American Ninja Warrior

I think Netflix's Ultimate Beastmaster shows what this should could have been if it was actually executed correctly. They endlessly rehash events and skip the actually interesting runs in favor of showing "sob stories" that no body cares about. I am sorry but if you can't complete the course then I do not care at all about your back story. And even if you can complete the course I still don't care enough about your back story to watch it for 5 minuets instead of watching other competitors compete. Just simply say "this guy makes pizza" or "this person is dealing with autism and there is his mom supporting him" and show a few shots of them doing something cool-- not their home life or them in the hospital, that is not why people watch this show-- know your audience! Also, the obstacles are way too focused on upper body strength. Make it more diverse like Beastmaster, but don't lower the bar for the woman like you are doing. If you want to give more screen time to woman, make a woman's set and a men's set like the Olympics.

When this show started, it was great!!! I enjoy quite a bit the episodes circa 2012 (and thereabouts) with hosts Jonny Moseley, Angela Sun, and Iseman. That's lean meat, no fat.

The producers and et al wanted this show to gain popularity. This show has gotten obnoxious as a result of their efforts.

I tune in to watch athletes do crazy stunts and wow me with their athleticism. THAT'S WHY I WATCH. Nowadays, half the show is sappy backstories. There are 4 minute long back stories of each athlete. It's about the athlete working with mentally disabled people, losing family members by death, doing the ninja course for cancer, et cetera.

If these lame stories were 20 seconds long, it'd be tolerable. But no, they are literally at least four minutes each. Then on top of that, lots of commercials.

This show was a 9 out of 10, before it got ruined. I give it 4 out of 10.

Here's a thought: 1) Cut the lengthy video montages for a special few and dedicate that time to the sport itself.

2) Post a leaderboard online showing all the competitors, their stats, their background and any videos (emotional and/or competitive), if applicable.

3) Once the playing field is down to a handful, THEN run the video montage of what they had to conquer (physically, emotionally, whatever) to get this far. At this point viewers should recognize the competitors and have picked favorites. This is the appropriate time to dedicate a minute to each player's backstory.

Again, it's just a slap in the face to those who have trained so hard just to get on the course only to be granted a 2 second recap after commercial because the producers chose to air long background videos on competitors who ended up disqualifying themselves on the first challenge.

I wish I could get access to the original Sasuke competitions.

I have been a huge Sasuke and ANW fan but the last couple of seasons of ANW have gone way overboard on fluff pieces.

I think it is very disrespectful to the other competitors to have their runs skipped over to make room for all of this uninteresting backstory. Let everyone tell their story on the course, not in a lame bio which runs longer than their actual obstacle course run.

Everyone has a story and issues in life to deal with... the ones who hardly get to be seen are not being treated fairly. Maybe show some of the fluff in a little window while they are running, but these overproduced segments are just terrible TV and are hogging up the whole episode ...just NO...STOP IT!!!!

Between commercials, fluff pieces and fluff after interviews on the sideline, there really is only about 10 minutes of actual competition. If this trend continues, I will be skipping ANW alltogether as the skip button is getting worn out on the remote as it stands now.

Since Casey's run and climbing of the wall, women have been included more and more on the show and I think it is good to have women included, but the courses are getting too nerfed to cater to lesser athletes and this is also taking away from the sport. Additionally, it is disrespectful to women to have a female announcer relegated to the sidelines and only get to ask fluff questions instead of being able to announce the runs as they are happening. I think if you want to be inclusive to women , that needs to be changed as well.

TLDR, cut out the fluff which runs longer than the contestants actual runs and toughen the course up to make it a legitimate competition again.

Any more, it seems like they spend 10 minutes talking about a splinter a competitor got back in the second grade, then say, "while we were away, 37 more people ran the course..." I'd rather see the people running the course.