Thoughts on improving Olympic coverage

[OldRightHander]

I don't know if my memory is faulty and I'm becoming one of those bitter "it was better back in my day" kind of people, or if my little gripes against NBC actually have any merit, but here are my ideas on what NBC gets wrong with Olympic coverage and what they could do to improve it.

There are so many interesting events that take place at the games that get absolutely no air time, while we are subjected to hours of figure skating and curling. I seem to remember some of the years ABC had the Olympics and they would spend less time on one event and show more different events during a particular time slot. I like to see things I can't normally see during other times of the year, but it seems that the prime time coverage doesn't feature too many of those events. How about a bit more variety. Instead of showing the entire curling match, how about cutting away to some other things and coming back to it. It's all on tape delay, so it shouldn't be that hard to piece things together.

Don't waste my time with non competition fluff. I want to see athletes competing against one another, not five minutes of studio people talking about it followed by a ten minute feature about little Susie figure skater's childhood back in Ukraine. That's fifteen minutes you could have shown some ski jumping or bob sledding, or some other event that gets ignored because there aren't any Americans in medal contention.

I don't know if I'm the only person with the same complaints, but every two years I look forward to the Olympics only to be disappointed by NBC's coverage. I seem to remember ABC showing a wider variety of events during the hours that I'm actually home and awake, while NBC seems to focus on a select few events and give us more time on little background stories and studio analysis. How long does NBC's contract last? Is there any chance of a different network getting the Olympics in the near future?

[Reds Fanatic]

NBC has the Olympics contract through at least 2012.

[RFS62]

they need more commercials

[pedro]

My impression is that they are spending too much time with Bob Costas in a studio. Wherever the hell he is, it sure doesn't make me feel like I'm watching the Olympics.

In the past it always seemed to me that I got a much greater sense of being there when I watched the olympics. This time it just feels like a bunch of unrelated events which may or may not be held in the same area.

[SandyD]

I haven't watched much this year ... just didn't want the noise, really. I do find that sports broadcasting in general drives me up a wall. Too much talk, IMO. A frequently turn the sound off when I'm watching a baseball game, or another sporting event, until I need an explanation of what happened. Play music in the background or something.

The analysts need to "shut up" sometimes and let the action, even crowd noise, tell the story.

[KronoRed]

Too much jumping around, show a sport and then move to another, stop jumping back and forth!

More live coverage, you have 5 freaking channels showing the games, put some live stuff on that isn't hockey, if you want to replay the big stuff in prime time go ahead, but show it live as well.

Less Bob and Jim in the studio, less "heart breaking" crap..we don't care.

Less "Bill vs Dave" crap..drop it..SHOW THE GAMES

There is a reason nbc has more viewers at its website then on TV.

[Raisor]

Dick Button should be the lead announcer on ALL Olympic sports.

That'd be a start.

[TeamBoone]

Originally Posted by Raisor

Dick Button should be the lead announcer on ALL Olympic sports.

That'd be a start.

Absolutely not!

I'm so sick of hearing (early on in the skating).... "the scores don't mean much", "the scores don't really matter"... these are direct quotes. I'm tired of it. If they don't mean anything, just shut up!

[Redsfaithful]

The Olympics should go back to being every four years, with the Summer and Winter being held in the same year. Felt like way more of a special event then.

[RosieRed]

Originally Posted by Redsfaithful

The Olympics should go back to being every four years, with the Summer and Winter being held in the same year. Felt like way more of a special event then.

I love the Olympics, both winter and summer, and I love that they're split up now because I get to get sucked in every two years instead of every four.

I agree that NBC's coverage is pretty bad though. What annoys me more than anything is the commercials -- and I DVR all the Olympics coverage I want to watch, so I even get to fast-forward through the commercials.

But I fail to understand why it makes sense to show ONE figure skating performance, then commercials, then ONE skating performance, then commercials, etc. The coverage is already choppy as is, with the way they jump from sport to sport on a whim.

Some of the things I've liked best were events that I could watch in full -- like the biathlon. Not my favorite event ever, but at least I got to see it basically from start to finish.

[Chip R]

I really can't complain much about the Olympics because I've seen so little of it. When I have been able to watch it, I've gotten to see what I like for the most part. From what I understood, the figure skating finals last night went on beyond midnight. I don't think that's a wise choice because it's just too freaking late for the majority of people. I don't think it will be a problem if they have to cut some of the also-rans out of the TV portion of that so they can wind up around 10 or 11. I also think that bobsled announcer guy should lay off the caffine for a while.

[Yachtzee]

Just show us the CBC feed and be done with it. They do a much better job of it, from what I can remember when I could get CBC.

[Raisor]

Originally Posted by TeamBoone

Absolutely not!

I'm so sick of hearing (early on in the skating).... "the scores don't mean much", "the scores don't really matter"... these are direct quotes. I'm tired of it. If they don't mean anything, just shut up!

Was he wrong though? I think it's refreshing to hear someone actually say what everyone else is probably thinking. Besides, when someone actually skates well, Dick's the first to gush.

[TeamBoone]

Originally Posted by Raisor

Was he wrong though? I think it's refreshing to hear someone actually say what everyone else is probably thinking. Besides, when someone actually skates well, Dick's the first to gush.

No, he wasn't wrong... that's not the point. He said after every single early skater, even when they got great scores, because combined with their earlier skate they wouldn't qualify for a medal.

The Olympics is about more than medals. It's about young athletes giving it their all... and you know what? Sometimes they succeed, even when everyone thinks they won't... look at Ligety, Mancuso, etc. and those who were supposed to win but didn't, e.g, Miller, Cowen, etc.

It's like the Reds when Milton is pitching. I know there's a huge chance that the Reds won't win the game, but I don't want to hear it ad nauseum from the announcer throughout the game.

[Chip R]

Originally Posted by TeamBoone

It's like the Reds when Milton is pitching. I know there's a huge chance that the Reds won't win the game, but I don't want to hear it ad nauseum from the announcer throughout the game.

So Raisor's a Marty fan?