RollerGames is an American television series that presented a theatrical version of the sport of roller derby, and featured a number of skaters who had been in the original Roller Games league (1961–1975), as well as younger participants. It was broadcast for one season (1989–1990). The series came from the combination of Roller Games owner William Griffiths, Sr. and the television production team of David Sams and Michael Miller. Chet Forte served as the show's director for its entire run. Chuck Underwood served as play-by-play commentator while Sams provided the color commentary. Former TV reporter Shelly Jamison was trackside reporter and Hot Seat host and conservative commentator Wally George hosted halftime segments known as RollerSports Central.
After a 30-year absence, Fox Sports 1 began to air the series again on August 1, 2020 to celebrate the series' 30th anniversary.
Format The show took place in the Super Roller Dome (which was actually an airport hangar), where all matches were broadcast. Instead of a banked oval track, a figure eight track was used where one side was heavily banked. It included obstacles such as the "Wall of Death" (which was located on the heavily banked side) and the "Jet Jump." The only ones who could score during each 45-second scoring cycle were the "jetters," who wore helmets and got six points if they got above the top line for three steps on the Wall of Death without going over, and two points if they got between the two lines for three steps. The "Jet Jump" had a 12-foot marker that allowed six points if the jetter got past it, and two if the jetter landed in front of it. In either case, the jetter had to land safely. Also, there were only four skaters on the track at a time (instead of the usual five).
The rest of the cycle involved traditional roller derby elements of scoring one point for every opponent lapped. The players got as many 45-second cycles as possible within four six-minute quarters (cut down from eight 12-minute periods in traditional roller derby). The team with the most points won. The last cycle went the full 45 seconds regardless of what the period clock said.
The first jetter to legally enter the jetwave won the status of "lead jetter"; s/he could signal the referees to cut off the cycle early, by tapping his/her helmet. S/he could also enter the jetwave again for more points, but only after s/he had passed all the opposing team's skaters. (This was extremely rare, but it happened occasionally.)
As a tiebreaker, two skaters would skate around a pit full of alligators. The first skater to skate around the pit five times or to throw his or her opponent into the alligator pit was declared the winner. The debut episode was the only time live alligators were ever used, as no ties ever happened after that (although a "news report" featured another tiebreaker). The episode revealed one of the rare times that the T-Birds lost the championship, with the Violators taking it after the T-Bird skater got pushed into the alligator pit (although later footage revealed that Skull, the manager, cheated by interfering, but the Violators got to keep the Commissioner's Cup in spite of that).
Instead of a penalty box, skaters that committed misdemeanors sat in a "penalty pod," one of each was located on either side of the broadcast booth where Sams and Underwood called the action. Because the rules said there were always four skaters on the track, a jetter got one bonus point each time they passed the skater inside the pod. Referee Don Lastra (and the other referees) frequently referred to the penalty pod as "jail," and would tell skaters who got a penalty to "go sit down." (Lastra would also fine players specific amounts of money; these fines were to be paid out of pocket as a check and given to him, since he issued the fines. Fines usually were issued if the act incurring a penalty came in between a period or after the end of the game, but the players who got fined always said vindication was theirs, and thus a moral victory was earned).
Teams The "world famous" Los Angeles T-Birds were one of the teams used for the show. Other teams were the Rockers, Hot Flash, Violators, Bad Attitude, and Maniacs...all of whom were members of the fictional World Alliance of RollerSports (which is the actual legal division name of Sams' company). Many of the athletes that skated for Griffiths in the past were used for RollerGames. (The Hot Flash team was referred as "Hollywood Hot Flash" on a couple of occasions.)
