I've seen a few episodes of this show, and it is pretty cool to watch the ballistics gel dummies getting cut up with hand axes and such, but I can't help but criticize the basic idea. My main problem is that "the deadliest warrior," the person most likely to be able to kill you, is largely dependent on who/how many/where you are, not what kind of weapons they use. The ninja vs Spartan one was the one that pissed me off. Ninjas generally weren't ones to run around in all black (they wore blue, actually, but certainly didn't wear their fancy pajamas in the middle of the damn day), and would probably never have engaged a fully armed soldier in direct combat alone. The weapons and tactics they did have were designed to counter the samurai anyway, so it's hard to tell what we are supposed to glean from the ninja's inevitable loss -- weapons that were never designed to work against Spartans didn't work? Tactics ninjas never used failed them? Black pj's don't conceal well in bright sunlight?
Honestly though, I never noticed the tastelessness you mentioned. From what you describe, I agree, but I didn't see any episodes like that.
