As a treat for myself, I sometimes get sucked into watching those stupid "You remember these things from your childhood?!" kind of YouTube videos (the WatchMojo ones are the worst and most addictive offenders). Today's trip with those involved a series of videos about failed cartoons and primetime shows cancelled after one season between 1990 to 1993. While I recognized some of them (I was in elementary school around that time), a lot of them looked more like potential fever dreams. One in particular struck me as something I swear I would've recalled but never actually heard of until now: the 1991 reality show The Grudge Match:
Got a quarrel with a neighbor, friend, relative or mate that you want settled on national television? You don't have to take your case to Judge Wapner and "The People's Court" anymore. Now you can simply slug it out on "The Grudge Match."
In the latest twist in reality programming, people who might otherwise be in small claims or divorce court are entering a boxing ring and going three rounds against each other, cheered on by a studio audience that picks the winner. (from a 1991 New York Times review)
The most notable thing about it is that Jesse "The Body" Ventura provided color commentary but it also looks a lot like those reality boxing shows that popped up throughout the 2000s where they'd get Gary Coleman fighting Corey Feldman or some shit. The fact that it didn't catch on is a little surprising, especially a lot of bank is made on people fighting (both real and fake) and this was only a few years before The Jerry Springer Show broke huge. Maybe it was people getting sick of the general late 1980s vibe carrying over into the 1990s? The look and feel give me the same nostalgic feelings Spuds Mackenzie, Ernest P. Worrell, Elvira, and "Hulkamania" do for some reason, so that probably didn't help with audiences at the time.
Based on the videos posted below and the little information I could find (which was that old New York Times article quoted above and a poorly-produced vlog from 2016), I could only guess that it had to do with low ratings and just being mediocre. Apparently there was an attempt to reboot in 2015 but I have no idea if it came into full existence since I couldn't find anything else but a cheap promo. That said, I think the concept could work now if done right, maybe over at Netflix if Floor Is Lava has run out of steam.
Settling personal disputes with inflatable boxing gloves and water balloons in front of a cheering crowd sure feels like a healthier solution than whatever the hell we've got going on now.
The videos below have been compiled from YouTube so you don't have to search it if you want more - there's also a Sylvester Stallone & Robert De Niro movie from 2013 with the same name and those clips get mixed in too.
Comments