SophiaD

Just a heads-up that we don't have a new episode until next week.

I hadn't even heard that Flex and Chris were expecting! Well, if they are recording next year's episodes now, too, my interest just plummeted even farther, if that's possible. She is one of my favorite ninjas and I always watch her runs with interest. I'm happy for them, of course, but that just makes this season (and maybe next?) more boring than ever. :(

I didn't see a topic for tonight's episode, so here is one to get us started.

Yes. there is a balance there and they definitely have gone too far the other way. I got tired of the same-old, same-old backstories season after season, but now we don't even get to know anyone. If I hadn't been a follower of American Gladiators back in the day, I wouldn't have cared which teenager made it through. As it was, since we didn't see either of their runs before, it was hard to root for anyone. I do miss the pre-Covid format, especially the walk-ons. I hope the show manages to return to what made it compelling in the first place, the combination of sheer athleticism and quirky characters. I don't see getting attached to any of the younger folks anytime soon.

I don't think it has, which is a shame. IIRC, there also used to be a USA vs. The World or something like that, but I don't remember seeing it this year. LOL, yes, that's a great point. I think I've just started tuning them out when they start yelling like that (which is pretty much all of the time). This show has become something I have on in the background, rather than something I sit and watch. One advantage of the shorter format is that we have far fewer of the backstories, which I appreciate. OTOH, the last "ninja vs. ninja" race this time featured people I hadn't seen before, so it was hard to be invested in the outcome. It's odd that such a successful show (or so it seems) keeps tinkering with its format year over year like this.

Some nice things about tonight's runs. Great to see Jessie's mom. Jessie herself looks like she's getting back to where she was, if not quite as invincible as she was a few seasons ago. I'm so glad she made it to the next round. RJ Roman was his usual awesome self. I also enjoyed the final run from the young women, even though I'm not thrilled with the format itself. I'm amused that the winner's mother was a former American Gladiator - I used to stay up and watch the classic version of the show, back in the day. It was also great to see the Cake Ninja and his new spouse. How cute they hyphenated both of their names when they got married. Also, very impressive runs from the two brothers. I hope we see more of them. I'm sorry not to see a few old favorites, but glad that Geri D'Angelo made it to the finals. They definitely overhyped the LAST RUN from Brandon. No suspense there. I hope the ten-year-old girl who designed the new Cube obstacle becomes some sort of engineer. MIT, RPI, Cal Tech, are you paying attention?

Happy for Daniel, Jody Avila, and Grant McCartney. Great to see Sam Sann again and Ian Dory, however briefly. It almost felt like old times again. The rest of the episode was super forgettable and boring. I don't like the race at the end. The results should just stand. I didn't mind the Power Tower, because it didn't mess with the people who got in. Also, I'm happy for Sandy Zimmerman, but we don't need to hear that she was the first mom up the Warped Wall Every. Single. Time.

I just tried reading the latest J.D. Robb and I have gone from originally liking and rooting for Eve Dallas, then becoming unenthused to outright disliking her. I knew who the villain was in the first paragraph and it went downhill from there. I will put my comments in spoilers, because it contains a few comments about the latest book.

I absolutely agree. I also think that Bruno and Kyla are really terrific judges, managing to work in genuinely complimentary comments, along with constructive criticism. It's going to be hard to top this season. It's so sweet how happy Zoya and Chi were for Lauren, too. I may have teared up just a bit.

What a magnificent season. I'm glad I DVR'd the entire thing, so I can watch it again and again. Such a great, heartwarming final. Congratulations, Lauren!

I just watched my recording of last night's episode. How beautiful. I wish they could have sent all four to the final. My heart is sad for the person who left. Honestly, this has been such a great season. I don't think I've ever seen such a great group of bakers before. I loved the group hug at the end of the showstopper. <3

I love the Auer family matriarch, applauding in her reserved way. So sorry that this is the end of the line for Jimmy Choi. He was such a wonderful competitor to watch. His family is wonderful and, specifically, his daughter is so gutsy. Just a little more spring and she would have had it. That was more enjoyable than I thought it would be.

