I was excited months ago when I heard American Gladiators was returning to television and its arrival last week didn’t let me down. Nearly everything I loved about the original series was back in this version plus all the new challenges has made it a very satisfying show to watch. The big names of Hulk Hogan and Laila Ali was a great idea and thankfully doesn’t seem to take as much attention away from the show as I thought it might. There is definitely a lot heavier focus on the contenders themselves than before as we get more details and sideshow clips of them discussing their motivations and background. I guess this was done to get us invested in the contenders as those that will win will return for the semi-finals in a few months.

As far as the challenges, some have stayed the same, some have been upgraded, and some just don’t make sense to me. Out of the completely new challenges I like the pyramid the best as that looks hard as anything. All one of the gladiators has to do it tackle you and roll to the bottom and you’re done. What used to be part of the final challenge, the Eliminator, is now its own challenge where you’ll find gladiators swinging giant pendulums at the contenders running across a bridge. We were told the pendulums weigh 100lbs, but from watching them hit I don’t know if I believe that. The other problem with that challenge was quickly revealed when the contender simply dropped to the ground and the ball swung right over him. Ah well. The improvements to many of the other challenges seems to be to just add water. It’s an interesting idea and considering how often it was done I wonder if there’s some sort of reduced insurance when you have these guys fall into water instead of down to the mats.

I’d really like to see more of the Assault challenge as that was always my favorite. The way the shows go is that they cherry pick which challenges the men and women get, so you won’t get the same mix between the sexes or even night to night. I guess that’s a good idea so it doesn’t get redundant. I’d also like to know where the heck the challenge went that put the contenders and gladiators in giant metal balls and made them roll around and bounce off each other in attempt to get atop platforms for points. That was awesome and is not part of the show’s return. My final complaints are on the Eliminator. Firstly, that ramp at the end is clearly too steep. Watch the clip below to get an idea of what has happened in every competition so far. They just can’t get up it after all that running and jumping. Secondly, at the very end of the old Eliminator the contender was faced with two doors, one held a gladiator waiting to sack them and the other was a clear path to the finish line. Come on guys! That’s way cooler than a wall of soft bricks to fall through. I’ll be interested to see how that brick wall stands up to a photo finish. What counts as finished? Hitting the wall? Getting through the wall? Landing on the mats behind it? Needs some work.

Overall, the return of American Gladiators has been awesome and I’m really glad to get to watch it again after so many years. Yeah, it needs some work from place to place, but it’s still solid enough to recommend. Check it out tonight on NBC at 8pm.

If you’ve missed any of the episodes so far (just three of them before tonight’s episode) then you can catch them over here in full at NBC.com. More good news for Gladiators fans, NBC has already renewed the show for a second season. Not bad for a show just entering its second week.

Here are a few clips from the show to get you warmed up: