S16.E7: Semifinals 3 & 4

[Lantern7]

Back from Olympic break. Are you watching?

[Hellga]

I am watching but this season I am just not that into the show.  I think I might call it quits when this season ends... it doesn't look and feel the way it did when i first watched it in 2015.  

[SophiaD]

I'm trying to watch, but, wow, this is boring and it's only eighteen minutes in.  

It will be nice to see a few familiar faces, though.  

[Lantern7]

At least the Express Pass races were exciting.

Yeah, I might bail on this after the current season wraps up. 🤷‍♂️

[AuntTora]

Brigham Youngston? 
anyway

American Ninja Warrior as conceived by Devon Banks. They keep fiddling with the format and it keeps getting worse. What these folks do is AMAZING…but I’m not compelled to watch a constantly changing set of high schoolers and “social media stars”. 

Edited August 13 by AuntTora
I have more spleen.

[SophiaD]

Yep, boring.  Yay for Nick Hansen (whose baby is very cute), RJ Ronan, and Flip Rodriguez for making the finals.  

I was annoyed that they are pitting the people I care about against each other, but, at least, this way, they get at least one familiar person through.  OTOH, with the possible exceptions of RJ Roman and Daniel Gill (at least, tonight), most of my favorites aren't competitive, due the their lack of speed.

Sigh.  I miss the Olympics already.  

[astrohip]

Barely watching. I miss the thrill of watching a ninja compete against themself and the course. Back when most didn't hit a buzzer, because the obstacles were so friggin' hard.

Now it's just tweens and racing, on a course so easy it can be finished in 46 seconds. There was a reason Ninja v Ninja was a ratings failure.

[ams1001]

23 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

Back from Olympic break. Are you watching?

I forgot...will have to watch on demand later in the week. (Mostly because I see mentions of people I like.) Starting to think this show has run its course. (Pun fully intended.)

19 hours ago, AuntTora said:

Brigham Youngston?

Please tell me this is not someone's actual name...

(I googled; it's actually Youngstrom, but 🙄.)

[Quilt Fairy]

A few of the races that went the whole way were interesting, but even with that it's gotten too boring to watch in real time.  Also, I got really tired of Matt saying something happened "last year" when in reality it happened only a few weeks previously.

None of the proposed changes I've read about sound like they will make the show better, mainly because the show didn't need to change.  I'll watch the finals, but I don't know about next year.  

[Rickster]

We watched it last night, but it ended up being just background noise. I think I dozed off during part of it.

[Twopper]

I just tried to binge watch the last 3 episodes, but I think I fast forwarded through most of it because I find most of the back stories boring and I have started to hate the head to head races.   A few are okay such as for the pass, but whole episodes of just races is so boring. I probably played a dozen games of solitaire and let it be mostly background noise.  

[DEL901]

I have been taping the show, but not paying attention when I watch it back…so I think I am finally out and cancelled the recording.  

[AuntTora]

On 8/13/2024 at 4:52 PM, ams1001 said:

(I googled; it's actually Youngstrom, but 🙄.)

LOL not much of a difference there.

I've been thinking about the youngstroms...I mean, youngsters, wiping the floor with people like, say, Ryan Stratus. They seem to truly have the physical advantage. And if the veteran older ninjas can't really compete, I guess that's just a natural transition. But I miss the old guys you'd see year to year.

Now pardon me while I go chase some kids off my lawn....

[ams1001]

17 hours ago, AuntTora said:

I've been thinking about the youngstroms...I mean, youngsters, wiping the floor with people like, say, Ryan Stratus. They seem to truly have the physical advantage. And if the veteran older ninjas can't really compete, I guess that's just a natural transition. But I miss the old guys you'd see year to year.

I guess it's a combination of the old guard just getting older and stiffer and youngsters having specifically trained Ninja since elementary school. When the show started the people competing had pretty varied athletic backgrounds; now it's become a sport you train to do as a kid and ninja-specific gyms are all over the place.

They showed a couple flashbacks from early seasons and I was struck by the lack of, I'll say 'polish' on the obstacles. The Warped Wall used to just look like a curved sheet of wood (because it pretty much was). Now they're designed as much for aesthetics as function.

I took a half day for an appointment yesterday so I finally watched last week's episode after I got home, mostly to see Flip and a few others.

[mlp]

This was the first episode I've really enjoyed this season because it was more like old times.  It was less heavily weighted with kids and there was a little less showboating.  I was about to give up on ANW and now I'm looking forward to next week.

[eel2178]

42 minutes ago, ams1001 said:

The Warped Wall used to just look like a curved sheet of wood (because it pretty much was). Now they're designed as much for aesthetics as function.

The Warped Wall has run its course. Now, if anyone finishes the 5th obstacle, it is just assumed that he'll hit the buzzer because rarely does more than one person per season not be able to get up it anymore. It's time to find a replacement for it that will actually be considered a challenge again.

[VartanFan]

I maintain my hatred of the head to head races.  It’s awful.  In one twosome, one person could fall on the steps and the other person gets through because they get to obstacle 2.  Then, in the next twosome, someone could finish the race and the other person get to the second-to-last obstacle….yet the person who only got to obstacle 2 gets through where the person who almost finished doesnt.  HATE.   

[astrohip]

21 hours ago, VartanFan said:

I maintain my hatred of the head to head races.  It’s awful.  In one twosome, one person could fall on the steps and the other person gets through because they get to obstacle 2.  Then, in the next twosome, someone could finish the race and the other person get to the second-to-last obstacle….yet the person who only got to obstacle 2 gets through where the person who almost finished doesnt.  HATE.   

I can only like this once. Agree with every bit of it.