OK, so the Vancouver Olympics is on the downward side of the curve…and we’ve all had enough time to be thoroughly disappointed, perhaps even disgusted, by NBC’s “coverage” of the Games. The network that paid a gazillion bucks for the rights to the Games, and has slapped the Olympic rings on everything has, in my considered estimation, completely screwed the pooch. Overall, if I had to choose a phrase to describe NBC’s coverage, it would be “a mile wide and an inch deep.” No depth, no context, and no sense of the drama inherent in most of the competitions- just tightly produced packages designed to fill time until the next promo for upcoming NBC shows. There have been exceptions, of course. The curling competition has been covered about as well as a non-curling fan could expect…and I can honestly say that I now know far more about curling than I did at this time last week. Whether that’s a good thing or not is something I’ll leave to intellects nimbler than my own.
The hockey coverage has also been reasonably good- for both the men’s and women’s tournaments. The notable- and unforgivable- exception was the US-Switzerland men’s quarterfinal game, which was tape-delayed three hours on NBC. Watching the game in real time meant having to go through nbcolympics.com for a webcast. So…let me see if I have this straight. The USA’s men’s hockey team is in contention for a medal, something no reasonable observer could or would have expected…and you can’t even be bothered to broadcast the game in live in real time?? WTF?? This isn’t just another episode of Heroes that we’re talking about here. This is the medal round of the Olympic men’s hockey tournament. It comes around only once every four years. The USA somehow is the top-seeded team in the medal round…and you decided to air the game on a tape-delayed basis??
After all, to the pencil dicks at NBC headquarters, the Olympics are merely a lead-in to The Marriage Ref. Look, it’s a cute ad. I may be from Minnesota, and I may know from ice fishing, but if I see Jerry Seinfeld and Tom Papa, sliding across that frozen lake one more time…I’m liable to go postal.
NBC to America: F—k you; we’ll decide what you get to watch…and you’ll like it. Capice?? We paid a ton of money for this party, so we’ll decide what, where, and when. If you don’t like it, watch the Food Channel.
