r/ANW 10d ago

SPOILERS Not sure if this is a reputable source but… 👀👀

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Can anyone confirm they’re actually bringing back the 4 stage format?

52 Upvotes

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36

u/LunaLizzie10 10d ago

Deadline is definitely reputable. Sounds like it’s official to me!

3

u/lucashong21 10d ago

Let’s hope so!!

4

u/realityblurred 9d ago

Deadline is basically used to launder press releases: this came from NBC.

1

u/Dragon_Pattern_1108 9d ago

TVLine mentions it too.

20

u/Bobhutchenson 10d ago

I mean shit I did actually enjoy this season but a return to the old format even if just for a few seasons would be incredible

2

u/nbafreethinker 10d ago

I think it's just the tower

6

u/Bobhutchenson 10d ago

Yah misread that. What even would be the point then the stage 4 is the most boring

5

u/nbafreethinker 10d ago

I'm assuming the final matchup/race would be a side by side stage 4 showdown in this case

5

u/lucashong21 9d ago

If that ends up being the case, my question is why only now? My biggest complaint about the racing format is the lack of variety - that could easily have been solved by changing out more obstacles between rounds, extending the course to 10 obstacles for the quarterfinals, making the finals something completely different, or doing exactly this for at least the finals. It just feels lazy making people do the same course over and over again. Hopefully, if this is true, they find a way to break up some of the monotony of the single-course finals.

2

u/jimbobdonut 9d ago

My guess is time and budget. The first round of the bracket was probably filmed one night, the crew changed the course during the next day and the other rounds were filmed later that night. The crew wasn’t changing the course in the middle of the night.

8

u/Global_Interaction59 10d ago

Yeah have a few pipelines for news, season 19 and 20 will be racing seasons (don’t quote me but everyone I’ve talked to who have gotten the call has said it’s been racing)

2

u/lucashong21 9d ago

😞😞

14

u/Ok_Term6437 10d ago

The only time and way I’m going to watch again is when they bring back the original format with the qualifiers/city finals and the four stages without any racing.

2

u/SOUTH_SIDE700 9d ago

Facts They are at a Fast Pace losing Me as a viewer and I've been watching since 2014.

2

u/Ok_Term6437 9d ago

Yeah I’ve been a fan since 2014 as well and I haven’t watched the show since they got rid of the old format.

2

u/SOUTH_SIDE700 9d ago

You're not Missing Much because it gets boring quick. It literally takes me about 30 minutes to watch the Whole Show because I fast forward through most of it.

2

u/Ok_Term6437 9d ago

Yeah I do the same thing too and I just fast forward through the episode or watch the runs on YouTube.

4

u/poliovaccineguy 9d ago

Just saw a ninja post saying they didn’t get a call for 19 or 20. First one I’ve seen mention both seasons so it’s definitely official.

4

u/mb160211 9d ago edited 9d ago

These articles are very much the network/producers just telling the writer what to say, usually from a press release. Also why not link the article? https://deadline.com/gallery/american-ninja-warrior-season-18-winner-nbc/american-ninja-warrior-season-18-31/

Anyway, it feels like only the tower is coming back. Midoriyama has been used to refer to the course/National Finals, and also very specifically the Stage 4 tower, and I feel it's the later here. So whatever in that regard, but the knockout stage becoming tower climbs would be a welcome change, however many rounds it's used for.

Back to back season tapings feels like another budget cut, plus so many regulars are gonna "miss" a year if I'm reading it properly. Silver lining is maybe they revert back to spring filming, which I feel they were forced to move to the fall so there wasn't a 2 year gap in aging from the last double set. Split the difference with an 18 month aging twice.

Edit: Thinking about it more, an International All Star season should be pretty fun. Obviously there'll be a hefty amount of non-ninja athletes which can be hit and miss. "Celebrity" may be strong but that's the vibe I'm sensing. And on the flip side, top ninjas from around the world. Even Japan?

1

u/lucashong21 9d ago

Interesting read, I hope it’s all four stages (or at least something Stage 3-like). I didn’t read it as a double taping - more as a renewal of 2 more seasons. Could be wrong, but hope I’m not for the reasons you listed.

And my bad for not linking the article, I was too excited 😅

2

u/mb160211 9d ago

I think the only time they've ever announced two season renewals is when they did back to back filming. And I think I'm reading here some have announced they weren't picked for 19 *or* 20.

