What you might want to watch, though, is the tune-in for The Titan Games, not only as a gauge of the gladiator format appeal but as an indicator of Johnson’s magnetism. ... Titan show what can happen when a person is willing to strain, strive and put in the work. Maybe it won’t pound its way to ratings dominance, but that probably doesn’t matter. The message is in the focus on regular people climbing manufactured mountains, side players in a tale of a celebrated hero who has already won, and may have his sights set on obstacle course with higher stakes.
The show’s infusive reliance on Johnson, a polymathic performer whose legendary charisma seems always to be in beast mode, makes The Titan Games compelling almost in spite of itself. ... The athletic competition, with all its pomp and camp and spectacle, does the thing so many other entertainments will not, or cannot, do: It offers viewers an escape into certainty.
This show was entertaining until the final. By increasing the weights on the events you eliminated skill, and athleticism and turned it into a bigger is better show with predictable outcomes. The finals which should have been the best show was rally one of the worst episodes. If you want to go that route than all competitors should be of equal size and weight, , otherwise there needs to be a fair balance.
It's overproduced like WWE and like the WWE, it needs an infectious personality, like the Rock, to make it watchable. The competitors are incredible athletes, but there's not enough action in 60 minutes to make it interesting. The big finale of Mount Olympus is a straight up head to head race between two competitors... And so far, there has been almost no race because one competitors was out of the running by halfway. I'll probably only watch it if there's nothing else compelling on...
What do the rock, arnold, wwe, and the original American gladiators have in common? STEROIDS!!! The elefante in the room! I was looking forward to TG, the hype was well done. I was wondering if I would see some top CF names, Hunter McIntyre, etc. No, this is for "everyday people". CF is the name that will not be spoken! I assume any high profile athletes are excluded which makes it differ from it's cousin ninja warrior. The criteria for choosing the athletes is vague and mysterious, no mention of drug testing, and it appears people on steroids are ok, they have a big advantage in the first rounds, then get weeded out later when cardio comes into play, but is that really fair? The show lacks much of what makes NW so good= 1) open to all comers, 2) the suspense of falling, 3) much more graceful display of human ability at the extreme, 4) the use of technique and skill, 5) steroids don't really help you 6) community and camaraderie. I would have to say TG has already been done better, ironically, by the rock's arch enemy, Stoney Austin's Broken Skull Challenge. The Rock's charisma probably won't be enough to cover for the flaws of the show, time will tell.
Let' the Titan Games begin! Or more accurate, The Roid Rage Games.
What was advertised as a promising re-imagining of American Gladiators turned out to be a huge letdown. I'm sure many people will disagree, but IMGO the excitement of these types of shows is witnessing "everyday" people conquering the odds. The quote from the show is "finding everyday athletes" to become part of the Rock's Titan Team.
Okay, first, what exactly is this team going to be doing? What is the payoff. We never really find out. Second, as a former athlete, I take offence to the use of that term in the context of this show. Some of these competitors are so roided out of their gourds I was surprised they even knew where they were! Personally, I don't want to spend time watching is who took the most steroids to be able to beat a ridiculous challenge that can only be overcome... by roiding up. What kind of message are we sending to the youth who are watching this program?
And, while I always liked Dwayne Johnson, even he can't charm his way out of this mess of Titanic proportions. The commentary he spews is canned and self-satisfied, which completely flies in the face of his "loveable" and down to earth persona he has worked so hard to build.
With that said, I do feel that the women were more interesting to watch. For the most part, they actually seemed fit without the dependency on chemicals for gains. I couldn't even watch the men without grimacing. Quite frankly, this show rewards whomever has been able to shoot up with the best results.
This is a hard pass for me. Bring back American Gladiators!