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.

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.

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.

I'm continually disappointed with each season as they get worse and worse. I watched the new season 12 and in the first 25 mins they have shown 5 competitors with a course time of about 1.5 minutes and a back story of about 3 minutes and the rest is replays, coming up ahead, and the announcers talking it up. It's amazing how they can have a good thing and totally ruin it with over the top sob stories, fake drama, autism, school teachers and what else you might want to thrown in in order to be socially woke.

They still haven't fixed the main issue with ANW, and that is all the events are grip based and upper body. Hanging, climbing and a few agility obstacles made for a rock climbers body. Heavier body builders, and other athletes don't have nearly the same chance of succeeding as a 120 pound agile nerd. And women mostly have zero chance of finishing. I don't recall any obstacle ever using the legs besides the warped wall.

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.