Written by Matthew-Lee Erlbach, Wilson manages to bring a verve to the series’ jokey side that feels far more natural than something like this past summer’s “High Score.” (The on-screen title design, complete with a Wes Anderson-evocative font, gets an added irreverent layer with the occasional chyron-based joke.)īy its middle stretch, “We Are the Champions” does become noticeably formulaic. Episodes directed by Nick Frew and Brian Golden Davis manage to overcome many of the roadblocks that documentary narration can put up. This has some of the presentational artistry also found in “Abstract: Art of Design,” only without the self-seriousness. When “We Are the Champions” connects, it’s largely because it manages to avoid the mistakes of recent thematically linked Netflix series. In a profile of global yo-yo experts, Wilson runs through a bevy of trick names, but when it comes to the World Championship finals, it’s up to some slo-mo footage and ominous sound cues to let the audience know if someone has succeeded or failed.

Dog dancing is adorable in theory, but that installment strains for a dramatic arc that can live up to the rest. The limited amount of time robs the chance to really get into the technique of what makes these individuals good at what they do. When the show turns its attention to more abstract, judged competitions, there’s something lost in that transition. Scarf down a bucket of peppers with enough capsaicin to power a small pharmacy and you take the oversized check.

Cross the finish line first and you get to hoist a giant wheel of double Gloucester.

Coincidentally, these are also the challenges with the most straightforward way of determining a winner. What some reality competition shows take entire hours to do, these opening “We Are the Champions” episodes achieve in mere minutes. They make the most of the half-hour time block, introducing a handful of potential winners with surprising efficiency. As a result, when taking the season in full, “We Are the Champions” shifts between being a collection of spirited portraits of human curiosities and a forced show of commodified uplift.Īlong with its dairy-centered companion, the other two bookending episodes - one on competitive frog jumping in the small California town that Mark Twain made famous and another on a chili pepper eating contest gathering some of the most durable mouths in the world - are the strongest. The six “We Are the Champions” episodes in Season 1 eventually split into two camps: ones that find the right balance of stylistic verve/compelling context underneath, and those that are missing a key part of that pairing. 'Loki': Everything You Need to Know About Marvel's Disney+ Series 'The Book of Boba Fett' Review: Disney's Obligatory Spinoff Plods Through an Aimless Premiere As the 2021 Box Office Ends on a High, the Future of Theatrical Releasing Remains Unclear

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