably fatigue set in
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Yeah I was looking at the Top 20 shows for the Week when the original Series 1 premiered and it’s initial numbers were over 2 million and then it consistently declined week after week, re-entering the Top 20 for event shows like The Ashes series.
The original series was aired pretty much without any breaks and I think production for a 4th series stopped because they couldn’t justify the massive costs to only end up with 1.5 Million which in those days was quite bad.
It seems like the show has the consistent problem where there is good initial interest but it’s hard to keep that over time because the format needs to constantly evolve with new games and gladiators to keep it from getting stale.
Whereas other reality TV formats over time have been able to have more staying power because their formats are inherently more interesting and minimal adjustments still keep the viewers engaged.
I watched the Netflix documentary and it seemed liked the American version had similar issues.
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I think we’re in “who cares” territory now lol at this point they need Krusty on-screen offering $40 to anyone who watches
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I don’t know why they didn’t flex tonight’s offspring of Gladiators episode into earlier in the week and capitalise on the nostalgia beat.
It doesn’t really matter what order the heats are aired in and could easily be edited if needed
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An assistant referee had to be called in to officiate the men’s competition in tonight’s episode, as Hammer’s son Torey was competing.
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If you want to see how the show should have been made, just watch the BBC version.
I firmly believe that there is a market for Gladiators - but when it’s shown in winter, on a saturday night where it can grow its audience, as long as it gets proper production values.
The TV schedules have been released and state which games are coming up and who’s in the quarters and semi finals. The Edge is left for the Semi Finals, with Tilt and Whiplash coming in for the Quarters with the appearance of Dragon. At this point I suspect Viking or another male Gladiator will drop out injured.
From what I know BlackOps was only brought in as a Gladiator because Tyson wasn’t available to play Dragon and they needed a replacement gladiator at the time, as Viking had injured his shoulder after his first event.
EDIT - BlackOps is back in tonight. Which leaves me wondering - maybe they did film the show as in the 2008 version - one day per game for the heats eg all of the games of The Wall in one day. Then repeated for the Quarters. This led to a continuity nightmare in the US 2008 version where Laila Ali’s pregnancy seemed to suddenly appear, disappear and reappear, contenders had changing hair styles and the hosts clothes changed. If they were shooting this way, it would account for Beau and Liz clothes remaining the same and certain Gladiators being used and re-used for certain games.
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Back on the for the eliminator.
Do you think Gladiators will be back for another series?