Muscling In On Family Fun

Quick, hide the Christians, the Gladiators are back, writes Michael Idato.

TELEVISION is rarely all things to all people. A broad church with a vast congregation, programming slates often struggle to balance provocative, innovative ideas and safe, broad-demographic, family-friendly programs.

And there is little kudos in playing it safe, admits Channel Seven programmer Tim Worner who, nevertheless, has dusted off the safest of all formats, the big, brash arena spectacular, Gladiators.

"With provocative television programs there is a greater margin for error," Mr Worner says. "Gladiators, which is targeted directly at families, has a much smaller margin for error, and you have to hit the target. Its an amazing spectacle and it seems appropriate that in an Olympic year we would go for Gladiators."

Channel Seven originally produced two series of Gladiators between 1995 and 1997. It involves ultra-fit contestants taking on "the Gladiators", typically pumped-up competition-level athletes with elaborate names such as Commando, Vulcan, Glacier (the original series), Bionica, Olympia and Outlaw (the new series), in a range of equally elaborate games, with names such as Hang Tough, Gauntlet and Powerball.

In spite of it sitting somewhere between legitimate athletic competition and the cartoonish antics of American wrestling, the result is engaging, and often spectacular, typically in a boof-down-he-goes fashion, as gladiators chase down contestants using brute force and a range of Freudian props, including flexible poles and huge swinging balls.

Mr Worner says the time was right for Gladiators to return, because it was "big, fun and fantastic family entertainment. Its the sort of show that the climate seems perfect for right now."

He acknowledges the perception that there has been a lack of family-friendly television in recent years, particularly as producers, critics and audiences have a demonstrated appetite for vanguard programs such as Six Feet Under, Dexter and Californication, but he is quick to defend Sevens track record in the genre.

"We have always tried to keep our quotient of family-friendly television at a high level, and weve had a lot of success with big variety shows, such as It Takes Two and Dancing with the Stars," he says. "It was, in part, the success of those shows with that family demographic, which leads you to think, what else is a big show where people are having fun?"

The answer, it seems, was Gladiators. Channel Seven reacquired the format from MGM Television shortly before Ben Silvermans company Reveille bought the worldwide rights and produced an updated version for US network NBC, though most pundits will presume, partly because NBC beat Seven to air, that Australia has again taken its cue from the US.

"We went through a process of trying to develop something that pressed all the same buttons as Gladiators, and we had been doing that for a year or more, and we got to a point where we realised it was better to go for the original and best," Mr Worner says.

When they decided to revamp the format, Sevens executives rescreened an episode of the original Seven series, and also several episodes of the Swedish version, Gladiatorerna, which borrowed its set from the British version, and featured a slightly more porno-esque line up, including Valkyria, Medusa and Python.

Mr Worner says the process was useful, but that neither version was particularly revealing.

"I dont reckon we took that much from either," he says, "We sat down, laid out the witches hats in terms of what sort of show we wanted to make, how we wanted to sell that show to the audience and then started ticking off those boxes, one by one."

Particularly important, Mr Worner says, was the inclusion of executive producer Lisa Fitzpatrick and event producer Eric Robinson. Both had worked on the original Seven version, which was filmed at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre. (The new series is filmed at The Dome at the Sydney Showgrounds in Homebush.)

"When youre taking on a project that is really gargantuan, it certainly helps to have at least a few people around who have been down the path before," says Mr Worner. "Because it is a big show, there are potholes you can fall into, and it helps to have people who might have gone to the edge of those potholes before. They know where they are. It makes sense to have those people on your team."

The revamped Gladiators is hosted by presenter Tom Williams (Great Outdoors) and actor Zoe Naylor (McLeods Daughters), and the games are refereed by Bill Harrigan, a former NFL rugby league referee. The gladiators include Amazon, Hunter, Outlaw, Nitro, Viper, Destiny and Scar. Former Olympic athlete Tatiana Grigorieva has been signed to the series, as the gladiator Olympia, as well as former AFL player Anthony Koutoufides, as the gladiator Kouta.

Mr Worner says the revamped series, which introduces three new games, Pendulum, Vertigo and Sumo Ball, is better than the original.

"Its familiar, but I wouldnt say that its identical, and wed obviously like to think its better. Its certainly bigger. Were better at making television than we were 10 years or so ago, and I think that shows."

Gladiators premieres on Sunday at 6.30pm on Seven.

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