Coverage (NBC and other networks)

[Prairie Fire]

Not sure if it's appropriate to introduce a thread about TV coverage of these Olympics overall? But if so, curious what everyone thinks of NBC's coverage and its continued tilt towards the heavily-produced, emotionally-loaded and American-superstar-focused, as well as the alternative provided by other networks.

[blueray]

I was watching the snowboard qualifiers on NBC for about ten minutes, that was ten minutes to long.  Did you know the Chloe Kim is a snowboarder? They seriously mentioned her every few minutes. Even if someone else was going. I then saw it was listed as being on the Canadian channel an hour later. I actually turned it off for an hour and put on the Canadian coverage. It was way better announcing. They mentioned her and the Canadian athletes, but they did cover anyone that had a run. I realized I'm very lucky to be able to access both feeds. 

[SophiaD]

I'm really appalled by how they're going after Mikaela Shifrin.  Did they learn nothing from Naomi Osaka and Simone Biles this summer?

I hope it's okay to also comment NBC's commercials here.  It is fun to see Morena Baccarin and Renee Zellweger camping it up their upcoming Evil Villain Roles.  OTOH, the Amazon Alexa ads are kind of horrible.  I am fond of Walter the cat, though.

[Prairie Fire]

8 hours ago, SophiaD said:

I'm really appalled by how they're going after Mikaela Shifrin.  Did they learn nothing from Naomi Osaka and Simone Biles this summer?

I hope it's okay to also comment NBC's commercials here.  It is fun to see Morena Baccarin and Renee Zellweger camping it up their upcoming Evil Villain Roles.  OTOH, the Amazon Alexa ads are kind of horrible.  I am fond of Walter the cat, though.

Who doesn't like Walter the cat? Best ad of the year.

NBC's "coverage" to me is more like a Lifetime movie about a handful of American athletes competing in the Olympics, rather than actual coverage of the Olympics itself. All the time spent on their backstories and families, all the personal drama, focus on just a few characters, treating their competitors like minor plot complications....the analogy fits surprisingly well.

Unfortunately, for every American viewer who doesn't like this, there are probably 2-3 who don't like the more no-nonsense Canadian-style coverage (all athletes featured, more sports, less mushy stuff) and actually wants this hot mess instead.

[BlackberryJam]

I have YouTubeTV, which is recording all of the Olympics that's being shown. I do not have Peacock. So for me, I haven't noticed coverage issues. 

Because of my work/sleep schedule, I'm only able to watch things live from about 8pm to 10pm EST, but it's been great.

[HartofDixie]

I got Peacock to watch figure live and see all the skaters. Worth it for $4.99 a month. Will probably cancel after FS worlds then it get back in the fall to watch the competitions.

[backgroundnoise]

Last night's primetime coverage had so much filler it was really annoying.  They spent so much time analyzing Nathan Chen's score (not to mention repeating his short program).  You would think there could be, oh, I don't know, actual events going on.  I feel for all the other non-highest-profile-or-non-American athletes who are constantly ignored.  At least I was able to set up In Demand specific sports in advance so it will pick up USA.  I don't have Peacock and it's insulting to have NBC do half of an event and tell everyone to watch the rest on Peacock.

[Guest]

Being able to watch the streaming on the NBC Olympics site and via the NBC Sports app has been a huge boon the last few Olympics. You get the best of both worlds and can tune out a lot of the Featured Athlete overemphasis (I gleefully ignored a Shaun White 🤢 piece last night, for example). When NBC's primetime coverage of the slalom last night came to a dead halt to show nothing but Shiffrin in the snow, NBC's livestream kept right on showing the rest of the competitors. So it's a nice balance.

Plus, I notice that USA Network tends to re-air a lot of the stuff that happened overnight or in the morning when I'm at work, in the early evening in the time between when I get home from work and when the live stuff starts up again around 8pm. So I'm barely missing anything and don't have to stay up all hours to get it.

It's a little different with the Summer Olympics because there's SO MUCH that you can't help miss things even if you watch everything live at 3am or whatever, but the Winter Games are coming along nicely for me. And I haven't had to use Peacock at all to do it 👍

[blackwing]

4 hours ago, backgroundnoise said:

Last night's primetime coverage had so much filler it was really annoying.  They spent so much time analyzing Nathan Chen's score (not to mention repeating his short program).  You would think there could be, oh, I don't know, actual events going on.  I feel for all the other non-highest-profile-or-non-American athletes who are constantly ignored.  At least I was able to set up In Demand specific sports in advance so it will pick up USA.  I don't have Peacock and it's insulting to have NBC do half of an event and tell everyone to watch the rest on Peacock.

