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Brekkie Profile
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Re: Australian Ninja Warrior


Ben Fordham has now quit as host to concentrate on his radio show. I suspect a new host will be announced quite quickly as the Aussie networks are currently presenting their "Upfronts" for 2022.

---
"It's a bit like water boarding. It's got water in it... and I'm bored!"
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16/Oct/21, 4:09 pm Link to this post    PM Brekkie
 
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Re: Australian Ninja Warrior


Ben's co-host Bec Madden has quit Channel 9 as well, so looks like it'll be a whole new line up fronting the show.

---
"It's a bit like water boarding. It's got water in it... and I'm bored!"
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27/Nov/21, 4:39 pm Link to this post    PM Brekkie
 
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Re: Australian Ninja Warrior


The new hosts have been announced today as tennis legend Jim Courier and broadcast Leila McKinnon, with radio double act Will & Woody on the sidelines.

https://tvblackbox.com.au/page/2022/01/29/jim-courier-and-leila-mckinnon-named-new-hosts-of-australian-ninja-warrior/

---
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30/Jan/22, 8:37 pm Link to this post    PM Brekkie
 
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Re: Australian Ninja Warrior


Starts 27th June

Here's one of their many trailers:
AuNW 2022 Trailer

Very heavily leaning on the veterans vs young guns theme (age limit is now 16) and these head-to-head battles. I expect, as is usually the case with Australia, individual episodes should be quite good but overall there will be a lot of repetition. Last year had a good first two heats but the latter two used repeat courses, the semis were too difficult and the finals were a mess. Hoping this season can improve.
10/Jun/22, 5:47 pm Link to this post    PM Takeshi1
 
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Re: Australian Ninja Warrior


Starts tomorrow with a bizarre format!

Most ninja shows now don't do gimmickless courses anymore - you have some form of split -decision, head-to-head courses, Mega Walls, Power Towers, teen invasions, courses with extra-long time limits, etc. Some shows decide they need some gimmicks, some (looking at you France) go overkill and this year, Australia joins the overkill group sadly.

The heats this year are actually more normal than usual so I'm looking forward to a few episodes that are mostly gimmick-free. A regular course with the following structure:

• Shrinking Steps
Changes
• Domino Effect
• Anaconda
Changes
• Warped Wall

Admittedly I'd have liked more changes between heats but Australia has never really done that other than season 2. The obstacle choices themselves for the heats this year are very good overall. The one gimmick making it's way into the heats is the new Power Pool: the top 4 will do 1v1 head-to-heads on the Power Tower's budget little brother. The prize is to chose who you go up against in the semis...

In semifinals and finals stage 1, the format goes strange. It's a 2 contestant ninja vs ninja course for the first 6 obstacles, whoever gets up the wall first keeps going onto the final 3 obstacles of the back half. In the semis if you lose you go home so the back half is there purely just for safety passes (sigh). In the finals if you win you still need to complete the course in its overlong time limit. I hate all of this.

Stage 2 onwards goes back to normal but the stage 2 time limit is the longest in stage 2 history so we all know they've made a stage 3 course and put a time limit on it (when will they learn).

So overall, enjoy the heats because we won't enjoy the rest! Shame to see AuNW turn into this.

Edited by Takeshi1, 13/Jul/22, 11:09 am
26/Jun/22, 2:12 pm Link to this post    PM Takeshi1
 
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Re: Australian Ninja Warrior


Full details here: https://tvtonight.com.au/2022/06/australian-ninja-warrior-2022-guide.html

Has the Power Pool been done elsewhere? Agree it feels really budget and just more of the same. Never fully agreed with the concept of the Power Tower but at least it offered something different to the main course.


The variations seem just token efforts, so not much point. Head to Head in the semis seem odd - just 12 contestants in each so that's only 6 runs in episodes which are usually 90 minutes+.



Edited by Brekkie, 26/Jun/22, 3:10 pm


---
"It's a bit like water boarding. It's got water in it... and I'm bored!"
Charlie Brooker on Total Wipeout
26/Jun/22, 2:59 pm Link to this post    PM Brekkie
 
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Re: Australian Ninja Warrior


Quote:

Brekkie wrote:

Full details here: https://tvtonight.com.au/2022/06/australian-ninja-warrior-2022-guide.html

Has the Power Pool been done elsewhere? Agree it feels really budget and just more of the same. Never fully agreed with the concept of the Power Tower but at least it offered something different to the main course.


The variations seem just token efforts, so not much point. Head to Head in the semis seem odd - just 12 contestants in each so that's only 6 runs in episodes which are usually 90 minutes+.



