When NBC announced that they were bringing back American Gladiators the general reaction was one of widespread disbelief. And now it's coming back in the UK as well, on Sky One. Surely this was an idea so musty as to be all but decayed?
Gladiators: Panther in the original series. Photograph: Rex Features/ITV
After all hasn't our shiny new technological world of bloggers and Youtube, of Facebook and MySpace moved on from the days when men and women hitting each other with giant foam sticks constituted good entertainment? At the very least isn't footage of men or women hitting each other with giant foam sticks available all over the internet?
By any law of television the remake of American Gladiators just shouldn't be a success. In the 19 years since it began in the US reality TV has become both increasingly sophisticated and increasingly mean.
By contrast, the original show, which ran in the US from 1989 to 1996, in the UK from 1992-2000 and had spin-offs in Australia, Japan, South Africa, Germany, Finland, Denmark and Sweden - the Norwegians were clearly too sensible to get involved - was reality TV of the type we rarely see anymore. Silly and pointless yet oddly endearing. It was both dafter than predecessors such as Superstars and less antagonistic than successors such as Survivor.
Gladiators, in its UK incarnation it made heroes of men called things like Wolf and Shadow, pin-ups of women called Lightning and Jet and as a sideline provided a steady supply of boyfriends for Ulrika Jonsson. The UK show also featured a frankly terrifying contestant named Eunice Huthart whose thousand yard stare and sinewy desire to win haunted me through many a lazy Saturday before eventually winning her a place as a Gladiator in her own right.
The US version, meanwhile, was notable for being considerably less glitzy then you might have imagined and for featuring a Gladiator with the distinctly unterrifying name of Lace. This time around they have sensibly nicked the idea of panto villain Wolf from the UK Gladiators and spiced up the rest of the team to ensure more of a WWF feel.
And that ultimately is why it has worked - because make no mistake American Gladiators is a surprise hit, particularly within the all-important, to US television executives anyway, 18-49 age group. Yes, it's partially because the writers' strike means that there's little else on but it's also because a generation raised on WWF's pantomime wrestling can relate to the revival's camp appeal.
All of which might seem like another nail in television's coffin were it not for American Gladiators' one truly redeeming feature: it might be silly but at least it's not mean. When most other reality TV shows spend their time trying to ramp up the fear levels or outdo each other with snide remarks, it's worth noting that the least combative show is the one set in a gladiatorial arena. And it is all the better for it.
For in an era where mockery is our default mode and ersatz fame our spur, it's a refreshing change to watch a show where people compete in a giant arena to see who is the best at hanging around in a spinning metal ball, while being "attacked" by men and women wearing nothing more dangerous than a spangly leotard.
American Gladiators will never make any claims to be groundbreaking or even good television. But if it presages a change in the way we view reality television - and the signs are that the era of mean TV is finally edging towards its welcome end - then its revival if not necessary is, at least, welcome.
