American Ninja Warrior Replaces The Voice on NBC Fall Schedule

NBC's Mondays will be singing a different tune this fall.

Season 12 of the four-time Emmy Award-nominated athletic competition series American Ninja Warrior will premiere Monday, Sept. 7 with a two-hour episode beginning at 8 p.m. ET/PT. ·

The series is taking over the slot previously filled by The Voice.

The singing competition was forced to film remote live shows for its most recent season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

As a result, fans were less than thrilled about it.

The series is still set to return in the fall, but it will all come down to whether another season can be safely produced.

As for American Ninja Warrior, the top 50 athletes will bring along two people from their communities to compete with them for a total of 150 competitors.

The series will feature an abridged format with multiple rounds: Qualifiers (6 obstacle course), Semi-Finals (10 obstacle course) and Finals (10 obstacle course + Power Tower playoff bracket).

To determine the winner during the Finals, the top eight ninjas will compete in a playoff bracket where they will race head-to-head on the Power Tower.

The winner will earn $100,000.

Production for the eight-episode series took place in St. Louis at the Dome at America's Center.

American Ninja Warrior is the first NBC series to have completed a full season of episodes during the current pandemic.

The most recent cycle of American Ninja Warrior last summer averaged a 1.1 rating in adults 18-49 and 5.4 million viewers overall in "live plus seven day" Nielsens and grew after 35 days of digital and linear delayed viewing to a 2.0 in 18-49 and 9.2 million viewers.

The year-ago cycle of Ninja scored as Monday's most-watched program on the Big 4 networks with each of its last five telecasts ("live plus same day").

The series is executive produced by A. Smith & Co. Productions' founders Arthur Smith and Kent Weed along with Brian Richardson, Anthony Storm and Kristen Stabile.

The series recently severed ties with Season 11 champion Drew Drechsel after he was charged with multiple sex crimes.

“We are shocked and disturbed to learn about the charges alleged against Drew Drechsel,” NBC said in a statement at the time.

“American Ninja Warrior is a family show that has inspired countless people, and we will not let the actions of one contestant tarnish the hard work and amazing stories of so many."

"Moving forward, the American Ninja Warrior brand will sever all ties with Mr. Drechsel, including his appearance on future seasons of the show.”

He is expected to be edited out of the season, which was already in the can.