But NBC's ratings mostly stink because the Olympics are happening in Italy and there are 10 gazillion ways to hear the results of the games before NBC has a chance to broadcast them.
Yes, I've found it impossible to avoid spoilers in these Olympics. My personal "favorite" way I've found out something I didn't want to know? On Thursday, I came home from work and wanted to know what would be on that evening *besides* the Women's Free Skate, partly because I was having a couple other people over to watch with me. So I went to nbcolympics.com, planning to go straight to their "TV listings" page, and there, on their home page, with a large picture at the top and a giant headline, was a picture of the three women's figure skating medalists. Thanks, NBC, for stupidly spoiling the results of the competition that you're trying desperately to get people to watch. (NB: *On* their website, they give you a different url to use if you don't want to see scores -- I think it's just a direct link to their listings page -- but they don't give you this info on TV; you have to already be at the part of the site that has the results to find it!)
I agree that they have seemed overly negative and/or nasty this year, between Dick Button's whiny figure skating commentary to Lindsay Jacobellis "biggest blunder of all time" to interviews with people who've just lost. I didn't watch much of last night's coverage, and I really didn't see any of the interviews and commentary last night, and now I'm glad I didn't.
As for celebrity-based coverage, that may have peaked during the final of the 5000M short-track relay last night, when near the start of the race, NBC spent *several laps* zoomed in on Apolo Ohno skating casually around the rink, waiting for his next turn to actually race. Every so often you saw the racers zoom by in the background, and if you looked carefully you *might* catch enough to figure out who was winning, but mostly you saw Ohno. Talk about him even when it isn't one of his legs, fine, but don't *not* show the race that he's in (with three other Americans and 16 other people) so that you can show him essentially keeping his legs going!
Normally I'm really, really into the Olympics, and normally I really lke the Winter Games just as much as the Summer Games, but this set has just failed to really get me going. I've watched, but not the way I usually do. It's really pretty disappointing.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2006-02-26 04:38 pm (UTC)Yes, I've found it impossible to avoid spoilers in these Olympics. My personal "favorite" way I've found out something I didn't want to know? On Thursday, I came home from work and wanted to know what would be on that evening *besides* the Women's Free Skate, partly because I was having a couple other people over to watch with me. So I went to nbcolympics.com, planning to go straight to their "TV listings" page, and there, on their home page, with a large picture at the top and a giant headline, was a picture of the three women's figure skating medalists. Thanks, NBC, for stupidly spoiling the results of the competition that you're trying desperately to get people to watch. (NB: *On* their website, they give you a different url to use if you don't want to see scores -- I think it's just a direct link to their listings page -- but they don't give you this info on TV; you have to already be at the part of the site that has the results to find it!)
I agree that they have seemed overly negative and/or nasty this year, between Dick Button's whiny figure skating commentary to Lindsay Jacobellis "biggest blunder of all time" to interviews with people who've just lost. I didn't watch much of last night's coverage, and I really didn't see any of the interviews and commentary last night, and now I'm glad I didn't.
As for celebrity-based coverage, that may have peaked during the final of the 5000M short-track relay last night, when near the start of the race, NBC spent *several laps* zoomed in on Apolo Ohno skating casually around the rink, waiting for his next turn to actually race. Every so often you saw the racers zoom by in the background, and if you looked carefully you *might* catch enough to figure out who was winning, but mostly you saw Ohno. Talk about him even when it isn't one of his legs, fine, but don't *not* show the race that he's in (with three other Americans and 16 other people) so that you can show him essentially keeping his legs going!
Normally I'm really, really into the Olympics, and normally I really lke the Winter Games just as much as the Summer Games, but this set has just failed to really get me going. I've watched, but not the way I usually do. It's really pretty disappointing.