Well, today is the day. With luck, this evening or tomorrow morning we'll know the names of most of the female gladiators, including who's returning from last season.

Based entirely on rumor and innuendo, it seems very likely that Valerie Waugaman, Gina Carano and Robin Coleman are returning and that Erin Toughill will be a new gladiator. It's also pretty likely, in my estimation, that Monica Carlson will have a gladiator or gladiator-like role.

As both Tanji Johnson and Jamie Kovac were injured last season, the return of either of them for season two seems very unlikely.

That leaves Beth Horn, who never really found her niche as a gladiator. My guess is that she won't be back.

Britney Spears: GladiatorFollowing a report in yesterday's New York Post revealing that Britney Spears is pursuing TV work, NBC announced today that Spears will be appearing in season two of "American Gladiators".

Spears, who recently appeared in an episode of CBS' "How I Met Your Mother", has, according to the Post, been offered a spot on NBC's "30 Rock". As reported by the TV Envy blog, "a Spears insider told the Post’s Page Six that Jamie wants his daughter to have a more normal 9-5 job to keep her working and out of trouble."

Spears' role on "American Gladiators" will be a "celebrity gladiator" who competes against contestants in a new event called "Paparazzi." According to the press release:

Each competitor, supplied with a digital camera, will pursue the celebrity gladiator through an obstacle course, as the gladiator attempts to avoid being photographed. The contestant with the most photos of the celebrity gladiator will receive ten big points!

NBC has not announced the name of the male celebrity gladiator, or even if there will be one. While Britney Spears could presumably fill the role for both male and female competitors, co-ed competitions have not traditionally been the norm on "American Gladiators".

I've seen girls fight in Newark, and I've seen spectators gather for the fights. I don't think any of them were paying to watch, though, and it certainly wasn't broadcast on CBS.

According to some Canadians who run a web site, Gina Carano will fight Kaitlin Young on the EliteXC program on May 31st.

Check out 1iota.com for tickets to the April 8th taping of the "American Gladiators" season two premier.

It looks as if the episodes will be filmed during the evenings in Los Angeles to maximize the potential audience. Last year the producers wound up paying extras to pretend to be audience members because they ran out of authentic spectators after a few days. Producers probably hope that by moving the taping sessions to late afternoon and evenings they'll be able to lure in more people who work for a living.

Still, the schedule will have to be very, very aggressive to get each episode done in a few hours.

Filming for "American Gladiators" season two will begin on April 8th at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena. In the summer of 1960 John F. Kennedy used the term "new frontier" for the first time in this place. And in the spring of 2008, in this hallowed hall, Hulk Hogan will use the term "brother" to refer to people to whom he has no family relationship, again and again and again.

One advantage of the Memorial Sports Arena is that event sets can be constructed and remain assembled for the entire season's taping. So instead of artificially editing together clips taped over weeks to create each episode, an episode can be filmed in a single sitting. Which is cool.

[American Gladiators Season 2 will begin to tape on April 8th at the L.A. Sports Arena - Getbig.com]