Muscles & Mayhem: An Unauthorized Story of American Gladiators

Amerian Gladiators was a neat sports competition/game show I used to watch, but like every other competition, it is bound to have some dark secrets.

A five-part documentary mini-series looking into the original incarnation of the American Gladiators that aired for seven seasons from 1989 to 1996, the series feature some of the original Gladiators like Michael Horton/Gemini, Danny Lee Clark/Nitro,and Ray Hollit / Zap, to even some of the show's staff and crew, as they talk about the history of the show, from the troubles filming the pitch pilot, to the struggle with the first season,to even some other behind the scenes stuff and incidents on the show.

To me, this is a neat documentary, as a fan of American Gladiators, as the interviews with Gladiators and crew members shed some new insight on the show. The documentary stays on topic, showing scenes from other media in order to prove that American Gladiators was made in an era where bodybuilders were popular stars, and even went into details with the show's various controversies, from the steroid use that led to the show's downfall to some of the Gladiators from the first season being let go after suffering horiffic injuries as well as controveries and bad behavior.

5 episodes, 30-45 minutes each with interviews of most of the actual Gladiators, producers, show runners, etc with zero filler. Each episode had a good theme to it and they flew by fast. I never lost interest.

Unlike the other Netflix doc, "Pepsi, Where's my Jet?" which is the WRONG method to do a documentary, the American Gladiators documentary is by far something worthwhile to watch.

Even if you've only watched a single episode of the show when it was on TV, give this little mini series a shot. It's informative and interesting but most importantly - it's entertaining to watch, just like the TV show.

The show first of all gave a good sense of the late 80's early 90's things WERE different then. Schrezegger and Stallone ruled at the movies American pride and nationalism were high so this was the right show at the right time. Now its interesting because it really foretold all the competition reality shows we have now days. They dont gloss over the sterorid abuse but at that time it wasn't the same issue as it would be today. Steroids were not well known outside of high end competitive athletes and rules were just starting to go into place mainly due to what was happening with baseball at the time. The big lesson here and you can see it when they interview the producers is hollywood will squeeze and squeeze and then blame it all on the people that had no control. Im betting those producers just moved on the athletes didn't And I remember this show very much they started out when I was in College and the whole football team would get together with woman from Track, basketball and swimming to watch in one of the big training rooms. We loved it. But when they fired everyone (which I just found out is what happened) most lost interest because it was about the gladiators they had been set up like pro wrestlers so they had a certain character and personality and when they dumped those people everyone lost interest. They absolutely if done right could still be going to today. Sam Goldwin Jr. Seems to be the biggest villian in this story for not giving them better money and part of the merchandising and he basically ran over the goose who laid the golden egg.

As "Muscles & Mayhem: An Unauthorized Story of American Gladiators" (2023 release; 5 episodes ranging from 36 to 46 min each) opens, we are reminded that American Gladiators ran from 1989 to 1996, and that it was a different world then (no smart phones; no streaming, etc.). We then go to "1987" as Johnny Ferraro comes up with the idea, but the transition from idea to actual TV show is easier said than done, as the pilot show is borderline disastrous... At this point we are 10 minutes into Episode 1.

Couple of comments: the mini-series comes on the heels of ESPN's The American Gladiators Documentary. "Muscles & Mayhem" is co-directed by Tony Vainuku (Untold: The Girlfriend Who Didn't Exist) and Jared Hess (Napoleon Dynamite). Here they reassess the TV ratings success that was American Gladiators. Not that the early years made it inevitable. In fact, American Gladiators was an "overnight success 4 years in the making" (my own words). The film makers were able to get a lot of the gladiators to participate including Nitro, Blaze, Gemini, Laser, etc. Ample attention is given to the many injuries the gladiators kept incurring. And then there are the steroids. And let's certainly not forget the mayhem that was the American Gladiators live tour in 1991-92. As American Gladiators was filmed in Los Angeles, we get a lot of footage from the late 80-early 90s and I could not believe how sleepy and unbusy the city looked in those days (30+ years ago). Bottom line: the episodes are quite short and it all breezes by quickly. This mini-series was entertaining for sure, but it really doesn't bother to dig to deep. So with this mini-series and the recent ESPN documentary, I>'m still not sure that we've heard the definitive American Gladiators account.

"Muscles & Mayhem" premiered on Netflix last week. I just caught up on it. If you were a fan of American Gladiators, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.

But in the end, it did just that. The fun, light-hearted nostalgia-filled romp through the late 80's and early 90's carries the first few episodes. I enjoyed these as much as any, but the shining star of the series for me was saved til the last.

I couldn't help but smile as names and faces of original Gladiators floodes back to memory and left me reminiscing of lazy Saturday mornings. Sure the TV only went up to channel 13 and the only other options were fishing or cartoons, but it's hard to express just how special and unique this idea was for it's day.

The doc does a great job of taking a cast of characters who were obnoxious, egotistical, and somewhat laughable on the show and captures everything great (and at times dark) about the real people behind the characters. By the end, I was tearing up by myself in the dark as gladiators shared personal struggles and victories to wrap up a surprisingly loveable series.