I don't see all of this lowballing of US pairs, but I agree that the US pairs discipline gets unfair criticism often.
Maybe that's because you aren't looking, so this tendency for low-balling in the scoring for U.S. teams, likely escapes your notice. First of all, there's a wide spread perception among fans (which trickles throughout the skating community) that U.S. pairs are 'lesser than' because there haven't been U.S. pairs teams on or near the podium for a long time. Also, because the U.S. is a high profile country in the sport, U.S. athletes are more visible, and people are always contrasting the U.S. pairs discipline against singles and ice dance, where the U.S. has tended to have greater success. It's important to recognize that there was a time when the U.S. did not have great success in ice dance. That scenario began to change as Russian ice dance coaches came to the U.S. and began training young U.S. athletes in ice dance, to increasing success, and to the point where the U.S. has for a number of years had skaters routinely on the podium at Olympics and Worlds in ice dance. In turn, that success galvanizes and inspires younger skaters in the U.S. discipline coming up in the ranks. The excitement in ice dance with teams in Canada, the U.S., and France leading the way with creativity and innovation, is a reason for the continued and increasing growth of the ice dance discipline in the U.S., as well as in countries like Spain, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Australia, et al.
I agree with some of what you have said, but I disagree that U.S. pairs teams haven't consistently gotten the short end of the stick in the judging on notable occasions, including (to name a few teams): Evora/Ladwig at the 2010 Olympics, Knierim/Frazier at Worlds 2021, and Cain-G/LeDuc at Finlandia Trophy in the sp. K/F were a new team, but neither of them were new to the judges. They didn't skate perfectly clean, but the quality of their elements, as well as their overall experience as veterans, should have garnered much more respect in the judging. Because of K/F's lowball score in the sp (I know they skated early, but their score should have been slightly higher -- at least 65.94 instead of 64.67), a number of teams got tightly scored.
By managing the scores of K/F downwards, the judges got caught having to place teams behind K/F who didn't skate well, and who didn't have the quality elements that K/F clearly possess. A similar situation happened at Finlandia in the sp for Cain-G/LeDuc. C-G/LD skated very, but were low-balled, which once again led to a number of teams being bunched tightly in the scoring. There was a slight bit of political favoring of some European teams, as well, who granted are competitive (H/S) and show promise (B/Z). In the fp, the scoring panned out differently because C-G/LD again skated very well, whereas the Spanish and the German teams who were slightly in front in the sp were either not as clean in the fp, in the case of the Germans (Hase/Seegert) or skated clean, but very slowly and tentatively as a new team, in the case of Spain's pair (Barquero/Zandron).
Pairs is a deep discipline at the top (much like Russian ladies) and the veterans skate longer than other disciplines (see Aljona Savchenko), and so success can't just be measured in World/Olympic medals. Only 3 teams can medal, and there are more than 3 great pairs.
It's a lot more complicated than you have stated. Actually, Aljona's career is a rarity. But yes, there has been a trend toward a number of older athletes staying in competitively or making comebacks, and we've seen a lot of this trend in pairs in recent years. There are a number of reasons for this phenomenon, including lack of pro competitive opportunities, advances in training, in preventive therapies, and in rehabilitative methods. Of course, success in any athletic endeavor should never be measured solely by competitive hardware.
I also think pairs is the hardest discipline to get all the stars to align for success, hence why there are so few pairs worldwide and many partner splits and skaters looking outside their own country for partners...
Pairs skating is the hardest discipline in the sport of figure skating. Anyone who trains and competes in the discipline is ballsy and courageous, in my opinion. Partner splits are what they are in both pairs and ice dance, though we do hear of some long term teams in ice dance perhaps more-so than in pairs. A lot of the switches and splits in pairs (and in ice dance) have to do with growing pains (emotional and physical); logistical and financial concerns (family moves, etc); personality differences; divergence of goals, etc.
The US pairs get excessive criticism based on what people perceive is a 30-40 year history of shortcomings, which isn't fair... These pairs' jobs are just to worry about themselves. When people bring up the success of Tai & Randy from the 70s, I just shake my head. The discipline doesn't even look the same as it did 20 years ago.
Ummm, first of all, it's
not 30-40 years. That's an inaccurate exaggeration. It's
only been 18 years going on 19 next year,
that the U.S. has been off the Worlds podium. And 19 is the magic number that will tie the length of time that Canadian pairs (even with their strong legacy) were off the Worlds podium (from 1964 to 1983 when Underhill/Martini broke through for bronze, and then won gold in 1984). For the Olympics, U.S. pairs have been off the podium since 1988, but the Olympics only happens every four years, so a total of an 8-year Olympic cycle of podium drought in pairs. For Canadian pairs, they were off the Olympic podium from 1964 to 1992 (7-year cycle). One of the main things to remember is that since the 1960s, Soviet and Russian pairs teams have dominated, which reduces opportunities. In addition, there's a lot of politics in the scoring, which is what it is, and it's not always fair. The other part of this is that (as you appear to be saying) it shouldn't be looked upon as 'shortcomings' to not make the podium. This is especially the case when the U.S. has achieved records (first throw 3-axel in 2006; first quad salchow in 2007) and made many contributions to the discipline. So, as you said, any perception of shortcomings is exaggerated and unfair.
Part of these erroneous perceptions have to do with a number of fans only being interested in what happened five minutes ago, rather than having a long and respectful view of the sport's history. A case in point, sadly, would be your 'shaking your head' reference to Tai & Randy! I remember them well. They inspired me to take skating lessons, and they are a big reason why I became attracted to following pairs in the first place. Their special qualities are rare and practically nonexistent among today's pairs teams. They are mentioned by fans of pairs skating for good reasons, along with the Kennedy siblings who were the first North American pairs team to win gold at the World championships, in 1950. The Kennedys also won a Olympic silver medal in 1952, and have a several additional World medals to their credit. Tai & Randy won two bronze medals and one gold medal at Worlds during the 1970s, which was a seminal and exciting period in the development of pairs.
I hope you realize that what Tai & Randy did during their pairs skating era, was state-of-the-art. Yes, it was different back then, but not so different as to be completely unrecognizable as the pairs figure skating discipline! What the mature team of Belousova/ Protopopov (who skated very slowly) did innovatively in the 1960s, propelled Soviet/Russian skating to a stratosphere from which they have never descended. B/P changed the way pairs was viewed, and they were instrumental in influencing how the discipline evolved. There has to be a beginning, and a steady development and advancement. It's ridiculous to look back and dismiss the strides that incredible athletes made in earlier periods of history, in every sport.
As you stated elsewhere, the U.S. has depth in pairs, and even more-so currently, which is not the case in a lot of countries, aside from Canada and Russia. It mostly gets overlooked and dismissed that the U.S. has made significant contributions to the pairs discipline, and that the U.S. has a strong history and legacy in pairs.
at Skate America.
These 3 paragraphs go a long way to encourage fans to look at what actually occurred, rather than making generalizations. I'm flummoxed when even fans from the US denigrate and minimalize US skaters. I'm not overly invested in nationalism; I have many favorites from other countries. But we should have a heart! ... with everyone, IMHO. 
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