Wild West Showdown

Alright, another Thing I Was Sent in the previous batch of things sent, a rather curious show by the name of Wild West Showdown from 1994.

It’s from the same people as American Gladiators and to all intents and purproses it is American Gladiators except, and it’s a big except, it’s set in a town in the wild west and as such they’ve done some quite neat things. Instead of Gladiators there are ‘Outlaws’ (the people terrorizing the town of Broken Neck where the show is set, so winning events earn reward money (“up to five thousand union dollars!”) from the townsfolk), and the post game interviews are conducted by the local journalist getting her story (rather neatly each event is summed up with a simulated newspaper with headline). Commentating the whole thing is an old cowboy named West. Clearly quite a lot of imagination has gone into this.

The games involve lots of horseback riding (including one game where the contestants must attempt to stop a runaway stagecoach by leaping from their horse onto it), shooting with paint guns and a game set in a bar room brawl where they have to try and force the outlaw out through the double saloon doors.

Regrettably there is absolutely none of it on Youtube as far as I can see and that’s a real shame as it’s quite the curio – it could be a lot slicker as a production really, but they’ve taken the idea and run with it. So here’s a screengrab of a game where the contestants have to climb a water tower and stop a fuse before dynamite blows up the town’s water supply. Both genders play against each other with the one on one physical elements played against outlaws of the same gender, the reward money going to the cowboy or cowgirl winning the game in the fastest time.

The final game is a race across the rooftops, picking up a cash bag and hopefully getting on your horse and riding off into the sunset within a time limit – and all whilst not getting shot. The early games pay $100-300, successful completion of the final wins $5k.

Not quite good or interesting enough for a full on feature, but definitely interesting enough to at least warrant a mention.