Okay, American Gladiators has a horrible amount of cheeze:

— The hosts suck. The female host is lame, and Hogan needs to go away. Roddy Piper would have been a better choice.

— The gladiators are kinda weak. One gets hurt by hanging from a ring??? The other starts to lose his voice from howling like a wolf? And don’t get me started on Toa and Titan. Oh my..

— The contestants are annoying. It’s like all the pain of Deal or No Deal but with some rehearsed bits as well.

— It shamelessly steals from Ninja Warrior (which I suppose could be seen as something that borrowed from the Eliminator).

BUT.. BUT… it’s not without some little charm. I get to see people tackled, without having to watch professional sports, and folks get downed into water. And there’s no Jeff Foxworthy!! That can’t be all bad!