S15.E08: Semifinals 1

[SophiaD]

Your thread for this evening!  Hey, did you know that it's going to feature side-by-side racing?  

[enoughcats]

side by side?  There's a reason some race horses need blinders so they aren't distracted by their other competitors. 

I would not be comfortable if there were somebody airborne ten (or fewer) feet in front of me, also sailing through the air, or dropping and splashing. 

Blinders, for the ninja who has everything else

[Lantern7]

“EVERY RUN IS A RACE!” Thanks for reminding us, Matt. Feh, at least this isn’t Big Brother.

[ams1001]

Did we see Tyler Yamauchi run in the qualifiers? I don't remember seeing him. 

[Lantern7]

22 minutes ago, ams1001 said:

Did we see Tyler Yamauchi run in the qualifiers? I don't remember seeing him. 

I vaguely remember his run. And it looks like Muscle Ball isn’t advancing.

ERIAR is exciting, but I think it works better at the end of an episode, as opposed to being the episode.

ETA: Crap, Roo Yori is out. I like that guy.

Edited August 1, 2023 by Lantern7

[ams1001]

Would have been interesting if one of the father/son pairs ended up running against each other...

 

I know it's highly unlikely, but I found myself wondering who would win if both ninjas fell on the first obstacle. 

Edited August 1, 2023 by ams1001

[MsVixen]

The young lady who made it to the end (I don't remember her name) is looking like the heir apparent to Flex LaBreck and Jessie Graf.

BTW, all these young competitors make me feel old as F....

[Quilt Fairy]

3 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

ERIAR is exciting, but I think it works better at the end of an episode, as opposed to being the episode.

Yeah, I found myself thinking I like the races but I miss ANW.  

[SophiaD]

That went about how I thought it would.  I ended up having it on in the background while I multi-tasked.  It's a new show now, with similar obstacles and some of the same people, but the aspects I liked are pretty much gone.  It's like going back to a neighborhood and seeing all of the quirky old homes pulled down for snappy new condos.  Perfectly serviceable, but lacking character.  I'm also not a huge fan of the men and women having separate leaderboards.  

It definitely rewards agile, speedy, people, especially the teens.  I was happy for the SAHD with the seriously cute kids, and for Tyler Yamauchi, who I've always liked.  The young woman who hit the buzzer was incredible.  It's also nice to see the safety pass again.   

In general, the editing has been good for these last few episodes.  And it sounds from the preview as if someone is going to win a million dollars this season.  I'm hoping that someone like Sean Bryan will have an incredible run, maybe even win, but my guess is that it will be one of the teens. 

Edited August 1, 2023 by SophiaD

[ams1001]

I didn't hate it, but I find it harder to get invested in any new runners. I love seeing the old-school ninjas but the teens seem to get most of the oxygen anymore.

[IvySpice]

I didn't enjoy the new format at all. Part of what I've loved about ANW is the fact that you can root for everyone: it's the competitor vs. the course, with ever more impossible-looking obstacles every year. Who thought that it would improve the show to watch people attack the same old obstacles faster and faster? Why should you get to go to Vegas automatically if you have a crummy semifinal run and your partner happened to fall in the water a little before you did? I want to see the best players go to Vegas, not just the ones who got a lucky draw.

I'll still watch, but I hope they don't stick with this. It's much less compelling than the old system.

That said, Lebsack winning the safety pass: UNREAL. I couldn't run alongside the course and keep up with him!

[Vermicious Knid]

I officially hate this format. I want to see a ninja trying his or her best to conquer the course, not frantically flailing around. And because it's a sudden elimination we aren't actually getting the best 15 or whatever contestants. We're stuck with it through next season at least, since they filmed back to back.

Did 'Kid' Owadi appear this season? I don't remember seeing him although I could have just not been paying attention. 

[enoughcats]

Fast forward remains my best friend. 

But, in fairness, there was a brief moment Monday night that was charming and it even had a teenager as a participant.  Somehow they found a picture of the teenager when he was even younger and had gone to a Ninja competition and was (IIRC) cheering for the guy he was running against that night. That was neat, but not neat enough to go back and get the names and very brief story straight.

I almost wish they didn't show the sophisticated set ups that these amateurs work out on all year long.

[Lovecat]

19 hours ago, IvySpice said:

That said, Lebsack winning the safety pass: UNREAL. I couldn't run alongside the course and keep up with him!

He and that Kai kid with the stupid hair were going so fast I barely had time to parse out how each obstacle worked.

[astrohip]

19 hours ago, Vermicious Knid said:

Did 'Kid' Owadi appear this season? I don't remember seeing him although I could have just not been paying attention. 

He's not competing this season. I think I read he's finished with ANW.

[JH Lipton]

On 7/31/2023 at 9:31 PM, SophiaD said:

I'm also not a huge fan of the men and women having separate leaderboards.

It's been that way since a decent number of women started competing.  Otherwise, very few women would make past the first Qualifier,

[QuantumMechanic]

On 8/9/2023 at 2:31 AM, JH Lipton said:

It's been that way since a decent number of women started competing.  Otherwise, very few women would make past the first Qualifier,

No, it hasn't.  This is the first season with segregated leaderboards.

They used to have a unified leaderboard but would then take enough women from outside the leaderboard such that, say, 3 women would advance to the next round no matter what.  So if no women finished in the top 15 they'd take the top 3 women outside of the leaderboard. If one woman finished in the top 15 they'd take the top 2 women outside of the leaderboard, etc.

And if some woman finished the course you'd see her on the leaderboard with the other finishers and ahead of all the others (men and women) on the leaderboard who didn't finish.

But this year they aren't doing that.  There are separate male and female leaderboards.  I was very annoyed when Taylor Greene -- who by virtue of finishing, mind you -- did better than most of the men who competed in that round didn't show up on the top 13 leaderboard even though she was in the top 13.  Instead, her finish got relegated to being shown only on the women's mini-leaderboard.  Boooooo.

They should go back to presenting it the way they used to.  Doing so doesn't prevent them from bringing whatever number of men and women to the next round that they want.