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''American Gladiators'' is an American competition television program that aired weekly in syndication from September 1989 to May 1996. The series matched a cast of amateur athletes against each other, as well as against the show's own gladiators, in contests of strength and agility. The concept was created by Dan Carr and John C. Ferraro, who held the original competition at Erie Tech High School in Erie, Pennsylvania. They sold the show to The Samuel Goldwyn Company (later MGM) where the concept was enhanced and became ''American Gladiators''. An effort in 2004 to launch a live ''American Gladiators'' show on the Las Vegas Strip became mired in a securities fraud prosecution. However, the television series was restarted in 2008. Episodes from the original series were played on ESPN Classic from 2007 to 2009. Several episodes are available for download on Apple's iTunes Service. ==Competition== ''American Gladiators'' featured four competitors, two men and two women, in most episodes. The players went through a series of seven physical challenges with the goal to eventually become the season's overall winner, referred to as the Grand Champion. This was determined by a season-long tournament. In the first two seasons, two tournaments were held in each season. Twenty contenders (ten of each sex) in each half-season tournament were chosen from a nationwide contestant pool based on tests of strength and agility, with several alternates chosen in case a contender could not continue due to injury. Five preliminary round matchups were played with the winners automatically advancing to the quarterfinal round, along with the three highest scoring losers. Any alternates from that point on came from the previous round's losers. Once the quarterfinals began, the tournament became a single elimination affair with the eight remaining competitors vying to earn a berth in the Grand Championship and $10,000 in cash The winners of the first tournament of the season would face the winners of the second, with an additional cash prize and a car at stake for the winner. In seasons three and four, the field competitors increased to 48 and the tournament format was adjusted. Six preliminary round matches were played and the winners of those matches automatically advanced to the quarterfinals. The winners of the three quarterfinal matches advanced to the semifinals, along with the highest scoring non-winner. The semifinals and finals went on as before with the winners of the half-season tournaments meeting in the Grand Championship. For season five, the tournament format was revamped again. Eight competitors on each side played four preliminary round matches, and following that each of the eight was seeded based on their performance. From there, the tournaments were conducted in single elimination format, thus eliminating the need for wild cards. In seasons six and seven, a single tournament was spread out over the season and a rule in place on the British ''Gladiators'' (and later carried over to the 2008 revival) was adopted. This time contenders were not only competing to win, with $2,500 given to all preliminary winners regardless, but to have the highest overall winning score as well. Once all the preliminary rounds were completed the four highest scoring winners advanced to the semifinal round, with the winners playing for $25,000 in the Grand Championship. During the first half of the first season, the show's set resembled that of an ancient Roman gladiatorial arena, with the stands raised high above the ground. For the second half, the show's set was changed into a modern indoor sports arena style. An onscreen clock was added in the second half of the season, which allowed viewers to see how much time a contender had left to complete an event. The hooded figures that officiated the games were replaced by veteran NFL referee Bob McElwee. Starting in Season 2, former Pacific-10 football referee Larry Thompson became the referee. After being based at Universal Studios Hollywood for the first two seasons, production moved to the CBS Studio Center, into a studio referred to as "Gladiator Arena". Other aesthetic changes were made as the series progressed. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「American Gladiators」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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