This solidifies my transition into casual fan, who will record the runs, see how my favorites are doing, and then delete them. Also, how they are milking the "moms with cancer" storyline is nibbling at the border of exploitation. Happy for the kids, but the fact that the top three finishers were all teens means that this is going to become a "teen show."

GO, RJ!!!!!!!!!!! GO, JOSH!!!!!!!!!

I think the people who ran Stage 1 last night didn't have to do Stage 2 until the next session. It wouldn't be fair to make them do two stages in a row. I do have to say, upon reflection, the show is definitely sending, for lack of a better term, a "wholesome" message through the teens (and other athletes) that they showcase. They talk about stuff like autism, death in the family, physical illness, and so on, and whoever is doing the editing has a relatively light touch (other than repeating the same stories, over and over again). It's impressive. I hope it inspires some of the younger folks watching to pick it up. I also hope that the older ninjas don't feel crowded out, though, especially since being in your 30s is now considered "old." I really liked watching Travis Rosen and Sam San and Alyssa Beird's mother take on the course and would hate to see that go away.

Yay, Flip, RJ, and Josh! RJ in particular looks amazing. I am especially bummed for Tyler Yamauchi, a long-time favorite, but he did really well. I think I'll DVR next Monday's show and/or come here to see who wins first. If it's a forgettable teen, I'm not sure I'll bother to watch. Sorry, young dudes. Many of them are amazing athletes and Matt and Akbar try hard to set a narrative, but it's just not really compelling. At one point, Akbar was going on and on about how this teen had spent so many hours working out in his parents' garage, or whatever, and I was all, "Um, Akbar, he's fifteen. He doesn't have to worry finding a job, or car repairs, or any of the other hassles of daily life. Which is great, and every kid should be so fortunate. But it doesn't make his story that interesting." I have to give Akbar and Matt credit, though - they had the same level of energy and enthusiasm at the end of the show as they did at the beginning. (Hey, did you know the last obstacle features a blind grab?) Ah, well, maybe I'll get over my curmudgeonly attitude next season. Hopefully, we'll also have some of the elite women or some new elite women to go deeper into the finals as well.

I've felt that way all season. Perfectly put. I think the Drew thing threw them off so badly, they are trying to make it a more family-friendly show, which is why hearing only wholesome stories and seeing people flip into the jumping spider, and focusing less on quirky characters who might have something questionable in their backgrounds.

Congratulations to Tyler Yamauchi (a particular favorite of mine), Donovan Metoyer, Josh Levin, RJ Roman, and Flip (another favorite!) So sweet to see everyone cheering him on like that. Stage 2 just got significantly more interesting for me and I hope he goes all of the way. Congrats to all of the teen finishers, too, of course. I'm bummed for Barclay, Sean, Jody Avila, and Jamie Rahn. Joe made it to the finals, but didn't hit a buzzer and wasn't eligible for the Power Tower. Which felt like a loss to him, because he has had such great success until this year. I agree with @Taeolas that the newer ladies need to train more on the Jumping Spider. I miss watching Flex and Jessie Graf soar through it. I like this year's Stage 1 course better than the finals courses. It seems better balanced and doesn't favor one type of athlete more explicitly than others, whereas finals courses seem to depend on upper body strength so much. Looks like we'll get the rest of Stage 1 next week and some Stage 2 folks as well. I wonder if Nate will be able to make it through the Jumping Spider?

Perfectly fine, although unexciting episode this week. Again, I didn't really care who won the Power Tower. About the only thing that surprised me was how young Austin Gray is. Speaking of the Power Tower, I only saw one of the "Powers of Tower" bros this year, and he got the WWWA treatment, which did not upset me that much. Not all of the changes are bad. Without Flex, Alyssa, Megan, and Jessie, I'm less excited about the finals that I remember being for quite some time. I think Megan 2.0 has a shot to at least make it to Stage 2. Katie is also very impressive. It would be great if Barclay did, too, but she's not the tallest of athletes, which can sometimes help. I don't think we had any women finishers this year, which is something of a bummer. I think Tianna has tons of potential, but she's never really had the run that I think she's capable of, except maybe a finals course several years back, and did really well. I will be rooting for Flip, Najee, and some of the other stars of yesteryear to qualify for the finals, but I won't be surprised if it's teen against teen.

