The life and times of the TV show American Gladiators as told by the people who were there.
I was working on other things and decided that I would put on the new Netflix documentary series MUSCLES AND MEMORY AN UN AUTHORIZED STORY OF AMERICAN GLADIATORS because I thought it would be entertaining and not taxing. I was half way into the third episode, which I thought was the last episode, and I was wondering how it was going to wrap up. Checking Netflix I discovered I was wrong and the series was actually five episodes and was struck by the notion that there wasn’t enough for two and a half more episodes. I turned the series off and went about doing other things.
The next day I picked the series up and I was struck by two things, first the second half of the series is much better than the first, and second the series really needs a complete re-edit. There is much that could go and much that could be expanded. There is an interesting story in this four and a half hours of material, but it needs a different set of eyes to make it really work.
Honestly I had a good time watching the series, I liked that all the gladiators came off as really nice people. I liked the stories they told. I’m also surprised that the people from the producers don’t really come off that well. I’m not sure if it’s the editing or because they simply wanted to down play some of the things they did. We never get a reason why they didn’t increase their pay when the series was a hit, nor do we get any answers about why they thought the gladiators didn’t matter and how or why they changed their minds concerning the ones they fired and then brought back.
Worth a look on an undemanding night or while doing other things.
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