‘Ninja Warrior’ Obstacle Racing Joins 2028 Los Angeles Olympics

“Ninja Warrior” is making its way to the Olympics. Tokyo Broadcasting System Television — the producer behind the TV format “Sasuke” (adapted around the world, including in the U.S., as various versions of “Ninja Warrior”) — has sealed a deal with Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne to incorporate the format into the new Modern Pentathlon discipline of “obstacle racing.”

UIPM, the international federation and the world governing body for “a multisports universe spearheaded by Modern Pentathlon,” has worked with TBS since 2022 in creating several test events based on “Sasuke”/”Ninja Warrior” and other obstacle sports elements. That led to the development of UIPM’s obstacle racing.

The Pentathlon was introduced to the Olympics in 1912, consisting of five disciplines: fencing, swimming, equestrian show jumping, running and shooting. (Running and shooting have more recently been combined as “laser run.”)

The International Olympic Committee voted unanimously in 2023 to include the updated Modern Pentathlon — with obstacle racing — at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. So, after the 2024 Paris Olympics, UIPM replaced equestrian show jumping with obstacle racing at all levels.

Read more here.

KCRW's Screengrab: Lots to Love About These Olympics, But No Ratings Gold Medal

Every week, Joe Adalian and I talk TV on KCRW's "Screengrab," a weekly segment that airs on Tuesday mornings at 8:45 a.m. on KCRW during "Morning Edition."

On Tuesday's episode, we talked about how the Winter Olympics has been performing:

The ratings dip is not surprising--almost all live events are down compared to years past, including the Superbowl. NBC is still counting these Olympics as win--lots of viewers checked out the games on streaming platforms, and NBC was also dealing with a new crop of hosts and reality show competition from ABC and CBS. Plus, Netflix and Hulu are always there as a potential source of distraction. Even if ratings continue to fall for these big live events, the networks still depend on them for the revenue from ad sales. That's true for the upcoming Oscars on ABC, where Jimmy Kimmel is hosting again, and ratings will almost surely be down, though some viewers might check in to see how Kimmel addresses last year's envelope snafu in his opening monologue.

Listen below!

MIKE ON RADIO: Jimmy Fallon, Zombies and Olympic Tears on KCRW's "Press Play"

My now-weekly Tuesday slot on KCRW's "Press Play," hosted by Madeleine Brand. This week: "Jimmy Fallon stepped on stage last night and took over the reigns of the Tonight Show. We talk about the tone he’s striking in his new timeslot. Plus, we discuss the huge boom in apocalyptic TV shows and whether Olympic broadcasters are trying harder than ever to elicit tears from the athletes."

Listen below, it's 18 minutes into the broadcast.

THE SPIN-OFF: Listen to the February Edition of KCRW's Monthly TV Podcast

For the February edition of KCRW's The Spin-Off, the monthly podcast all about the TV business, Joe Adalian, AJ Marechal and I tackle three hot topics:

Big Changes in Late Night: As Jay Leno leaves The Tonight Show the whole chess board in late night is shifting. Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers will take on new shows, but these days with competition from The Daily Show, The Colbert Report -- not to mention, competition from your DVR -- do the broadcast late night shows matter as much as they once did?

The Olympics and NFL: Once again the Super Bowl did huge ratings numbers. Not surprising as the NFL seems to be the only sure thing on TV these days. Now CBS has lined up a deal to share the broadcast of the NFL Thursday night games with CBS, hoping to get a piece of the live sports pie. This month we'll see if the big dollars NBC spent to get the Olympics will prove worth it.

Bubble Shows: Traditionally, this is the time of years when shows with middling ratings will be considered teetering on the bubble between cancellation and renewal. But these days the definition of the bubble show has changed. It's the era when ratings are influenced by DVR delayed viewing and networks are willing to hold onto shows that may get few viewers but hit a key demo.

We also go around the room to discuss one more hot topic that's on the top of our minds this month. Listen below!

Retro Video: When L.A. Held the Olympics, and Celebrities Told Us Not to Drive

Check out this amazing group of public service announcements from 1984, when the City of Los Angeles was so afraid of Olympics-fueled gridlock that it begged, pleaded with the population to stay out of their cars during the two weeks of the Games.

It famously worked, as people still recall how light the traffic was during the L.A. Games. Now, relive the memories, as Ed McMahon, Cathy Lee Crosby, Monty Hall, Phyllis Diller, Lou Rawls and Bob Hope (apparently they were especially worried about the 55+ crowd?) ask Angelinos to, "in the spirit of international cooperation and understanding," stay off the freeways. "Don't drive unless you have to," they plead. "The Olympics only last two weeks!"