Yes, terrible.  The one lady host said something like "so good, we need to watch it again".  Uh, no.  

What's worse is they bring out this guy who apparently is "the numbers expert" and they act like he is some kind of god who is gracing everyone with his presence.  Who is he?  Is he normally some kind of political analyst?  Because I've seen him a few times now and every time it's like he's analysing the electoral votes.  I have a lot of dislike for this guy.  He droned on and on about Nathan Chen's score versus the two Japanese guy's scores and what could happen and who has to do what and what their best ever free skate blah blah blah.  Enough already.  I get it.  If Nathan Chen doesn't biff, he wins the gold medal.  Can NBC pay me money if I say that on air?  IT's really quite simple.

We could have been seeing live events but were subjected to this repeat and blather about Nathan Chen.

[sharwoods]

Yes, that annoying person was the one and only Steve Kornacki, an MSNBC regular and political reporter who was used incessantly to analyze all of the numbers during the 2020 Presidential election.  I have no idea why NBC dragged him out to cover the Olympics, but it indicates how much time the  network had to fill.  I have not been able to watch this horrible coverage either on the Today show or the prime time hours.  Every day I simply check on my PC the daily results and then decide whether or not I want to view the specific sport.  However, I am looking forward to seeing how NBC handles the new figure skating doping scandal.

[greyhorse]

I seem to be much happier with NBC coverage this go around as opposed to the Summer Olympics.  Or maybe my level of interest isn't as high which is odd for me because I've always preferred the Winter games.  To me, it seems like there's more live events but maybe because I'm watching later in the evening.  And I'm noticing more the "Live" in the upper right corner.  I think Winter Olympics isn't as frenetic because there's less events in general so less going on at the same time.  I feel like I've only seen events on NBC, USA, and maybe occasionally CNBC?  I think NBC has cut it down to these three channels and are pushing people to sign up for Peacock.  If you don't pay for Peacock ($4.99 a month), I think there's only limited things you can watch there?  I haven't looked this time around.  Of course you can also go to nbcolympics.com, but is this only accessible as well if you have Peacock?

41 minutes ago, blackwing said:

Yes, terrible.  The one lady host said something like "so good, we need to watch it again".  Uh, no.  

What's worse is they bring out this guy who apparently is "the numbers expert" and they act like he is some kind of god who is gracing everyone with his presence.  Who is he?  Is he normally some kind of political analyst?  Because I've seen him a few times now and every time it's like he's analysing the electoral votes.  I have a lot of dislike for this guy.  He droned on and on about Nathan Chen's score versus the two Japanese guy's scores and what could happen and who has to do what and what their best ever free skate blah blah blah.  Enough already.  I get it.  If Nathan Chen doesn't biff, he wins the gold medal.  Can NBC pay me money if I say that on air?  IT's really quite simple.

We could have been seeing live events but were subjected to this repeat and blather about Nathan Chen.

 

24 minutes ago, sharwoods said:

Yes, that annoying person was the one and only Steve Kornacki, an MSNBC regular and political reporter who was used incessantly to analyze all of the numbers during the 2020 Presidential election.  I have no idea why NBC dragged him out to cover the Olympics, but it indicates how much time the  network had to fill.  I have not been able to watch this horrible coverage either on the Today show or the prime time hours.  Every day I simply check on my PC the daily results and then decide whether or not I want to view the specific sport.  However, I am looking forward to seeing how NBC handles the new figure skating doping scandal.

Apparently Kornacki was a hit during the coverage of the election, so they got this great idea to bring him out at last summer's Olympics.  "And now, we turn to our own Steve Kornacki who will ANALYZE the medal count..."  Ah yeah, we can see the tabulation.  US has no golds.  ROC is on top.  Do I really need you to blather on and on like we're hanging on to every breath to see what might transpire?  It's one thing when election results are coming in by the hour and he can analyze what remaining counties haven't turned in votes, what the demographic is of that said county, how they voted last election, etc.  I don't need him to tell me that the US was counting on two medals from Mikaela and that maybe she could still medal in Combined but it's not her strongest suit.  Give me a break.

[redpencil]

6 hours ago, Prairie Fire said:

NBC's "coverage" to me is more like a Lifetime movie about a handful of American athletes competing in the Olympics, rather than actual coverage of the Olympics itself. All the time spent on their backstories and families, all the personal drama, focus on just a few characters, treating their competitors like minor plot complications....the analogy fits surprisingly well.

