diff --git a/init2winit/utils.py b/init2winit/utils.py
index 568d579..bd9c3b5 100644
--- a/init2winit/utils.py
+++ b/init2winit/utils.py
@@ -73,9 +73,10 @@ def array_append(full_array, to_append):
 
 def reduce_to_scalar(value):
   """Helper function to reduce an numpy array to a scalar by extracting the first element."""
-  if isinstance(value, np.ndarray):
-    if value.shape == (1,):
-      value = value[0]
+  while isinstance(value, np.ndarray) and value.ndim > 0:
+    value = value[0]
+  if isinstance(value, np.ndarray) and value.ndim == 0:
+    value = value.item()
   return value
 
 
@@ -246,9 +247,14 @@ def append_scalar_metrics(self, metrics):
         if name not in self._measurements:
           self._measurements[name] = self._xm_work_unit.get_measurement_series(
               label=name)
-        self._measurements[name].create_measurement(
-            objective_value=reduce_to_scalar(value), step=metrics['global_step']
-        )
+        try:
+          self._measurements[name].create_measurement(
+              objective_value=reduce_to_scalar(value),
+              step=metrics['global_step'],
+          )
+        except TypeError as e:
+          logging.info('Failed to create measurement for %s: %s', name, value)
+          raise e
 
     if self._tb_metric_writer:
       self._tb_metric_writer.write_scalars(