You have to go back to 1989 to find the progenitor of this competition show, when "American Gladiators" burst onto the scene, capturing the imaginations of millions of American viewers who harbored secret dreams of battling excellent athletes for prize money. The hulks who fought against the competitors had cartoonish names like Diesel and Blaze.
"Ultimate Tag" is the latest of these productions. It pits three men and three women against the same number of "house athletes", called pro taggers, who have names like Rocket and Banshee. The object is to avoid getting tagged while negotiating obstacles within a playing field. The male and female winners receive $10,000 each.
To keep things interesting, there are five different variations on the childhood game of tag, requiring different skills. What makes the games difficult is that the pro taggers are primarily expert parkour athletes or freerunners. The amateur competitors often have backgrounds in track, football or other competitive sports. You tag someone by removing one of the tags they wear, as in flag football.
In one game, called Dome Tag, the player tries to avoid the tagger on a half-sphere suspended thirty feet in the air. They can travel around the perimeter, over the top, through it in different levels, or by hanging underneath it in the style of monkey bars.
After the pilot, I will keep watching . The question is whether or not producers can find enough good amateur talent to keep the show interesting.
Update 7-24-2020: Thanks to the different variations on tag, the show has proved interesting. There have been some great competitions featuring talented athletes.
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