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Social metrics replace the craft.
The relaunch trades the format's editorial identity for social-media metrics — and neither the new host nor the gimmickry fills the gap.
Ten episodes, the shortest since the debut.
Cycle 23 is the weakest season the show produced. The network move to VH1 brings a new host in Rita Ora and a format retool that makes social-media following a competitive criterion alongside photoshoot performance — a structural choice that dilutes what the competition was built to measure. The 10-episode run leaves little room to develop, and staying in Los Angeles removes the location work the format relied on. The relaunch is the show at its lowest ebb.
The #24 slot.
Slot #24 of 24 in the America's Next Top Model Editor's Canon. Cycle 23 sits at the bottom of the canon because it dismantles more of what the format was built on than any other cycle. The departure of Tyra Banks removes the show's defining authority figure; the shift to VH1 brings a new host in Rita Ora; and the addition of social-media following as a competitive criterion dilutes what the photoshoot had always been measuring. The 10-episode run leaves little space for the competition to establish itself, and the entirely Los Angeles production removes the location work the format relied on. The relaunch answers every question about what ANTM needed by removing it.