 Highlights and Lowlights
- Wow! Who got fired Tuesday at NBC? Wednesday's Olympic coverage so exceeded my expectations that I now actually have optimistic feelings of hope for the rest of the games. If you take a look at the chart, you'll notice that NBC actually put on more events coverage than we had room for in our chart! And the fluff was way, way down. If they keep this up I'll have to redo some graphics. Let's do a rundown...
- For starters, we were over 40 minutes into the broadcast before the first sighting of fluff. The three-and-a-half minute Dara Torres piece was, however, almost immediately followed by a minute-long bit on Jenny Thompson, both U.S. swimmers, but even those led directly into an event in which both of them competed. Why, you could almost claim it as relevant.
- Let's compare Wednesday's track cycling coverage to the earlier weightlifting coverage, shall we? A few days ago, NBC had Harry Smith (at least, I think it was him) read schmaltzy dialogue over flashbacks and jump cuts of weightlifters competing in what sometimes was the Sydney Olympics, and other times was some other event or events. In any case, they only covered two of the athletes, and they did it so poorly I could have just as well been watching MTV Sports. By comparison, the track cycling coverage also featured only two competitors, but it compressed the background story into a simple 15-second clip, then proceded to show us the actual event. In the end, the track cycling was tremendously exciting and actually memorable, whereas the weightlifting coverage seemed like a filler piece on Access Hollywood. Give NBC credit, they learned from their mistakes.
- At the end of the broadcast... GASP! ... LIVE BREAKING NEWS!! France's Marie Jose Perec bugged out of the Olympics for reasons no one was quite sure of, but that's not the point. The point is that NBC actually made an effort, however small, at providing their viewers with fresh information. Bravo!
- "GM Presents Olympic Moments, hosted by Jimmy Roberts." In 330 seconds of a story that made me want to run right out and buy a Toyota, Jimmy waxed poetic about deaf South African swimmer Terence Parkin, who has to watch a strobe light to start his races because he can't hear the gun. Admittedly, this is interesting, but anyone who's been watching the swimming coverage has already seen Mr. Parkin several times, and knows all about the strobe light thing. GM wastes my time again
- Again I say it because it deserves to be said. NBC's swimming coverage is phenomenal. Everyone involved with it should be promoted.
- But saying that, why did we need another fluff story on Ukrainian-turned-American Lenny Krayzelburg? He got five-and-a-half minutes on Monday's GM Olympic Moments segment, why did he need another 90 seconds tonight?
- As if GM wasn't annoying enough, now AT&T has to get in the act with their "Citius, Altius, Fortius presented by AT&T" love-fest. They fawned over swimmer Alexander Popov. I'd threaten AT&T with cancelling my long distance service, but I already use someone else. Ha! But I'll be damned if they ever get me back, now!
- Three minutes out of tonight's men's gymnastics so NBC could tell us about tomorrow's women's gymnastics. Notice that I was able to tell you that women's gymnastics would be on tomorrow in just one sentence. When the NFL wants you to know what games are on next week, they run a list of the games on the screen. When NBC wants you to know the women gymnasts will be on tomorrow, they make a music video. Please, this could have been done in ten seconds.
- Not that this has anything to do with the coverage, but I think all of the announcers really like saying the name Pieter van den Hoogenband. Say it with me... Pieter van den Hoogenband! Pieter van den Hoogenband! Pieter van den Hoogenband! It just kind of rolls off the tongue, doesn't it?
- My suspicion yesterday that NBC was only running the promos of the people who turn out to be winners proved to be unfounded. I shan't bring it up again.
- Bob Costas closed Wednesday's broadcast by quoting someone else who said, "Sports...is the greatest unscripted drama." The first few days of coverage would lead you to believe that no one at NBC believed that. Wednesday provided some hope. Keep it up, peacock!
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