I always thought KOTR was a cool concept, and I really loved the first few rounds Thrasher did in the mid-2000s, back when you knew nothing about winners, teams, challenges, etc - you'd just get home one afternoon and the KOTR issue would be sitting in your mailbox. It was a good way to shine a light on some of your favorite skaters' lesser known abilities, and to highlight different cities that didn't get much attention in a pre-YouTube era. But, even with all the miscellaneous challenges thrown in there, it was still almost all about the skating.
I want to pin KOTR's downfall totally on Vice, but in retrospect, it was getting pretty weird way before that point. Teams were getting jockier and had more money to blow on winning challenges, and the contest had earned such a reputation that Thrasher felt they had to one-up themselves each year. Obviously, they could have focused on the skating, but instead, we got crazy gross-out challenges that actually hurt some skaters' careers. (It also doesn't help that the industry shifted so drastically that no one now considered "cool" would actually touch the contest with a ten foot pole.)
When Vice got involved and Thrasher saw the opportunity to make a reality show, it just totally went to shit. Last season was egregiously bad, and I think going back to the drawing board is the best move for everyone involved.
EDIT: or, Thrasher might not have been able to find anyone willing to participate. I know at least one major brand flat-out turned them down in the past few years.
Topic: KOTR dusted? (Read 11140 times)