re: First Two episodes of Cobra Kai are out -- and free

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But it's Karate. There were maybe 100 people at that tournament that included about 15 cities

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Dude...even a local tournament in Sildell or Denham Springs will bring in 200+ people. A tournament in Houston or Dallas will have 50+ kids in just one division in one age group and 300-500 total.

Watched the first 5 yesterday - MUCH better than I was expecting. Forget Karate Kid 2,3 and the remake - this series is the one and only true sequel to the Karate Kid. I wish it was on a channel like Netflix or premium cable so it would get more attention. I didn’t even know Youtube Red existed before this, and I’m sure most people will just do the free trial then cancel after they binge this series.

I watched the first two. It's a decent series so far. Surprise cameo from Ed Asner as Johnny's step dad. I hope Kreese makes an appearance.

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old sweetheart Judy and opens a dojo/bonsai shop on the Jersey shore

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Will Pauly D be taking lessons?

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campy dialogue is outstanding.

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I got yelled at. Got my arse kicked, and then gave him my money. You know who lives like that? Hookers.

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Does Karate still have that much interest? You hardly see straight-up Karate schools now. It's all TKD. Maybe that is what you are thinking of? I train in BJJ and our school in Houston does all the grappling tournaments in Texas. Between gi and no-gi, there will be at least 500+ from kids to Masters age levels and that is just competitors and not the crowd.

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Yeah I'm just lumping them all under the general "karate" term. Today Taekwondo is more popular, but back in the Karate Kid days I think old school karate was in. Our organization's Taekwondo World Championships will draw over 5,000 participants.

Old School Karate was basically the only thing in the 80's.

You would have Ninja Mags but what is Ninja? How do you learn that apart from throwing stars?

It was all generic Karate.

And you read people's testimonies today about a lifetime of taking Karate and the regrets they have...what a waste of time. It doesn't work on the street and it's all about competitions where you can't even hit hard as it's against the rules.

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It doesn't work on the street and it's all about competitions where you can't even hit hard as it's against the rules

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You’ve been watching the wrong tournaments then.
We’ve competed on a half dozen different circuits, and even in the most restrictive one you see kids getting knocked out by legal head kicks.

As of Saturday morning 10 million hits for episode 1.

Episode 5 will make you cry

I love that this show frequently references the third movie. Most story reboots/reboot-sequels would ignore events of previous entries, but this one embraces the entire story.

I actually think I may like this series even more because of two things: the additional comedy and the depth given to Johnny's character. In the first movie, he wasn't really likable/redeemable until the very end. Here, it's 30+ years later and his character's values/beliefs never left the 80s, and he's absolutely hilarious. He's actually a sympathetic figure and I was rooting for him.