[spear]

First I've heard of this reboot and it's bad news:
'Wipeout' Contestant Dies in Hospital After Completing Obstacle Course

 

[mattack]

no info about when it premieres.. (Though I guess I'm mostly over Wipeout, and like American Ninja Warrior. Though I really would like something halfway between them too -- goofy and jokey, but somewhat actually doable, unlike Wipeout. Though on the miniature golf show, it was nice to see a couple people actually get past the portapotty doors "challenge".)

 

[robojerk]

Though on the miniature golf show, it was nice to see a couple people actually get past the portapotty doors "challenge".)

I wanted to like it but couldn't watch more than 3 episodes..

 

[cheesesteak]

The new hosts suck. Both of them.

 

[spartanstew]

I was hoping to see a fun show that we could watch and didn't need our full attention. This was terrible. Just show them running the course and let the wipeout speak for themselves. But no, too much "character development", interjections for the hosts and all around crap. Bailed about 3/4 of the way through.

 

[LoadStar]

The new hosts are indeed horrible. I bailed fairly quickly because of them.

I was hoping to see a fun show that we could watch and didn't need our full attention. This was terrible. Just show them running the course and let the wipeout speak for themselves. But no, too much "character development", interjections for the hosts and all around crap. Bailed about 3/4 of the way through.

Nothing there was different from the original run of episodes on ABC.

 

[spartanstew]

The new hosts are indeed horrible. I bailed fairly quickly because of them.

Nothing there was different from the original run of episodes on ABC.

Nah, in the original run they'd have them run a complete leg of the obstacle course and then comment. Here, it was 5 seconds of the obstacle course and then onto the telestrator to diagram stuff. The first couple of contestants I watched on this, they didn't even show them complete the whole course - the first two they didn't even show on the big balls, for example. That never happened on the original run. I don't remember them going into so much detail on the contestants before play started either.

 

[justen_m]

Yeah, this iteration seems to just be showing the wipeouts on the qualifier (1st run). I don't remember seeing any complete runs. I don't just watch to see wipeouts. I like seeing the whole runs. Same with ANW, I want more whole runs from more competitors, and less backstory.

John Cena is a bit wooden, but not bad. Nicole Beyers is funny. I guess I don't share the dislike, yet. Their interaction just too obviously scripted and unnatural, it could get better. Camille Kostek, like previous side-line reporters, was funny, spontaneous, and seemed to be enjoying herself. I think she, like Jill Wagner and Vanessa Lachey, outshines the hosts. I'll give the show a chance. I'm guessing Cena and the SI swimsuit model (and SB Champ Gronk's girlfriend) were added to appeal to the pro wrestling demo?

Is this season going to be all teams of two? I think I remember some team episodes from last time, but also solo eps. Or maybe I'm just confused. Probably a side effect of the 5G nanotech in the Pfizer vaccine.

I'm sort of hoping there might be a celebrity tag team competition. I think it'd be cool if John Cena and Gronk (Camille's RL boyfriend), got spanked by the course. Or to see Nicole or Camille give it a try.

I don't remember, but did the previous airing have such many obvious sexual allusions? Is it trying to appear more edgy?

[edit] I find watching at 1.5x QuickMode works well with this show.

 

[madscientist]

They always introduced contestants and give a bit of story on them, as I recall, mainly as a way of justifying the silly nicknames they used.

My problem with this iteration is that the hosts are too well-known. That means they want their screen time, which is so NOT why anyone watches this show. The previous hosts were basically unknowns and except for a few seconds to throw to commercial they weren't shown. They just gave dumb commentary in the background.

In this iteration, Cena and Byers want to actually appear on screen to do their banter, and all that means is we see a lot less wipeout. I'm not sure why anyone thought the problem with the original version of this show is that they showed too much wipeout and we really wanted to watch B-list stars (I like them both fine but let's be real) stand around and make even stupider jokes with less charisma than the original, instead.

I'll watch another one to see if they get back to something closer to the old formula but this was a big disappointment to me.

 

[LoadStar]

My problem with this iteration is that the hosts are too well-known. That means they want their screen time, which is so NOT why anyone watches this show. The previous hosts were basically unknowns and except for a few seconds to throw to commercial they weren't shown. They just gave dumb commentary in the background.

