Anyone who’s watched the classic 1975 documentary Pumping Iron will be familiar with the origin story of one Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger: champion bodybuilder, five-times undefeated Mr Universe, oozing charisma and confidence from every perfectly-sculpted pore. The man had more testosterone than a hormone therapy lab. Well, 40 years later, the Austrian Oak and erstwhile Governator is putting together a new TV show based on his formative experiences of becoming really, really, ridiculously muscular.
According to Deadline, Pump will be a new eight-episode, hour-long television drama on the CBS network in the US, with Schwarzenegger executive producing. Set in 1973, it will tell the tale of a small group of bodybuilders working on their lats, abs, and delts during the early fitness boom. It won’t just be entirely footage of men working out – we’re promised a look at the party lifestyle of the gang, too.
The show has been in various stages of development since 2013, but only now has got to the proverbial choppa. Bryan Goluboff – best known for his work on Blue Bloods – will serve as show runner.
Schwarzenegger explains in a statement: “I knew from our first brainstorming session that Pump would be a hit. The ’70s were such a colourful, transformational time, for me and for our entire country. I look forward to bringing that colour to people’s living rooms with the fantastic, deep characters and the multi-layered storylines of Pump.”
Deep characters and multi-layered storylines: this is a show aiming for brains as well as brawn, then. There’s no word on exactly how loosely the show will be based on real life, but it seems unlikely that Schwarzenegger himself would appear as a character – if nothing else, those are big and illustrious Speedos to fill.