I would start by making it longer. 6 episodes is nothing.
Next, I would show at least 1 full episode of auditions and let us in on a lot more of the selection process. A lot of people think that most of the cast got the gig through their agent.
I would not have an elimination on the first two episodes; the first episode being auditions and the second episode being getting to know the people who were selected. We barely got to meet Levity and Nitro G. I’d hate for that to happen again.
Next - this ties into having more episodes - only 1 elimination per episode, and I don’t think it should always have to be in the last 3 minutes of the show. Mix it up a bit.
I would make them live in the house together longer. One of the things I like about The Ultimate Fighter is that they are actually living in that house with no tv, radio, books, phones, etc, for 6 weeks, so more of their real personalities come out and you eventually get some candid moments where they forget the cameras are there. They haven’t really come out and said so, but I got strong impression that this show filmed in 6 days - so Nitro G and Levity didn’t even spend a single night with the rest of the cast, and the “Deep bonds” between Victory, Fat Woman, and Feedback were forged in less than a week.
I would make the audience more aware of the scripted parts. OF COURSE IE’s conversion was scripted, OF COURSE the inmates were actors, etc, but there are people who really think that these are supposed to be real and the fact that they aren’t proves the whole show is scripted.
Lastly, I would air the last 1 or 2 episodes live. This would prevent the HUGE faux pas of eliminating their most popular contestant (Major Victory) before knowing he was their most popular contestant again. Since Season 1 filmed a few months ago, they had no idea how big MV would catch on. I bet the producers are crapping their pants right now thinking about how much money they would have made on Victory versus how much they’ll make on Fat Woman or Feedback.
Whew… got through that without any real spoilers (the finale hasn’t been put online yet and I haven’t watched it yet).
I don’t think I agree on more episodes, well not signifigantly more episodes. I like the hour long episodes with two eliminations… but I’d maybe curtail it to one elimination once you got down to the top 6.
I’d make the super villain more than just a assistant to Stan. I would make him an actual competitor for the heroes. Some challenges they wouldn’t just be competing against the other heroes, they would be competing against the villain. Kind of like American Gladiators in that way.
I’d develop challenges that comics fans would recognize as being homages to the source. Like one challenge would be having to rescue the damsel before the villain drops her off a bridge (Gwen Stacy).
I’d make the show more physical. Challenges that you wouldn’t have to be built like Tyveculus to do necessarily but you would need to be moderately in shape… so no Fat Mommas this time.
At the same time I’d make some challenges not so linear. Not point A to point B then C.
I really wanted the dog challenge to have an alternate solution; Fat Momma’s donut distraction or it would have been awesome if Monkey Woman was able to just crawl along the top of the fence and around the house and avoided the dogs altogether.
The finale hasn’t aired yet. It comes on next Thursday.
I agree with making the villain more involved, but I hope they just start off with a villain this time (or keep the Dark Enforcer) because converting a hero has already been done.
I’d also like more objective challenges. I didn’t like Ty’Veculus until someone pointed something out about him to me. He got warned for lying about the costume, and then he got booted for telling the truth about who should be eliminated. Show some consistency, producers!
I think a second year would be difficult. Already, it’s fairly clear to most of them how to “psych” the tests: the idea of naming who should be eliminated, it was clear to most of them that this was really about “super-heroes are self-sacrficing.” When I describe the show to friends, I use the example of “See How Fast You Can Change Costumes” and the heroes who run right past the little girl calling for help.
In a second season, you won’t get that kind of twist.