I honestly feel like there's a lot less of this than in past years. Yes, there are still a few stars that they talk about a lot, but literally any network would do that. I also don't mind a few fluff pieces. I like learning new things about some people, and to me it doesn't feel as intrusive as it has in the past.

The primetime broadcast also only has a few hours, and it's never going to be personally tailored. They're going to do some human interest stories (though as I said above, I've felt like it's less than it has been). They're going to do some studio analysis. That doesn't mean every one of those segments is well done of course. But they have showed long stretches of some events (I know because a couple times it's been things I had watched earlier on USA and was able to skip forward like 40 minutes, which I appreciated). Though as others have noted this is a bit easier to do with winter compared to summer since there are fewer events.

Some people will complain when they show too much of one sport at the expense of another, while others would feel the reverse. This is why they have the other cable channels and all the streaming options. If people don't have cable or don't want to get Peacock and only want to watch what's on the main NBC broadcast, that's totally their choice, but they're not going to get a lot of full events (especially long ones) and not a full mix of events. In the past there wasn't even a way to watch some events, now you can watch anything you want, you just might have to look elsewhere than NBC alone.

27 minutes ago, greyhorse said:

I feel like I've only seen events on NBC, USA, and maybe occasionally CNBC?  I think NBC has cut it down to these three channels and are pushing people to sign up for Peacock.  If you don't pay for Peacock ($4.99 a month), I think there's only limited things you can watch there?  I haven't looked this time around.  Of course you can also go to nbcolympics.com, but is this only accessible as well if you have Peacock?

Yes, it's these networks this time. In the summer they also used MSNBC I believe, and had NBC Sports Network (which is now dead). I'm guessing for winter with fewer events they felt like they didn't need to pull in MSNBC. I have Peacock for free with Xfinity, so I use that, but I think for nbcolympics.com it's either a separate subscription or can be tied to your cable subscription? Not really sure.

Edited February 9, 2022 by redpencil

[Guest]

1 minute ago, redpencil said:

6 minutes ago, greyhorse said:

I feel like I've only seen events on NBC, USA, and maybe occasionally CNBC?  I think NBC has cut it down to these three channels and are pushing people to sign up for Peacock.  If you don't pay for Peacock ($4.99 a month), I think there's only limited things you can watch there?  I haven't looked this time around.  Of course you can also go to nbcolympics.com, but is this only accessible as well if you have Peacock?

Yes, it's these networks this time. In the summer they also used MSNBC I believe, and had NBS Sports Network (which is now dead). I'm guessing for winter with fewer events they felt like they didn't need to pull in MSNBC. I have Peacock for free with Xfinity, so I use that, but I think for nbcolympics.com it's either a separate subscription or can be tied to your cable subscription? Not really sure.

Cosign the theory that fewer sports in winter equals the need for fewer channels.

To back up what @redpencil said, nbcolympics.com can be seen with either a cable subscription (e.g. Xfinity) or by subscribing to Peacock Premium. If you have Xfinity, you get both, though you need the right kind of cable box for Peacock Premium (which I don't have). If you don't have one of the "approved" cable providers or don't want to pay for Peacock Premium, you're out of luck with nbcolympics.com and are at the mercy of Mike Tirico and Co.

[Unraveled]

I cut the cable after I moved so I ended up subscribing to Peacock Premium Plus ($10) for the lack of commercials. There are still commercials, but I'm able to fast forward on the live versions. The replays do seem to skip the commercials automatically. I've heard that they sometimes automatically forward wrong parts and I have encountered that too.

The weird thing is that if I want to watch a 2hr+ live program in the middle, it will only buffer the last 2 hours. So if it's a 6 hour program and I'm on hour 4, I can only see hours 2-4. I have to wait for the full replay to see all 6 hours.

I will not be renewing my subscription at the end of the month. The other content is not worth it.

[b2H]

I get the shortage of events, but Wednesday night, both USA and NBC devoted their prime time almost entirely to Men’s Free Skate.  No one needed the same event on both outlets.

[emmawoodhouse]

1 hour ago, b2H said:

I get the shortage of events, but Wednesday night, both USA and NBC devoted their prime time almost entirely to Men’s Free Skate.  No one needed the same event on both outlets.

It wasn't the same content. USA showed the first two (lower ranked) groups. NBC showed the last two groups. 

[b2H]

5 minutes ago, emmawoodhouse said:

It wasn't the same content. USA showed the first two (lower ranked) groups. NBC showed the last two groups. 