Some of the most visible skaters included twin sisters Jennifer & Kristine Van Galder, the "T-Bird Twins" (two blonde waitresses that Sams recruited while dining at a trendy LA area eatery), "The IceBox" Robert Smith, brothers "Mr. Mean" Harold Jackson & "Monster Man" Bernie Jackson, Michael Flaningam "The California Kid", "Skinney Minnie" Gwen Miller, "Electric" Randi Whitman (who got her nickname because of her hair), "Stars and Stripes" Matt Bickham, "Dar The Star" Darlene Langlois, "Latin Spitfire" Patsy Delgado, "Sweet" Stephanie Garcia, and Rocker Speed Skater Michael "Fish" Fischer (along with guitarist on the RollerGames theme song, who was forced to leave the team before the first telecast because he broke his hand in practice), and Ralphie Valladares, whose daughter Gina skated for Hot Flash.
Other past Roller Derby personalities to appear on RollerGames included "Mizz" Georgia Hase, the cantankerous heel manager of the Detroit Devils and Bad Attitude, and "Little" Richard Brown, the Maniacs' top skater who got to manage and coach several skaters on RollerJam and previously skated for several teams including the Philadelphia Warriors, Baltimore-Washington Cats, L.A. T-Birds and Eastern War-Chiefs. "Dar The Star" Darlene Langlois was a former T-Bird herself, having been wooed away from the team by another former T-Bird turned Rockers manager, D.J. Terrigno. However, Dar remained on good terms with her former team, frequently coming to the aid of the T-Bird Twins after they were temporarily separated and defending them against the derision of Sweet Stephanie.
Rosters
T-BirdsManager: William Griffiths Jr.No.MenWomen 1 "Dynamite Darryle" Davis Gwen "Skinny Minnie" Miller 2 Bill "Blockbuster" Bibbus Gina "Go-Go" Gonzales 3 Adam "Speedy" Gonzales Debbie "the Corker" McCorkell 4 Matt "Stars & Stripes" Bickham "Electric Randi" Whitman 5 Ralphie Valladares Jennifer Van Galder 6 Robert "the Icebox" Smith Kristine Van Galder
RockersManager: Donna Jean (D.J.) TerrignoNo.MenWomen 1 Mike "the California Kid" Flaningam Darlene "Dar the Star" Langlois 2 "Rockin' Ray" Robles Donna "Lady D" Young 3 Holly Masterson "Deadly Debbie" Van Doren 4 Brian "The Rolling Rocker" Jacobson Maeve "Queenie" Crommie 5 Art "Bam Bam" May Tammy Contreras 6 John Rodriguez Lolly Waterman
Hot FlashManager: Juan Valdez-LopezNo.MenWomen 1 Bren "Flash" Futura Vicki "Sly Fox" McEwan 2 Jerry "Kahuna" Reis "Party Pattie" Frazier 3 Robert "Cass" McEntee Gina "Sassy" Valladares 4 Harold "Ice Man" Caldwell "Irish Mary" Monahan 5 Ben Newberg "Windy Wendy" Holbert 6 Billy "Hot Wheels" Marshall Tammy Hanson 7 - Laura Stafford
Bad AttitudeManager: Ms. Georgia HaseNo.MenWomen 1 Bernie "Monster Man" Jackson Patsy "The Latin Spitfire" Delgado 2 David "Dr. Fu" Arizmendez Lyle "the Brat" Morse 3 Scott "The Bulldog" Casto Gale "The Bopper" Bowers 4 Pete "The Ninja" Christensen Margaret "Hot Rod" Christopher 5 Todd Stern Marnie "The Tank" Smith 6 Charlie Saunders Sadie Chrestman
ViolatorsManager: Chuck SkullNo.MenWomen 1 Harold "Mr. Mean" Jackson "Sweet Stephanie" Garcia 2 Tony "The Enforcer" Trujillo Paula "The Flea" Wilson 3 Greg "Killer" Robertson Vicki "O" Orgill 4 Bob "Shifty" Cendejas Lauren "Sidecar" Halliwell 5 Bill "The Hook" Hukriede "Nasty Nancy" Wilkinson
ManiacsManager: John "Guru" DrewNo.MenWomen 1 "Little Richard" Brown Denise "The Spider" Green 2 "Sunset Steve" Santillian Lori "The Blonde Bomber" Weikel 3 Mike "The Mercenary" Dark Masako Ariji 4 Bob "Wildfire" Ferris Liz Ard 5 "Crazy Dave" Mezzirow Monica "Big Mo" Garcia 6 Kavin Ross -
