American Gladiators could stage another comeback. Rights holder MGM Television is developing a revival with co-creator John Ferraro, and Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg onboard as executive producers.
A perfect example of reality IP that hasn’t been looked at in a while, the original series was a blend of WWE wrestling and American Ninja Warrior — successfully airing in syndication from 1989 to 1996. There was a primetime revival in 2008, what proved to be a calling card of the Ben Silverman era at NBC, which saw initial success as a schedule filler during the writers strike but ultimately only lasted 21 episodes.
Under Mark Burnett, MGM Television has been aggressively pursuing reality TV offerings from both new and existing formats. Earlier in 2018, the independent studio packaged a revival of Burnett’s first show, Eco Challenge, which is also being shopped to buyers.
Should the series make it to air, it would be the first reality outing from Rogen and Goldberg’s Point Grey Pictures. The duo has had enormous success in film and TV, but has yet to venture far outside the realm of scripted entertainment.
Sources say MGM is currently in talks with multiple distributors who’ve taken interest in the property.
