The Rumor Mill: Live Gators Back in the Game? TV Exec Recommends Adding Electric Chair!

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Permalink Reply by mick on October 25, 2008 at 4:08pm

yes... right you are

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Permalink Reply by Tom on October 26, 2008 at 4:32am

For Theodore Michael Lee,
While we've seen the Rollergirls movement and even the retro Bay bombers revive roller derby to modest success, my gut feelings think David Sams is more heavily influenced by the big TV comeback success of American Gladiators, more than anything else. While AG is played legit. it's still hyped with a lot of 'colour' and 'charasmatic personalities' and played out to wacked out competetive games.
So thats basicly what might be Dave Sams vision, American Gladiators on wheels!(to your responce to your "WWE on wheels")

For Grand Poopah,
I was finally able see 'Hell on Wheels' through Netflix. First off, the critism!; it really needed a narrator as the 'way too many interviews' drag it down a bit. It also across a bit too nostalgic since so many of the leading personalities have retired and moved on. I was surprised that the film gave equal time and humanized the Sheo's(especially since the book, Confessions of a Rollergirl made them to look like monsters).
The action scenes of the bouts itself were short & 50% showing catfights(why did'nt the wftda put up picket lines outside the theaters? lol)
Interesting though, that the originial bggw did play it competetive but in their own words "played it with fake moves" and hyped it with a lot of "catfights" & "personality" & "sexed it up".

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Permalink Reply by Tim Patten on October 26, 2008 at 6:34am

I think David Sams may be looking for a new TV formula for Roller Derby too. I see one fresh formula that might work?

A new Roller Derby TV show would not be like any of the discussions we've seen on this post. All of the ideas here seem to be variations on TV things that HAVE BEEN DONE. It should be MORE legit.... as a side note.... and stay away from the old RGI --- unless the show is for toddlers age 4 to 9?

I hope David can get network and sponsor interest. To be candid... it's going to be a HARD sell when there are just 1000 people on the WORLD WIDE WEB SITE (This one).

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Permalink Reply by DJ of Destruction. on August 26, 2008 at 6:04pm

Lets leave the Gators in florida, I am not trying to see the crocodile hunter!!! i like roller skating. not nature hunters!!!

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Permalink Reply by Carol Gail on October 24, 2008 at 6:59pm

Don't Be Silly.

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Permalink Reply by Grand Poobah on October 25, 2008 at 4:32am

This thread is like a bad penny...

Apply a basic bit of logic to what was said. With the silly alligator pit from the late eighties show, you had a trained gator handler. You had a masked skater (read: not the skater they say it is). The one time it was done, nobody was eaten, let alone bitten. Had there been any damage done, Sams would still be broke due to the lawsuits.

How exactly do you use an electric chair, even in the schlocky/only-suspenseful-to-school-children manner that the Gator Skater was? Electric chairs kill people. What's exciting about seeing someone strapped in? Is there any real palpable suspense? He's dead. Or, wow, the electric chair didn't work! Yawn.

This thread was created to draw the derby community here. Get everyone in a stir. It did that. In other threads, Sams has said there won't be gators. You've been played.

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Permalink Reply by Tim Patten on October 26, 2008 at 6:41am

Poobah is correct. The alligator gimick in the old TV show was just that, a stunt to generate controversy, sponsors and viewers.

I just don't think that will sell again! But, there is something that can get on the air.... NO it's would not be much like all these posts.

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Permalink Reply by raven on December 5, 2008 at 1:33pm

unfortunately for people who perform for love of the game, without the ability to get an executive to greenlight the show, it's all a moot point. i understand and empathize more than you can imagine b/c of the similarities between wrestling and roller derby but unfortunately there is always one master, and that is ratings. however, before ratings can occur, one must first get one's program on the air. whether it be electric chairs, alligator pits, flying monkeys, or the track is made up to look like a pirate ship while everyone is decked out like jack sparrow, and the track actually moves back and forth as if it were being moved by waves from the ocean, if thats what the network wants, thats what the network gets. obviously if it were possible to succeed without a network on a grand scale, it would have transpired by now. we should all pray we get the show on the air and worry about the purism of the sport later.
roller derby is like pro wrestling, some people watch for the matches, some people watch for the angles, and some watch for both. some are turned off by the ridiculous over the top stuff, and some pay to see it. you have to appeal to everyone. some people like the alligator pits , some dont. ice cream doesnt just come in chocolate and vanilla, there is a reason baskin robbins has 31 flavors. ironically, the biggest ratings getters and the biggest draws in wrestling for the most part, werent the best wrestlers.
either way, the skaters who can skate will still get to skate, and the people who watch for that will still get to see that. trust me on this, if the skating and not the gimmicks becomes the draw, the networks will quickly remove the gimmicks. but if the converse is true, expect the flying monkeys. c'mon, who doesnt like flying monkeys.
raven

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Permalink Reply by Tim Patten on December 5, 2008 at 2:19pm

We need a brand new stunt that would start all sorts of buzz and thrill sponsors and networks. Hummm? Any ideas?

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Permalink Reply by raven on December 5, 2008 at 2:51pm

here's an off the wall idea . . literally, we could have big arched beams across the track and 2 people on each team could be attached to bungee cords which would be attached to the beams, like in mad max, beyond thunderdome. they could swoop across the track and take out blockers, jammers, or whoever. very similar to flying monkeys, but also very cool.
raven

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Permalink Reply by Chuck, a.k.a. "Mr. Neato" on December 5, 2008 at 4:47pm

Almost like what they did in American Gladiators back in the mid 90's with some of the competition games there. They did "Swing ball", where 2 gladiators and the two contestants were hooked up to bungee cords and the gladiators jumped at the same time to keep the contestants from getting any of the balls off the pole to score, or even like the obstacle course, where you had a gladiator in different sections to try and keep you from making it. You got some good ideas, Raven...as well as good thoughts on your previous post today.

I'd love to see some good match races, whether it be to see who the fastest skater is, or the fastest team on a pull away or whatever. Stacey B made some good suggestions earlier in this thread, and hopefully the execs take notice. :-)

Chuck

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Permalink Reply by raven on December 6, 2008 at 1:10pm

ingenuity is a hallmark of not only people who make money, but of people who excel. and this would appear to be an intersection of these two pursuits. instead of looking at it as roller derby's waterloo, look at it as the first appearance of jimi hendrix. there were a thousand other guitarists before him, but he came along and revolutionized what it was to play. we can do that with roller derby, no matter what purported obstacles are put in our way. i say purported, b/c it all depends on your viewpoint whether they are a positive or a negative.
whatever it is that is used , be it gators, craters, or guys throwing potators. hey it rhymed . . . . sort of. it is an opportunity to be innovative, creative, and clever, which to me is one of the most exciting parts of wrestling. instead of crapping on ideas you find, well, uh . . . . crappy, ask yourself instead, how can you take this alleged piece of crap, and make it something special and unique.
remember, if it wasnt for the dark ages, (and the dark ages sucked big time) we never would have had the age of reason. and if it wasnt for the great depression, we never would have had f.d.r. and the new deal. and without the new deal, we never would have had daniel craig as james bond, who is simply put, the be all end all when it comes to james bonds. what he wasnt? c'mon, you know he was. well it certainly wasnt roger moore, or timothy dalton.
sorry, i may have got distracted a little there bit at the end. we were talking roller derby and we were talking great things from bad and to reiterate the most important point above . . . daniel craig is unquestionably, james bond.
shaken, not stirred,
raven

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