Muscles & Mayhem: An Unauthorized Story of American Gladiators

This is worth watching just from the 90's nostalgia as theres lots of clips of commercials back then and it really brings you back into that time. As a kid who watched this show I think on re-runs in the mid to late 90's on saturday mornings...I loved the nostalgia. But even better is getting to know who the characters were behind the camera which was probably the most interesting thing about it. It also shows you how the show was made and all the funny stories that go into that, as well as the drama that happened as well. Excellent doc, and the pacing is extremely good and keeps you watching.

Watching this documentary reminds me of the time when I showed my kids an episode of He-Man. And the cartoon looked so old. I was never very into the American Gladiators program, but I remember watching it from time to time and thinking that it looked very good. I mean aesthetically it looked very good. But clearly I was mistaken. It does not look good at all. About the actual events of the story, I'm struck by a few different thoughts. The first is that it was really strange how concerned the production was that their athletes might have been using steroids, when they did not care at all about basic safety procedures to protect their athletes. And the other thing is that the show was only on for seven seasons, but it could have kept going if the company had wanted to keep investing in its development. They had a chance to create a new sport entirely. It seems like they were only interested in squeezing out as much money out of the idea as possible in the quickest amount of time. So it's kind of strange how they sacrificed a lot of potential money for a little bit of real money. As for the athletes themselves, only a few seem to be sympathetic characters, but that doesn't mean that they deserved to be exploited and after watching this series that's exactly what seems to have happened. So if you watched the show when you were younger, or you want to have free good explanation of a pop culture phenomenon from 30 years ago, it's a good watch.

I was never a fan of Gladiators in the UK let alone American Gladiators which was the original show that went on to spawn the international versions.

Therefore my decision to watch Netflix's mini-series Muscles & Mayhem was a highly speculative one.

Having now watched all five episodes I am glad that I did watch, I found this to be a genuinely interesting, entertaining if "unauthorised" take on the once hit series.

I will take most of what I heard as gospel as it came from the mouths of the major gladiators themselves, and as they were there, they sure ought to know what went on!

Perhaps rather surprisingly I warmed to the featured gladiators almost without exception and felt genuinely sorry that they did not share in the vast revenues that were generated.

Goes to show how important either having a good contract or a better agent is when it comes to this business called show.

Their sacking from the show no doubt precipitated the show's demise and can be seen in retrospect as the beginning of the end.

Nonetheless, it was a show that went on to "inspire" many other shows that followed in its wake.

I would recommend this series without hesitation.

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.

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.