I distinctly remember when BattleBots premiered on Comedy Central back in 2000. But for the record, why was this even on Comedy Central? There’s nothing funny about the show. It definitely should have been more of a Nickelodeon or MTV thing.

Looking back, the program really shows its age. You can tell it was made in the early 2000s. It was considered really cool back in the day, but now it seems kind of lame unless you’re looking at it through nostalgia goggles.

The show tried to take itself so seriously, but in retrospect it just looks cheesy and silly. I hope the hosts had better careers afterward.

The same goes for the experts and commentators. I vaguely remember Bill Nye being in the first episode. This was during the height of his popularity, when virtually every science class in American schools showed his program and kids would get extremely excited.

But the main part of the show is exactly what the title advertises: remote control robots fighting to the death or… more accurately, to each other’s destruction. There were also a lot of environmental booby traps, like circular saws coming up out of the floor. I’d imagine the tires were probably the most important thing to make durable for a fight.

Its time on Comedy Central lasted only about two years before it fizzled out, and that’s when I lost interest. I enjoyed the show for what it was, but it was definitely more of a gimmick than anything else. Surprisingly, ABC revived the show briefly, and then Discovery made an even longer revival. Discovery definitely seems like the channel this concept belongs on, so it makes sense that it found better success there.