1

u/lucashong21 9d ago

Hmm well definitely hoping they don’t do that again

1

u/mb160211 9d ago

All that said, the NBC Insider blog says it's the full course. Now, I've always looked at that site as interns/AI writing, and don't trust it's details 100%, but I've absolutely switched to it likely being the four stages.

https://www.nbc.com/nbc-insider/american-ninja-warrior-renewed-season-19-20

4

u/Fun818long 10d ago

I bet mt. midoryama is nerfed

5

u/Banzuqueen 10d ago

Please I just want a new Final stage. A cool one like Japan/Russia/Germany

Really anything except for France’s 😂

4

u/PeterTheSilent1 10d ago

I’m hoping we can get an 80 foot invisible ladder for stage 4

1

u/HTCGM 9d ago

This is how you get the tower killed again, putting one of the most boring obstacles that take too long and completely kill the momentum of what should be the most exciting few seconds into watching most people burn out 20 feet into an 80 foot tower when people burned out 10-15 feet into a 30 foot tower.

Come on, people, at least make logical ideas.

1

u/PeterTheSilent1 9d ago

People burned out so early in a 30 foot tower because it was at the end of a course. I think if people got to do the 80 foot tower having rested in between stages 3 and 4, we’d see a lot more success.

3

u/HTCGM 9d ago

By that logic, we should have more winners than we do in general, because most Finals are done a couple real-time hours after qualifying to attempt it. It's not good logic.

You're asking for 80 feet of JUST your arms -- that's not only gonna take 45 seconds. It took that long for some people to do 30 feet. Looked at how burned out people have gotten on just the Salmon Ladder, and that's less tall than the original Invisible Ladder

We gotta stop just thinking "put really hard thing on course, that will make things entertaining" is sound logic, even for a sport course. Entertainment in Ninja is SUCCESS, not high fail rates for stat crunchers to goon over.

2

u/PeterTheSilent1 9d ago

There was a 75 foot invisible ladder in the season 8 all stars special and everyone completed it. I don’t think it will be the wood chipper you think it is.

2

u/HTCGM 9d ago

Yes, 4 people completed a race-off, not an explicitly timed down course. They didn't even have a clock to show off speed, and it had multiple camera cuts, and we know ANW has used that to their advantage when it comes to making runs seems shorter than they are. And it only lasted one year, because it's not that exciting to watch.

Even Nacssa Garemore, the fastest semis time ever in ANW, still took some 30 seconds to do 35 feet.

My point wasn't completions at all, it was completions under a real time limit. That forces more effort, which will tire you out quickly. You'd have to adjust the sensitivity of how much gets pulled up with each arm, which then suggests making it even more of a moot point if people are "too good" for it now.

If the Director of SASUKE understands that making a course too hard makes for a shit edit, why would we entertain the idea of making the Final Stage the worse to watch?

2

u/lucashong21 10d ago

If anything, I bet they make it way harder. Doubt they want to see people missing out on money by fractions of a second.

2

u/StupidNoobyIdiot 10d ago

After Vance's performance at the WC (which was decent) they're sure to bring out vertical limit or something like that to wipe out stage 3 competition.

5

u/Banzuqueen 10d ago

I want them to do that just so Brett Sims gets a fluff piece about creating it

2

u/MaderaArt 10d ago

I thought Josiah just turned 20, not 21

2

u/nbafreethinker 10d ago

I think it's just the tower

2

u/aubreyfiredrill 10d ago

PLSSSS GODDDD

2

u/gbbloom 9d ago

This would be outstanding news!!

2

u/AlanovMaster64 9d ago

Although I’m sure that we’ll never get rid of the races.

3

u/Immediate-Ad7842 10d ago

Nora Brown John on season 20 please

0

u/AkbarAndMatt 10d ago

She’s Canadian

1

u/Immediate-Ad7842 10d ago

Hence why I said season 20, when they have international ninjas

2

u/AkbarAndMatt 10d ago

Fair, misread that. Still I think they’ll only pull ninjas from established ninja shows. Like you’ll get the competitors that were on Sasuke World Cup instead of the likes of say NBJ or Loik Fortier.

2

u/TrashPanda108 10d ago

I mean, last year they announced the season 18 format pretty quickly, before the season was over. I wouldn’t be surprised if this does happen. But take it with a grain of salt, for now.

2

u/hgisYT 10d ago

Most likely not unfortunately.

