Let’s Get Physical : New show muscles into the arena of gladiators vs. contestants

As creator of “Knights and Warriors,” Jerry Gilden says he’s pushing the boundaries of both TV sports and taste. Teach him a simple game, and he’ll make it dangerous and absurd.

Show him a goal post, and he’ll see “a unique opportunity to light it on fire.”

In his hands, the child’s game of dodge ball “is enhanced” by catapults shooting objects 70 mph. Tug-of-war is no longer good clean fun at family picnics but a new form of torture: Participants, strapped to a rope, must pull each other off of 10-foot-high spinning pedestals.

Oh, there are tears when noses are broken, ankles twisted, bruises acquired, but Gilden says the blood and sweat is all part of “putting show business back into sports.”

“Knights and Warriors,” which premieres Saturday, is the latest spinoff of “American Gladiators,” which just kicked off its fourth season last weekend.

For his show, Gilden has recruited eight people with pumped biceps and overdeveloped pectorals, dressed them in flimsy medieval gear and given them whips, chains and permission to growl all the time. “It’s big-time camp,” Gilden says. “Made-for-TV sports meets the Ringling Bros. Circus.”

One person’s circus might be another’s test of physical prowess. No wimps are allowed on these sets. It’s a far cry from the ‘70s made-for-TV sports shows such as “Almost Anything Goes” and “Battle of the Network Stars,” where non-athletes and entire families slid through whipped-creamed obstacle courses.

Now, with sword fights on treadmills and jousting on roller blades, the latest batch of TV sports shows has taken on the earnestness of the ‘90s. Instead of flabby computer programmers from Pittsburgh, bodybuilders, police officers and firefighters do battle for the cash prizes and exotic trips. Armchair jocks shouldn’t even think of setting up these games in their backyards without first alerting county paramedics.

Take for example the newest “American Gladiator” game called Skytrack. Contestants race in an upside-down track that’s elevated 20 feet in the air, using Velcro shoes and gloves to keep themselves from falling. The “Gladiators” creators “try to come up with things that don’t cost too much and won’t kill anyone,” says Julie Resh, executive in charge of production.

What is the ongoing appeal of “Gladiators”?

“There’s nothing phony about the competition,” Resh says. “The public appreciates that the Gladiators and the contestants are going all out.”

Where “Gladiators” take its athleticism as seriously as the Olympics, “Knights and Warriors” makes fun of the made-for-TV sports genre.

“The design was to make comic-book villains come to life,” Gilden says. “We wanted girls that looked like girls, so that people would say, ‘Gosh, the guys are attractive and the girls look kind of pretty.’ ”

But Warrior Dot Jones, a.k.a. Lady Battleaxe, doesn’t want viewers to think of her as pretty and demure.

Jones, a Fresno probation counselor and an arm wrestler, sees herself as the meanest of the female characters: “I had to earn that (reputation) with the heads I’ve hit.” She attributes her ability to play the character to “a good workout working with juvenile delinquents, and I have the size to enhance the meanest.”

Up against the likes of Lady Battleaxe, contestants may start wishing that they had tried out for “Jeopardy” to get fame and cash prizes.

“I didn’t think the warriors were going to be so physical with us,” says firefighter Julie Wolfe. “It was upsetting to a lot of people because they were getting their heads knocked off.”

Starting her fourth season as a super-hero, Gladiator Raye Hollitt, a.k.a. Zap, says she feels a responsibility to stay with the show. “When you have children writing you and telling you that you are their idol, how can you let that go?” Hollitt asks.

Children are the target markets for both shows, and if Gilden has his way, “Knights and Warriors” is a marketing phenomenon waiting to happen. By Christmas, he hopes children will soon be begging for toys, T-shirts, bumper stickers, calendars, pajamas and computer games. Perhaps even sugared nuggets of knights and warriors will qualify as nutritious cereal.

“American Gladiators” is already way ahead of him. The show has a Nintendo game, Topps trading cards, action figures and accessories.

Successful made-for-TV sports is clearly big business, which may be why the Samuel Goldwyn Co., which produces “American Gladiators,” is suing the makers of “Knights and Warriors” for copyright infringement.

But in Gilden’s world, even the simple game of lawsuits can use some jazzing up.

“I would love to challenge Dick Askin, president of Samuel Goldwyn Television, to a winner-take-all pay-for-view event,” Gilden says. “He’s challenging us one way, and we’re challenging him in another. When it’s all said and done, good shall prevail.”

“Knights and Warriors” premieres Saturday at 11 a.m. on KCAL and at 3 p.m. on KTTY. “American Gladitors” airs Saturdays at 10 p.m. and Sundays at 7 p.m. on KCAL and Sundays at 4 p.m. on XETV. “Nickelodeon Guts” airs Saturdays and Sundays at 5:30 p.m. on Nickelodeon.