Power Pool has never been done anywhere else - AuNW only.

And 12 pairs rather than 12 contestants - admittedly 12 runs still isn't much.

I hate how shows feel that they should stick rigidly to a 6 then 9-obstacle course structure every year and change with gimmicks, rather than changing the course structure and avoiding gimmick oversaturation. A lot of shows are losing their charm and confusing their audiences at the same time!
26/Jun/22, 3:27 pm Link to this post    PM Takeshi1
 
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Re: Australian Ninja Warrior


Quote:

I hate how shows feel that they should stick rigidly to a 6 then 9-obstacle course structure every year and change with gimmicks, rather than changing the course structure and avoiding gimmick oversaturation. A lot of shows are losing their charm and confusing their audiences at the same time!



YES. We need to carve this in stone somewhere. Possibly carve it in the foreheads of the western Ninja Warrior producers!

---
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27/Jun/22, 4:22 am Link to this post    PM Messup434
 
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Re: Australian Ninja Warrior


Quote:

Messup434 wrote:

YES. We need to carve this in stone somewhere. Possibly carve it in the foreheads of the western Ninja Warrior producers!


I've got my hammer and chisel at the ready!
27/Jun/22, 12:45 pm Link to this post    PM Takeshi1
 
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Re: Australian Ninja Warrior


Ok I really want to write a review of the heats, but as usual I'm a few eps behind and wanting to avoid spoilers from ninja-specific places, so guess I'll write to two people on here again lol!


After watching all four heats, I really like these courses. They're fast-paced which we don't see a lot of anymore but I wish we did because this worked really well.

The course started with Shrinking Steps. The number of steps was increased from about 5 to 8 this year and I thought that worked quite well, giving the obstacle a little more scale.

As usual with AuNW, obstacle 2 was too hard. Both however were good to watch. In two heats it was Eagle's Claw (ANW13 Vegas 1.2 Swinging Blades) and in the other two it was Candy Cane Rush, an obstacle that was actually tested for ANW12 but then scrapped with the pandemic.

Domino Effect was obstacle 3 in all the heats. I like this one despite its simplicity, and considering 1.3 has never varied between heats in any season I'm glad they picked something I liked. In most heats this was the cut-off point to advance because of the difficulty of obstacle 2.

When I first heard of Anaconda I thought it might have been their name for Rollercoaster from ANW14 but it was actually a semi-new obstacle. It was essentially a very long Doorknob Grasper in the shape of a snake, but at the 3 top bends of the snake there were lache bars. This meant you could choose between using the doorknobs or doing laches depending on your strengths. It worked well, very good for what is in essence an original.

Obstacle 5 was Ring Chaser in heats 1 and 4, Weight For It in heat 2 and Flying Shelves with Corkscrew in heat 3. All were good choices, especially Ring Chaser. Of course, Warped Wall (4.35m) was obstacle 6.

The new Power Pool, replacing the Power Tower, is much smaller in scale and seems insignificant. It is fine I guess but it doesn't add anything and seems like an afterthought. They just needed another gimmick... except they didn't, the show would have been the same without it.


In terms of editing, it was mostly good although I have a couple of issues with heat 1 and another more general one. The first heat got off to a very slow start, mainly due to the them introducing all the new hosts (more on them in a bit) and all the new gimmicks (such as the Power Pool).

The celebrity challenge they ran in heat 1 also really messed with the pacing - it itself was fine although I may have been influenced by knowing of one of them beforehand, I think I may not have liked it at all otherwise.

My more general issue is that they spend far too much time telling you what's coming up and recapping what has happened. It gets a bit annoying after it keeps happening.


Finally I should probably discuss the new hosts. Jim Courier I ironically love - he's actually good on commentary (I mean it is his job after all) but his presenting style is too presentery if that makes sense. He goes up and down a lot in the voiceover segments and it's kinda cringey but I still love him. Leila McKinnon was clearly type-cast as a Rebecca Maddern clone, and just like Bec, her initial commentary in heat 1 was awful but she's improved throughout so far. Will and Woody on the sidelines I wasn't sure about at first ("How big is Uranus" being the strangest post-interview question I've ever heard) but their more comedic way of doing things is growing on me now I think. So overall the new team is pretty good, not as good as the old crew but they took a while to get into their stride too.

Overall very good so far but the new format will be interesting from semis onwards.

Edited by Takeshi1, 9/Jul/22, 12:18 am
8/Jul/22, 11:53 pm Link to this post    PM Takeshi1
 


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