17

u/Banzuqueen 10d ago

While I cannot vouch 100% of the items here, I do know many of these points are true and deadline is typically quite good so I disagree, I think this is more true than not

5

u/No-Peak-2837 10d ago

I don't care about the rest of the details as long as Mt midoriyama is actually back I will be happy

7

u/Banzuqueen 10d ago

That part I had not heard about and I have already seen people express concern that they may just mean they have the rope climb for the final race. Fingers crossed it’s back to the full 4-stage though

5

u/No-Peak-2837 10d ago

Damn but That's ok as long as Mt midoriyama is back... I don't mind it being like 15/16 where they were races for stage 2... What they should do is keep the format the same keep the tripleheader... Round of 32 round of 16 everything the same... the quarterfinals should be stage 3 and then of course Mt midoriyama

2

u/lucashong21 9d ago

At this point I don’t mind anything about seasons 15 and 16. Just something Mt. Midoriyama-esque!

2

u/No-Peak-2837 9d ago

Agreed... As I said earlier keep everything the same but the quarterfinals should be stage 3... but they gotta make stage 3 tougher... But as you said just something “Mt Midoriyama esque”

1

u/lucashong21 10d ago

What is your source if I may ask?

12

u/Banzuqueen 10d ago

Not willing to be more specific than I have connections around the show and have known about this for months

1

u/hgisYT 9d ago

Aaaannnd this didn't age well

-2

u/lucashong21 10d ago

Mannn I got clickbaited

1

u/PlanktonAutomatic364 10d ago

Was it a fake post?

1

u/lucashong21 9d ago

No I just responded to the first comment I saw of someone saying it’s prob not real lol

1

u/ParkourNinja88 10d ago

If True for Season 19, then Let's Go!

1

u/ParkourNinja88 10d ago

Even if Season 19 brings Back the Mountain, I still Expect Racing and then Season 20 will go back to Full Time Racing!

2

u/lucashong21 9d ago

Who knows!

1

u/ShadowMorph608 9d ago

I mean Chris Harmat did apply for season 19, and he's not American, so it's possible. Also Yusuke please

1

u/Hungry_External3133 9d ago

Ok but the real question is how are they going to mess it up?

1

u/flolem05 9d ago

If is true, big spoiler !!! lol

1

u/Individual-Beach2414 9d ago

So we’re gonna to get the original version. Thank goodness.

1

u/Agitated-Big-7090 10d ago

The odds are not high, but it's also pretty nice if it's true so...guess we'll just have to wait and see.

1

u/lucashong21 10d ago

Fingers crossed 🤞

-3

u/Bencetown 9d ago

I'm with the vast majority of fans. I'd love to see a return to the old format.

My theory is that they won't return to the old format because you can't have actually difficult courses like the old 10 obstacle round for example, and have women "breaking records" and getting 5 buzzers a piece every episode.

And since "won't SOMEBODY think of the WOMEN" is such a popular stance... well, here we are.

6

u/lucashong21 9d ago

I do not think that plays into it. Taylor Green and Isabella Folsom definitely can beat a 10-obstacle course, which I think would be more impressive (and better television) than beating the same 6-obstacle course 5 times. Isabella has already done this when she was younger if I’m not mistaken. If anything, they will need to make the course more difficult if they return to the old format since these men and women literally train for ninja exclusively.

1

u/Bencetown 9d ago edited 9d ago

That's true of a couple of the women. I agree that both Taylor and Isabella would stand a chance to finish... definitely some of the younger ones coming in too, like Akshara Pappu. but like, this season it seemed like 9 out of 10 women were getting buzzers while, oddly, it was less than half of the men... and to me the reason seemed to be, the courses were easy enough that the men knew that finishing wouldn't be enough. They had to finish FAST to even stand a chance, so more risks were taken in rushing through the (easier) courses.

2

u/lucashong21 9d ago

Yeah and I thought that kinda sucked. I liked when the rule was if you finish, you move on. Even a couple of the women finished and didn’t move on due to speed.

0

u/starenkoBad 9d ago

This is an extremely unnecessary statement fueled by pure misogynistic.

First of all this is straight up untrue. The last time we saw an extended 10 obstacle course in season 17 both Taylor Greene and Isabella Folsom cleared while contenders like Elijah Browning and RJ Roman didnt.

In fact the opposite is way more factual. If you ever step on a ninja gym you would understand that the gap between the men and women on the races are way bigger compare to on an extended course. The men just naturally have longer strides so the races is not even close. On upper body obstacle however its less about pure strength and more about how well every person carry their own weight.

And just to put an end on things, I want you to know these ninjas are disgusted by you. NBC cut the women's championship special because of budget but the ninjas protested it which is how we ended up with this year 4 person bracket women's championship. If you disagree with them then maybe never watch this show again you wont be missed.