So there was nothing else going on?  Still.  I find it hard to believe that NBC wouldn’t want the whole event and some less significant events be relegated to USA.

[Prairie Fire]

I stand corrected that it's unfair to expect NBC to please everyone with their choice of events and that they get somewhat of a pass if they're offering up "better" coverage on Peacock Premium. But I still think their primetime coverage doesn't need to be quite so Lifetime-ish (and that the existence of premium coverage gives them less of a pass for this than it does for their number of events covered in primetime). All that time spent on Mikaela Shiffrin's dramatic failure makes it clear to me they haven't changed.

That said, there's one option I think deserves some praise: the IOC-backed "Olympic Channel", available on YouTubeTV and possibly elsewhere. Their "Olympic Channel News" show, which seems to run on constant rotatation, jumps from one 5-10 minute piece to another. Each segment features a very no-nonsense, non-America-centric summary of an event, complete with interviews of the athletes after it's over. No studio talking heads, interviews with their families or pets back home, or any of that "Today Show"-type crap.

If you just want your fill of Winter Olympics action but aren't tracking any specific events or athletes closely (I realize that's a small audience), it's perfect.

Edited February 11, 2022 by Prairie Fire

[Guest]

18 minutes ago, b2H said:

So there was nothing else going on?  Still.  I find it hard to believe that NBC wouldn’t want the whole event and some less significant events be relegated to USA.

While USA was showing the first part of the men's free skate, NBC showed the finals of women's snowboard cross and halfpipe featuring Lindsey Jacobellis and Chloe Kim, respectively, plus the downhill portion of the men's combined, then as @emmawoodhouse said, switched to the contenders of the free skate. So it was pretty significant all night on NBC, I'd say.

[Kemper]

I think the main NBC channel’s coverage has been kind of “less than” on a couple of levels. The biggest thing: not having many on-air people in China. I see The Today Show anchors sitting outside the studio, bundled up around a fire pit, interviewing Craig Melvin from China. A couple of mornings he looked so tired; and who could blame him. Sitting outside around a fire pit in New York during a once-every-four-year sporting event. Maybe not sending more anchors was a logistical thing; but I can’t help thinking it may have hindered ratings a bit. There is also the time-zone issue. 

But to me, who isn’t all that familiar with snowboard ins and outs regarding the actual races and events; and who is who (other than Shaun White) the coverage has been a letdown. The graphics have been lacking; sometimes I have no idea who the athlete is who is racing or jumping. Or what the name of the event is. Nothing on the top of my screen. Maybe it is just me or my attention span. The sound issue during the figure skating events has been terrible; maybe it has improved as I haven’t watched all of it. The music has drowned out the commentary.  I don’t remember this happening during any other Olympics. 

[Rickster]

31 minutes ago, Kemper said:

I think the main NBC channel’s coverage has been kind of “less than” on a couple of levels. The biggest thing: not having many on-air people in China. I see The Today Show anchors sitting outside the studio, bundled up around a fire pit, interviewing Craig Melvin from China. A couple of mornings he looked so tired; and who could blame him. Sitting outside around a fire pit in New York during a once-every-four-year sporting event. Maybe not sending more anchors was a logistical thing; but I can’t help thinking it may have hindered ratings a bit. There is also the time-zone issue. 

I think the issue with sending the anchors is that movement is strictly controlled, and limited to the hotel and broadcast center, according to Mike Tirico, due to covid. Usually sending more reporters/anchors is to get more local flavor stories. Probably didn’t make sense to send people like the Today staff to have them hanging around the hotel all day.

This was an issue in Tokyo, too, where the Today anchors did go, and the big excitement was them eventually being allowed to take a bus ride around the city. I think NBC decided it wasn’t worth the effort.

I’d agree these Olympics (and Tokyo, too) has been lackluster compared to previous ones due to all the restrictions. Hopefully they will get back to normal in Paris.

[choclatechip45]

1 hour ago, Kemper said:

I think the main NBC channel’s coverage has been kind of “less than” on a couple of levels. The biggest thing: not having many on-air people in China. I see The Today Show anchors sitting outside the studio, bundled up around a fire pit, interviewing Craig Melvin from China. A couple of mornings he looked so tired; and who could blame him. Sitting outside around a fire pit in New York during a once-every-four-year sporting event. Maybe not sending more anchors was a logistical thing; but I can’t help thinking it may have hindered ratings a bit. There is also the time-zone issue. 