I make a truly excellent balsamic chicken salad, with grapes, pecans, and green onions. I'm just saying. :) But, yes, celery is very much standard. I don't know who to root for in the finals, so I will root for them to do a better job in the next season. Since I am complaining, anyway, could they please choose judges we have at least heard of, and do a better job of setting their context every week? Like, each week, in the GBBO or its Canadian counterpart, the judges discuss the food, they have an example of a perfectly-baked version that one of them did, and they are specific about what they are looking for, and share a bit about their own stories. I didn't know very much about any of the baking show hosts before I started watching, but their personalities, backgrounds, and areas of expertise emerged as the season ran its course. (Of course, my favorites on the Great Canadian Baking Show always loose, so I'm just going to DVR it and watch all of the episodes at once).

Oh, I don't think Flex is past her prime, either. but Alyssa Beird, Michelle Warnky, Meghan Martin, and Maggie Thorne were all ground-breaking women and they're not going to be in the finals, along with Jessie Graf. I am happy that Barclay Stockett will be, and I'll be rooting for her, along with Najee, Flip, and a few other old favorites. The only good thing about Flex and Chris not going through is that they dropped that stupid, made-up "rivalry" between them. They're both great athletes - can't we just be happy for them? It reminded me of this very annoying shaving commercial they used to play (and overplay) between a married couple during an Olympics season. I think it was for shaving cream of something. I agree with you, @VartanFan. The teens are impressive, but it's a lot easier to be focused on athletic performance when you don't have to deal with work, bills, and childcare.

Well, this was much less boring than last week, if nothing else, because we had more finishers. However, I am heartbroken for Flex (and Chris) and am now much less excited about the national finals without her in it. I suppose her great streak had to end sometime. It does look like the first class of great women is starting to fade a bit, between Meghan not being there and Jessie Graf being injured. Maggie Thorne, too, is a far cry from the athlete she once was. Nice job to Karen and to Megan Rowe. The corn-fed Iowans look like triplets. I was actually rooting for RJ to make it to the Power Tower, but, oh, well. Glad he's going to Vegas. Good for Levi. Great to see Ethan Swanson again, and very happy to see Jamie Rahn and his pregnant wife! Very sweet story. Still a bit too much upper body for me and the obstacles tend to blend together a bit, but it was definitely better than last week.

I want Karen Potts to come play for our university's award-winning softball team. What an amazing run for a rookie. Go, Karen!

I had a similar thought, @2soon2tell. Like, with the GBBO, they have weekly challenges, but the contestants are given recipes and are judged as to how well they make the dishes. There are specific standards. Part of the fun of it is seeing each bake and comparing how I think they did versus how the actual assessment from the judges. They could change the format of the show to feature regional cuisines: New England, Southern, Cajun/Creole, West Coast, and maybe have an appetizer or soup and a main. Or they could do specific types of cuisine, like Pasta Week, Pizza Week, Dumpling Week, Savory Pie Week, Vegetarian Week, Fish Week, and so on. As it is, it's just way too nebulous and too open to such statements as, "You just cook with so much HEART!" and so on.

What's the point of having the first round if it isn't going to help the contestants? Nikki had one of the top two dishes in the first round and she's sent home? I feel as though the whole thing is rigged. It's also really boring, compared to the GBBO, where there are set rules, and it's easy to see why some struggle and others don't. Paul and Mary or Paul and Prue explain what's wrong or we can see it for ourselves. These forgettable judges just say, oh, this is a flaw and you're leaving. I doubt I'll be watching it again. I also think it's ridiculous to compare pumpkin bread to cacio e pepe.