The evolution of fighting robots in popular culture began with Marx Toys' Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots back in the 60's. I don't think I ever had those 'bots myself, but I remember seeing the commercials.
Warp forward to the last decade, when there were no less than 2 attempts at creating shows built around robot fighters. Battlebots lasted a couple of years on Comedy Central, a rare case of the network going outside its niche. Stepsister network TNN (now Spike TV) had Robot Wars, which also lasted a couple of seasons, each hosted by a different WWE personality. Incoming Hall of Famer Mick Foley in season 1, and Joanie "Chyna" Laurer in season 2, after she'd left WWE. A companion series geared for children aired on Nickelodeon, but didn't last as long, gone after 1 season.
So what spurred this latest attempt? How about a little feature film that came out about a year and a half ago, "Real Steel", with Hugh Jackman? The movie did enough business to have someone consider the idea of taking the concept of fighting robots to television. SyFy picked up an option, and hence, we have the Robot Combat League, the latest reality show built around competition. As with Robot Wars, RCL has a WWE tie-in, with former champion and Fozzy frontman Chris Jericho as host-announcer. It's not Jericho's 1st rodeo as an MC, as he had a short-lived series on ABC a couple of years back that didn't get very far.
However, the rock arena atmosphere of RCL fits Jericho like a glove. He's everywhere, doing commentary with Dave Farra, to offering encouragement and support to the contestants. SyFy has the series airing on Tuesdays, and at least the series opener was replayed on Friday, in back of Smackdown. Truth be told, SyFy would be wise to leave RCL on Fridays to take advantage of the WWE lead-in, since they've had trouble in terms of ratings on a consistent basis on Tuesdays, as the WWE is well aware.
Here's a sample clip:
While SyFy is crowing about the early ratings returns, it's how well the series does going forward that will determine its final fate.
Rating: B.
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