Sorry, Angelenos: Unlike you, Guam gets its Olympics coverage LIVE

Above, from KNBC's website: Viewers are FURIOUS... about ice skating coverage?

It still amazes me that KNBC allows its viewers to trash the station regularly on its own website. I guess it's a credit to them that they don't scrape those comments immediately.

Recently, viewers have been hammering the station and NBC hard for tape delaying the network's primetime Olympics coverage.

I'm of two minds on this. On the one hand, of course NBC wants to keep its coverage in primetime, when more viewers are able to watch -- even if it means we're stuck with three-hour old fare that had been live on the West Coast. It's nothing new for the Pacific time zone, where we regularly have to accept tape-delayed fare.

But in this age of Twitter, it's hard to keep results of sporting events and awards shows a secret. That's why NBC carried the Golden Globes live on the West Coast this year -- and why, perhaps, NBC should have carried the primetime Games live at 4 p.m., and then repeated again at 7.

Here's another obscure fact that might make you a little steamed. L.A. is in Vancouver's time zone, while Guam... is not so much in Vancouver's time zone. Not even close. Guam is 18 hours ahead of the Pacific time zone. When it's 5 p.m. Thursday on the West Coast, it's 11 a.m. Friday in Guam.

Yet Guam gets its Winter Olympics coverage live. Yes, live. At the same time as the folks in New York are watching. It's just a lot brighter out in Guam than it is in New York right now. And Friday.

Thanks to the International Date Line difference, Guam is watching NBC's primetime coverage of the Winter Olympics at 11 a.m. each morning. And Guam NBC affiliate KUAM-TV is then repeating that same coverage in primetime at 7 p.m.(when it's 4 a.m. in New York, and no live coverage), giving folks who missed it live a second chance to watch.

(Cut to scenes of angry West Coasters, burned by spoilers from East Coast Twitter feeds, throwing their iPhones at the TV screen.)

For its part, NBC has pointed out that primetime allows for the largest audience to catch the Games’ biggest events. (It also makes a rather big difference for advertisers.) The network has also worked to keep much content off the web (with less online streaming this time, as several news orgs have pointed out).

But beyond that, viewers on the West Coast -- who point out that they’re even in the same time zone as the Vancouver Olympics (the first Pacific time zone Games since the 1984 Los Angeles event) -- will have to keep practicing caution before hitting the Web.

If it makes you feel any better, the folks in Guam have to watch live coverage of the Super Bowl on a Monday morning every year. How weird is that?

Maria's Thursday Three: Breakfast, the Olympics and Decals

1. Perfect Breakfast: Lately, we've been into this yogurt and granola mix for breakfast. It's a Trader Joe's combo: The market's French Village Vanilla Nonfat Yogurt, with its "Granola & the 3 Berries" mix (honey sweetend whole grain oats and whole grain wheat, wih freeze-dried raspberries, blueberrys and strawberries). It's so easy to prepare and best of all, Evan loves it.



2. Olympic Fever: Yes, we have it and as the Summer Games end, I'd like to direct you to Jenny's site, ljcfyi.com. Jenny's currently in Beijing and blogging all about it. I've read her blog for years and got excited when the company she works for sent her there to write all about it. (Pic by ljcfyi.)



3. Wall Decals: We're thinking of re-doing Evan's room and I ambitiously told Mike that I would paint some wall graphics on the wall. He correctly doubted me, 'cause I never have time for anything like that, but then I was trolling Design Sponge the other night (I make time for trolling) and saw these wall decals, my problems were solved. Trains or cars would be perfect for the room but since they have none, Evan may have to settle for the airplane.

So You Don't Have To Watch All Five Hours Tonight...

Here's the 2008 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony, cut down to 30 seconds -- via the BBC. (Well, until YouTube yanks this down, which could be... any... minute...)

Retro Friday: Los Angeles, Summer 1984

As the Beijing Summer Games officially kick off today, a look back -- 24 years ago! -- to the 1984 Summer Olympics' opening ceremony in Los Angeles. Admit it -- when you saw that guy take off in a jet pack at the Coliseum to kick off the opening ceremony 24 years ago, you thought for sure that jet packs would be a reality by the year 2000. Oh well.

Meanwhile, it's great to hear the voices of two great, late broadcasting legends in this clip: Peter Jennings and Jim McKay.