The first around five or so seasons of this were great with a good mix of both competition and stories, high production and still not feeling like some giant corporate show, extreme difficulty and motivational moments, and so on. After that, it went completely downhill for many obvious reasons that all of the other popular reviews sum up better than I ever could. All I'll say is that if you want to watch good shows like this then watch Ultimate Beastmaster and the original Ninja Warrior from Japan. MCX, Takeshi's Castle, and Unbeatable Banzuke aren't the same but are also fun watches. Even the meh newer version of American Gladiators that was cancelled after a couple of seasons and fricking Wipeout are somehow a billion times better, more entertaining, and more competitive than what American Ninja Warrior has been for a while now. At least they don't take forever to get to the obstacles. This and Survivor for the last eight or so years are abominations compared to what they once were. I'm not giving it that low of a rating because of the seasons worth watching and since there is the odd moment in between all of this that's great and reminds me of what this show once was. Not all of the sob stories are bad either and especially since some of the contestants with them are legit and would probably make it onto the first few seasons such as Zach Gowen. Those are few and far between though so it's still getting a mediocre rating. The first handful of seasons get a high 7/10. The other seasons after that get a 2-3/10.
On another note, I watched most of the episodes of that other side thing they've done with Japan, Europe, and Latin America yearly. It's even worse than the main episodes of the show and sums up everything I hate about American television. It's basically the best Ninja Warrior contestants from the United States having a huge hometown advantage with being used to their courses and not needing to travel or anything like that facing off against a bunch of washed up Japanese contestants from the past, whoever they could find for Latin America, and Europe's best Ninja Warriors from their version of the show where the obstacles are nothing compared to what the United States have yet.
