This weekend, of course, marks the end of the NFL regular season, and NBC refuses to miss a beat, replacing Sunday Night Football with the comeback of American Gladiators. Sadly, Al Michaels and John Madden won’t be in the booth… I was looking forward to Madden circling the rim of a Power Ball scoring pod on the telestrator while muttering, “You see, he’s got to put the ball through there, so he can score points.”

There’s a whole new group of “gladiators,” but their online bios leave a lot to the imagination. No mention of the various community colleges they attended, no listing of interests or pet peeves, not even a documentation of their favorite colors. So here’s a quick, poorly researched rundown of YOUR American Gladiators….

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Drew Carey made an appearance in the booth on Monday Night Football a couple weeks ago, and until I saw him I had forgotten that the new season of The Price is Right had already begun, the first season without Bob Barker at the microphone.

When Bob Barker announced his retirement and rumors were swirling about his replacement, I immediately reasoned that Vince Vaughn would be perfect for the job. He’s tall and smarmy, he’d be great with the older ladies, and the show would keep that unspoken sexual tension between the host and the models. Vince would probably have to give up making movies, but I would always take fifty years of game show host checks over having my name appear in the opening credits of Fred Claus.

Of course, by the time Drew Carey was announced, I was just thankful that Rosie O’Donnell wasn’t picked.

So now that Drew has had a couple shows to get into the groove, I decided to watch for the first time and see how he’s doing.

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