Ninja warrior finalists begin quest on Monday
Monday brings “Night 1” of the American Ninja Warrior’s Season 9 finals in Las Vegas. The nail-biting excitement runs from 7 to 9 p.m. on NBC.
I admit I came to the series late because, on paper, the series seems like just another vapid obstacle course reality thing. After all, Wipeout (ABC 2008-2014) was similar and that was mindless silliness. But once you check out American Ninja Warrior, it becomes oddly mesmerizing.
That’s especially true because you never know who will be successful in finishing a run. The show will spend several minutes highlighting a particular contestant, build him up, show his cheering family on the sidelines, zero in on his grim determination and then — splash — he’ll miss a step on the Balance Bridge and plunge ignominiously into the water below.
Even if you haven’t followed the action this season, you’ll enjoy the thrills in these national finals episodes as the buffed and ripped contestants test their mettle. They take on a series of tortuous obstacles in a course designed to separate the champions from the wannabes.
Besides Balance Bridge, the obstacles have deceptively simple names such as Floating Steps, Bouncing Spider, Paddle Boards, Rail Runner, Warped Wall, Salmon Ladder, the Wedge and the final killer, the Elevator Climb.
For someone whose one and only obstacle course was in Air Force basic training a lifetime ago (I slipped on the final monkey bars and fell into the mud pit), most of these challenges seem impossible and it’s a miracle anyone finishes.
American Ninja Warrior, based on the long-running Japanese series Sasuke, traveled to six cities this season to film episodes involving hundreds of contestants.
Those who successfully completed the finals course in their designated region have moved on to Las Vegas. As you’ll see Monday, the finals course is obscene. It has four stages and is modeled after the famed Mount Midoriyama course in Japan.
The finalists are seriously dedicated athletes and many live and breathe American Ninja Warrior 24/7. A few have earned national reputations and even corporate sponsors.
Why do these people train and train and dedicate their lives to this thing? Well, the winner will take home a grand prize of $1 million. That’s incentive.
Co-hosts for American Ninja Warrior are comedian/ actor (and former physician) Matt Iseman and former pro football player Akbar Gbaja-Biamila (full name Akbar Oluwakemi-Idowu Gbaja-Biamila).
Interviewing from the sidelines is Kristine Leahy, who has the unenviable job of chatting up those still soaking wet from having fallen.
The season finale is set for 7 p.m. Sept. 18.
Road to 9/11, 8-10 p.m. Monday on History Channel. Most of us who were old enough to watch TV at the time remember where we were on Sept. 11, 2001.
I was at the newspaper at 7:46 a.m. doing exactly what I’m doing now. I had Good Morning America on my little desk TV. It was muted, but it didn’t stay that way for long.
It has been 16 years since the horrific images of that day filled our lives, so it’s worth refreshing our collective memories.
We know now that 9/11 just didn’t happen out of thin air. It was the culmination of lengthy preparation. With this limited series, Pulitzer Prize-winning author/journalist Steve Coll examines the events that took place in the lead-up to the terrorist attacks. He includes missed signals, failed operations and political turf wars.
The six-hour series airs at the same time over three consecutive nights.
Tonight’s episode, “Brooklyn Jihad (1990-1995),” investigates the 1990 assassination of an extremist rabbi in New York that led agents to discover a Brooklyn-based terrorist cell with connections to Osama bin Laden.
In 1993 a group of cell members, including Ramzi Yousef, successfully set off a bomb in the World Trade Center, killing six and wounding dozens. Investigators learn that financing for the attack came from Yousef’s uncle, Khalid Sheik Mohammad, the future mastermind of the 9/11 plot.
Night 2 is “The Bin Ladens (1995-2000)”; Night 3 is “The Days of Terror (2000-2003).”
Diesel Brothers, 8 p.m. Monday on Discovery Channel. Here’s a series for those who enjoy offbeat stuff.
Led by Heavy D (Dave Sparks) and Diesel Dave (David Kiley), the Diesel Brothers crew buys trucks headed for scrap and tricks them out. Today, the company is the destination for those looking for custom builds.
Gear Dogs, 9 p.m. Monday on Discovery. Diesel Brothers is followed by another new series for gearheads. Gear Dogs follows the adventures of Nate Boyer, the owner of a new type of garage. The Doghouse is a co-op where mechanics and hobbyists use Boyer’s tools and space to modify and restore cars.
This is further proof that there’s something for everyone on TV.