'American Gladiators' Rise in January

Zap2It.com | November 27, 2007

'American Gladiators' co-host Laila Ali

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NBC sets series for Sunday nights

NBC has put another piece of its midseason schedule in place, slating the update of "American Gladiators" for Sunday nights in January.

The remake of the syndicated 1990s syndicated series will premiere on Sunday, Jan. 6, the network announced via an ad in Monday's episode of "Heroes." As of Monday morning, a formal premiere announcement hadn't followed.

That means we don't yet know which of the three shows NBC initially announced for Sunday nights in January will be bumped to make way for "Gladiators." In May the network set a midseason Sunday lineup of "Law & Order" at 8 p.m., "Medium" at 9 p.m. and new show "Lipstick Jungle" at 10.

The network could shuffle any of those pieces to other nights; NBC has picked up new series "Chuck" and "Life," but "Bionic Woman" and "Journeyman" are still in limbo. If the network opts to let either of them fall by the wayside, that would open up an hour on the schedule for one or more of the originally scheduled Sunday shows. One or more shows could also be held until later in the season in the event of a prolonged writers' strike.

Pro-wrestling legend Hulk Hogan and boxer/"Dancing with the Stars" contestant Laila Ali will host the show, in which amateur athletes take part in combat games against a set cast of "gladiators." The show will feature a number of the competitions from the original series, with amped-up special effects and some other new elements.

The show is produced by MGM Television, which also produced the original series, and Reveille, the company started by current NBC co-chairman Ben Silverman.