Episode guide PILOT: Commissioner's Cup SEMI-FINALS: T-Birds vs. Bad Attitude; Rockers vs. Violators FINALS: Violators vs. T-Birds CHAMPIONS: Violators T-Birds vs. Bad Attitude Hot Flash vs. Bad Attitude T-Birds vs. Hot Flash Maniacs vs. Violators Rockers vs. Violators Rockers vs. Maniacs Bad Attitude vs. T-Birds (rematch; see #1) Violators vs. Bad Attitude T-Birds vs. Violators All-Star Game (Western Alliance vs. Eastern Empire) T-Birds vs. Maniacs Maniacs vs. Rockers (rematch; see #6)
Storylines
Some of the storylines were off-the-wall, but tame by today's standards — the main storyline was a controversy involving the T-Bird Twins being drafted as one person (more on that below), rather than two. Hair-pulling and catfights were crowd favorites. When a fight broke out, the cameras frequently cut to a shot of an angry woman in a pink dress, glaring at the skaters.
The show became noted for its "big controversy:" according to a report from Sams, Georgia Hase claimed the T-Bird Twins were improperly drafted as one entity. Thus, Jennifer went to the Violaters, and Kristine went to the Maniacs. At the same time, the league office informed Ralphie Valladares that he was to be the first inductee into the Hall of Fame. This led Hase to object that, according to the rule book, Ralphie could not enter unless he hung up his skates for good. The league office did not intend for that to happen. Hase then decided that Ralphie would never skate again, as well as never go into the Hall of Fame.
After two rule violations by John "Guru" Drew (manager for the Maniacs) and Chuck Skull (manager of the Violators) of physically abusing each of the T-Bird twins, Sams and on-the-track commentator Shelly Jamison brought up how each twin's contract was null and void, thus returning them to the T-Birds. This led Griffiths, Sr., as commissioner, to let the public decide on how this situation was to go. The American public overwhelmingly elected that Ralphie continue to skate while being inducted into the Hall of Fame, and that the twins return to the T-Birds for good (viewers in the continental 48 states could vote by calling a 900 number, while Alaska and Hawaii residents had to write a letter to a specific address, as the 900 number was not available to them). The exact number of votes was 75,468, with 96% voting "YES" and only 4% voting "NO."
Although the show was canceled after one season, the show also featured an episode where Ralphie challenged the "unholy 3" ("Mizz" Georgia Hase, Guru Drew, Skull) to a 3-on-1 match race. Griffiths, Sr. pointed out that 3-on-1 wasn't legal according to league laws (during an interview with Wally George), but 2-on-1 was, so Skull had to drop out. While Ralphie dealt with Georgia and Drew, "Stars and Stripes" Matt Bickham reported to Shelley Jamison that he'd keep an eye on Skull. Due to the bankruptcy of Qintex, the distributor, which caused the show's untimely cancellation, that match race never took place. The show also offered the public a chance to dial the same 900 number and vote on whether or not the alligators should be banned from the sport, but due to the cancellation, the viewers never got to see the outcome.
Following the bankruptcy and demise of Qintex (who also distributed Kids Incorporated on The Disney Channel in 1988 and 1989), distribution of RollerGames was taken over in 1990 by LBS CommunicationsRollerGames company credits at IMDb (now part of Fremantle), which rebroadcast and repackaged 12 of the original 13 episodes (excluding the All-Star Game) in edited versions with new match commentary replacing the original commentary by Underwood and Sams, and with newly-recorded interviews with RollerGames skaters and personalities conducted by Sean "Hollywood" HamiltonSean Hamilton at IMDb replacing the Rollersports Central and halftime music performance segments.