According to the TV ratings, I must be one of the few people actually watching the Olympics. But watching them I have been - a good deal of the network coverage, in fact. A couple of disjointed thoughts:
Credit goes to NBC for apparently listening to critics from Olympics past and focusing more on the athletic events. The pre-produced human interest profiles are still there, but they’re more restrained and don’t interrupt the actual events. The events themselves are heavily condensed, which makes for smoother watching for the casual viewer, but cuts down on some of the unexpected dramas that unfold in real time.
My favorite events: cross-country relay and curling. Men and women equally. I’m a traditionalist, so I don’t think snowboarding deserves equal billing as an olympic sport. Not because it’s judged, but because not all difficult athletic endeavors need to be sport. At the very least, the NASCAR-ish contact of the snowboard cross goes against any sense of sportsmanship or whatever version of "Olympic spirit" you’re citing.
Still mystified by: ski jumping. What does "big air" or "compression" mean? Would it hurt commentators to speak to the uninitiated? We can assume viewers won’t be as familiar as with the major sports.
I’m really hoping some figure skater decides to skate to some twelve-tone piece instead of the Cirque du Soleil-meets-Carmina Burana fare that’s standard. Not going to happen.
I’m enjoying the Bodefreude immensely. In any case, the faltering of top American stars has led to an odd Olympics in which sports commentators seem more impressed by (American) athletes with injuries, crashes, stomach flu, or whatnot and have still competed (or in Kwan’s case, didn’t) than athletes who, you know, perform the best. As impressive Kildow’s soldiering on was, Austrian skier’s Michaela Dorfmeister’s slalom was riveting.
Woah, lots of SUV ads. Frequently.
Matt Yglesias wonders why NBC is calling it Torino instead of Turin. Good question. My pet peeve, though, is the reference to Team USA, Team Sweden, etc. rather than the more standard American team, Swedish team.
Maybe the networks should forget banking on American stars and go straight for the soap opera: American speed skaters or Italian ice dancers giving each other the silent treatment.
I don’t know exactly all that’s behind soft ratings here in the states, or if it even matters, but it’s pretty amazing that women’s hockey got 25 percent ratings in Sweden.
I have no patience for sports reporters complaining about the dullness of non-major sporting events. They have almost 52 uninterrupted weeks of the triumverate of sports (football, baseball, basketball) geared toward fans of commercial, competitive American sports. A couple of weeks of sequins and skiing archers won’t hurt them.
Since when did rage rock become the soundtrack of skiing? Seems like a class demotion to me.
UPDATE: Bob at Blue Mass says NBC is getting soft ratings because of their "gossip politics", but that not only is backwards (low ratings came before the melodrama really heated up) but sounds like a prime example of critic’s fallacy to me.
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