I wouldn't call either "unknowns." The previous hosts were John Anderson, who was (and is) a pretty well known ESPN anchor/commentator, and John Henson, a comedian pretty well known as a long-time host of "Talk Soup."

One thing that worked better with them was that they played classic comedy "double act" roles, the "straight man" (Anderson) and the "clown" (Henson). What also helped is that to be the "straight man," all Anderson had to do was simply do what he did at ESPN very well - provide commentary on what kind of was an athletic event (as dumb as the athletic event was).

Problems I saw with the new hosts:
- Cena isn't particularly funny, nor is he a particularly good "straight man." He seems nice enough, but I didn't really see any evidence what he brings to the show, based on what I saw. Kind of blah.
- Byers might be funny elsewhere, I assume, but here feels very restrained and again, felt kind of dull.
- Byers and Cena don't really have much chemistry together.
- Neither play the role of sports commentator that Anderson held on the original run particularly well.

 

[madscientist]

I wouldn't call either "unknowns." The previous hosts were John Anderson, who was (and is) a pretty well known ESPN anchor/commentator, and John Henson, a comedian pretty well known as a long-time host of "Talk Soup."

I mean, from my perspective this actually proves my point . By "unknowns" I didn't mean they brought some guys up from the mail room. I just meant, most people don't know who they are.

In any event my main point stands: in the old show the hosts were off-camera making voice-over commentary and the focus was on the wipeouts. In the new version they are cutting to the hosts on-camera between virtually every contestant and as a result they have far less time to show wipeouts, especially in the first round.

Of course we don't know for sure why they made this change but the obvious reason is that the new hosts are much more well-known and either their agents or the show's producers decided they needed to be on-camera, not off-camera.

Maybe they'll fix it in future episodes. We can only hope.

 

[Steveknj]

I wouldn't call either "unknowns." The previous hosts were John Anderson, who was (and is) a pretty well known ESPN anchor/commentator, and John Henson, a comedian pretty well known as a long-time host of "Talk Soup."

One thing that worked better with them was that they played classic comedy "double act" roles, the "straight man" (Anderson) and the "clown" (Henson). What also helped is that to be the "straight man," all Anderson had to do was simply do what he did at ESPN very well - provide commentary on what kind of was an athletic event (as dumb as the athletic event was).

Problems I saw with the new hosts:
- Cena isn't particularly funny, nor is he a particularly good "straight man." He seems nice enough, but I didn't really see any evidence what he brings to the show, based on what I saw. Kind of blah.
- Byers might be funny elsewhere, I assume, but here feels very restrained and again, felt kind of dull.
- Byers and Cena don't really have much chemistry together.
- Neither play the role of sports commentator that Anderson held on the original run particularly well.

I will preface this by saying I didn't watch the new version. I am not a WWE fan nor have I heard of the comedian, but the couple of scenes I saw during commercials of them were total turn offs. And if that's the BEST of those two, then the worst must be MUCH worse. I passed. Plus the concept is kind of, yeah, been there done that, boring. Even the original got old for me after awhile.

You are right about Anderson and Henson. They had good chemistry and Anderson gave it the feel that it as kind of a psudo sporting event and announced as such. It's the reason why "imitator" shows like Holy Moley work. Tessitore is a well known play by play man who doesn't take himself too seriously and Riggle is funny in a wisecracking way that works for shows like this.

But really, why not bring back MXC complete with Samuri elements and those crazy Japanese ladies. That show always had me rolling.

 

[cheesesteak]

The only episode I watched of the reboot was the first one. That episode had a finals contestant who didn't even bother to try an obstacle. It was a big vertical spinning disk and he just stood there whining until he got timed out. If I were the producers of the show, I would have tossed that episode's tape into the trash and burned it instead of broadcasting it, especially since it was the first episode of a new season on a new network.

 

[madscientist]

AFAIK there's only been one episode of the reboot that's aired so far. Yeah, that was lame for sure. It was pretty crazy that that team had a good chance to win anyway.

 

[mattack]

I have the 'sneak peek' or whatever they called it episode, and keep "view upcoming" on episodes that show up in my to do list, to find a future run.. The I think half or so I watched of the one ep I have recorded so far did seem *similar* to the orig show, but yeah, I guess I'm just less into it.. the actual athletics on ANW are just more entertaining. So maybe I will just nuke the OP.. but it's the kind of show I could imagine plowing through over the summer.