But to me, who isn’t all that familiar with snowboard ins and outs regarding the actual races and events; and who is who (other than Shaun White) the coverage has been a letdown. The graphics have been lacking; sometimes I have no idea who the athlete is who is racing or jumping. Or what the name of the event is. Nothing on the top of my screen. Maybe it is just me or my attention span. The sound issue during the figure skating events has been terrible; maybe it has improved as I haven’t watched all of it. The music has drowned out the commentary.  I don’t remember this happening during any other Olympics. 

NBC didn't send people because they didn't want talent getting stuck in quarantine in Beijing due to China's covid policy. 

[Kemper]

I realize the difficulty when sending reporters and correspondents to a foreign country during a pandemic; and when there is authoritarian leadership. I guess there is no way to make these Games the usual Good Time. And at least the network relented and let Leslie Jones do her thing.  So naturally enthusiastic and fun. I think that, in particular, is what is missing. Then again, that is what Leslie Jones’ commentary is supposed to be all about; she is not expected to do the heavy lifting.

 

 

[Thumper]

Where do we see Leslie Jones?

[Lilac2000]

6 hours ago, Thumper said:

Where do we see Leslie Jones?

I think just on her Twitter.

 

[Hanahope]

Its annoying that the only time you get some commentary is with the live NBC feed (at least on prime time and i assume late night).  if you miss that and watch a replay of an event on peacock (that you pay for), you get no commentary.  sometimes i want the commentary.

[Guest]

8 hours ago, Hanahope said:

Its annoying that the only time you get some commentary is with the live NBC feed (at least on prime time and i assume late night).  if you miss that and watch a replay of an event on peacock (that you pay for), you get no commentary.  sometimes i want the commentary.

Most (but not all) of the streams on nbcolympics.com have commentary, so if you are paying for Peacock, you can see the replays there, too and get commentary. It's usually different people from the NBC primetime folks, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

[absnow54]

Or check the Olympics YouTube page. I think most of those use the footage from the primetime broadcast. 

[Shopgirl406]

I'm ok with the coverage, but I MISS Mary Carillo and her special interest features.  I loved her segment from Sochi on making Matryoshka Dolls and the segment on where curling stones come from.  In my opinion, she was great!

[Hanahope]

On 2/16/2022 at 7:43 AM, tracyscott76 said:

Most (but not all) of the streams on nbcolympics.com have commentary, so if you are paying for Peacock, you can see the replays there, too and get commentary. It's usually different people from the NBC primetime folks, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.

the figure skating replays on peacock do not have any commentary.

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, Hanahope said:

the figure skating replays on peacock do not have any commentary.

Right, but I'm saying that if you are paying for Peacock, you should also have access to the replays on nbcolympics.com, which usually do have commentary.

[Hanahope]

Oh, nbcolympics.com says i don't have access to their replays.

[Rootbeer]

2 hours ago, Hanahope said:

Oh, nbcolympics.com says i don't have access to their replays.

I think you have to have Peacock Plus or whatever their premium service is called.  I've only watched one replay there and it was the NBC version with Terry, Tara and Johnny doing commentary.

[Guest]

2 hours ago, Hanahope said:

Oh, nbcolympics.com says i don't have access to their replays.

Ah, my apologies. I thought you were paying for the premium Peacock. Someone else mentioned the Olympics YouTube page, so maybe try that?

[gingerella]

My husband and I have been trying to figure out why this Olympics has felt so off. It's not the pandemic because Tokyo kicked ass and NBC covered so many events on si many channels and the energy was there. I don't know if its being in repressive China and there are limitations we don't know about. Or if it's someone new at NBC who's trying to pee on all the bushes and mark there territory by changing up how they broadcast the Games. Or if it's just because there aren't as many USA athletes in the running for medals. We just watched a speed skating medal round and one guy literally ceded at the cross.kver and just gave up and they never even mentioned 'hey, so and so just gave up there!' And then they keep panning to someone else in the middle.kf the rink in a t shirt and they're talking about one of the skaters and they never mention WHO the guy is they keep panning to in center rink. 🙄 

It all feels just very disjointed, discombobulated, and very low energy. I remember how tight the event were back in the says of Apollo Ono, for example. And we had lots of human interest stories about athletes from the USA and other countries too. They've shown as nauseum that story if the dude who hunts his own food like 5 times over the past few days. They could have done packages on every US athlete, they could have done small packages examining a out how some sports work, like curling, like the different skating jumps. There is so much more they could have done to make up.for.not being there in person to do local.stories. 

