Think of it as professional wrestling. Only real.
It's a battle to the death where many go in, but only one comes out. Yeah, there may be some rasslin-esque trash talk, but the results are unscripted and the losers are frequently left piles of smoking junk.
BattleBots, ABC's gear-grinding killer robot combat series, returns for Season 2 at 7 p.m. today with all the geeky drama you have come to expect. It'll take a two-hour premiere to squeeze in all the teams scheduled to compete.
In the end, there can be only one, but we start out with 32 competitors from around the world vying for dominance in the tournament that will cover 10 episodes.
ABC promises that these next-generation robots "will be bigger, faster and stronger than ever before." The series not only features smashing, brutal combat, but emphasizes the design and building process of each robot, the builder back stories, and the drive and determination required to pursue the championship.
The qualifying round consists of three-minute bouts with the simple goal of disabling or destroying the opponent. If both 'bots are still moving after three minutes, the judges will confer and declare a victor to move on to the next round.
On the panel this season are former BattleBots competitor and special effects artist Fon Davis, Jessica Chobot, the host of Nerdist News, and guest judge Adam Savage of MythBusters.
There will be 24 matches in the qualifying round, with the winners automatically advancing. Next, the selection committee will pick eight worthy wildcards from the loser pile to join them.
Once the teams advance out of the qualifying round, it's sudden death single elimination all the way to the Giant Nut trophy.
Look for an expanded arsenal this year with even more innovative robot designs. And, for the first time in the history of robot-fighting tournaments, drone warfare. Yikes! Drones!
ESPN's Samantha Ponder is host, with play-by-play analysis from Chris Rose and color commentary from former UFC fighter Kenny Florian. The sideline reporter is Alison Haislip. Ring announcer is Faruq Tauheed.
• Playing catch-up. A couple of CBS summer shows debuted Wednesday that we didn't have room to mention. Here's a reminder to mark your calendars for next week.
Big Brother returned for Season 18 of the annual voyeuristic guilty pleasure. The series takes up a lot of time on the summer schedule.
The second episode airs at 8 p.m. today. Beginning Sunday, the schedule will be 7 to 8 p.m. on Sundays; 7 to 8 p.m. Wednesdays; and the live eviction, hosted by Julie Chen, from 8 to 9 p.m. Thursdays.
This will be the longest season ever, with 99 days scheduled inside the house. As usual, most of the houseguests are frisky 20-somethings who will look good in bathing suits around the pool.
There is, however, a 50-year-old former police detective from the Bronx. He must be there for fatherly advice. And there's a 32-year-old female high school teacher cast, no doubt, so there would be an "older" woman. But she has tats, so she must be cool.
Surely to be noticed is that only one of the house guests is black -- a 24-year-old female preschool teacher from North Carolina.
As usual, the show uses dozens of cameras and microphones to follow 12 folks stuffed together in a studio resembling a house. Alliances will be formed. Dumb moves will be made. Someone will emerge as the resident bully. Someone will take on the fan favorite role, and each week someone will be voted out of the house.
The winner claims the $500,000 grand prize.
Full disclosure: I'm addicted.
And American Gothic, a new murder mystery/family drama, also premiered and will air at 9 p.m. Wednesdays for 13 episodes.
The series follows the Hawthornes, a prominent Boston family dealing with the discovery that its recently deceased patriarch may have been a serial murderer dubbed the Silver Bells Killer.
That's not all. It turns out that one of them may have been his accomplice.
CBS dramatically tells us, "As shocking secrets from the past and present are revealed, their mounting suspicion and paranoia that one of them is a killer threatens to tear the family apart."
It also promises the series will be "filled with suspense, intrigue and have an explosive ending that will leave you breathless."
I haven't had a chance to preview the show yet, but check it out if you care whether the Hawthorne family is torn apart or not.
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Weekend on 06/23/2016