Something just feels.very lackluster about these Games and I can't quite figure out what it is (its not Covid, IMO, it's something network related about how they're broadcasting it, and I don't like it.

[Rickster]

I would disagree that the Tokyo Olympics coverage was great, especially compared to previous Summer Games, but these definitely have been lackluster, and I’ve watched them less than any prior games.

All Winter Games suffer in comparison to Summer ones due to the sports being more obscure and less popular in the US and usually less US medal competitors. A couple of other thoughts:

I think NBC had trouble gearing up to cover another Olympics 7 months after the last one, especially with all the restrictions around covid here and in China, when they usually have 2 years to get ready.

I would guess covid restrictions prevented NBC doing a lot of the background color pieces on sports and athletes you were suggesting, both here and in Europe over the past two years. I think these are more important in the winter than in the summer, plus they could do nothing in China. 
 

I do think NBC has done a poor job of organizing its coverage. I have trouble finding sports I want to watch, and see lots of repeat coverage. In some ways, I think the Winter Games don’t have enough interesting events for the expansion of time NBC is devoting to it on all its broadcast and streaming networks. It definitely feels slapdash this year.

Edit: I also occurred to me that NBC could be trying to see how cheaply they can produce a Games, for example, keeping most of the sports commentators in the US, especially with viewership falling off.

Edited February 19, 2022 by Rickster

[galaxygirl76]

For me these games really suffer from not being in an actual wintersport area. Yeah the venues look great but I miss real snow. It's upsetting to know that these games could have been in Oslo but the IOC delegates were too demanding/greedy and the people of Norway noped out of it so we ended up in a country that was controversial the first time around and is even more controversial now. 

 

Lillehammer will continue to be the gold standard for winter games. Those games were perfection. 

[choclatechip45]

I wonder how much not having NBC Sports has effected the coverage. It does feel like there is less stuff on TV.

[Kemper]

I agree that coverage for these games has been low key. NBC has not helped itself by making the coverage a way to sell Peacock. I know they paid a ginormous amount for the rights; so who could blame them for trying to get a return on that.  Also - there was a huge conflict, attention-wise, with The Super Bowl. Even with the pandemic, a time difference and a horrific host country, I wish there had been more genuine enthusiasm from the network about these games, these sports, and so many more of the athletes. It was like we trudged from one event to the other. And I absolutely love love love the Winter Games.

 

[legaleagle53]

I don't mind shelling out a few bucks a month for Peacock Plus. It's worth it to have access to all the extras anytime I want them. Not just the Olympics (and the upcoming Paralympics), but all seasons of shows like The Office and Superstore as well as original series and movies.

And no, I am not employed by NBC or related to anyone who is! 

[Guest]

Maybe it's just that the games are ending and my Olympics withdrawal is kicking in, but I've enjoyed the coverage. There are always exceptions, but I've found that the announcers have been enthusiastic, the athletes have been energetic, and the events have been fun. I can see that NBC's network coverage alone could feel limited and repetitive, but with the other options it's been pretty much the full experience. The circumstances of these Games have altered the feel a bit, but not to the point of it lacking enjoyment, for me anyway. (Full disclosure, I tend to zone out during the human interest pieces and prefer the actual events, so I didn't miss those. Any athletes I want to learn more about, I look up on my own)

[Rickster]

2 hours ago, choclatechip45 said:

I wonder how much not having NBC Sports has effected the coverage. It does feel like there is less stuff on TV.

If you mean the NBC Sports Network on cable, they moved all their coverage to USA network. The Winter Olympics does have fewer events, but some coverage has been moved to streaming for sure.

[choclatechip45]

29 minutes ago, Rickster said:

If you mean the NBC Sports Network on cable, they moved all their coverage to USA network. The Winter Olympics does have fewer events, but some coverage has been moved to streaming for sure.

That is true, but there have been a few times when USA has had nothing due to Soccer. I don't remember that being an issue in 2018. 

[gingerella]

On 2/19/2022 at 3:29 AM, Rickster said:

I would disagree that the Tokyo Olympics coverage was great, especially compared to previous Summer Games, but these definitely have been lackluster, and I’ve watched them less than any prior games.

All Winter Games suffer in comparison to Summer ones due to the sports being more obscure and less popular in the US and usually less US medal competitors. A couple of other thoughts:

I think NBC had trouble gearing up to cover another Olympics 7 months after the last one, especially with all the restrictions around covid here and in China, when they usually have 2 years to get ready.

I would guess covid restrictions prevented NBC doing a lot of the background color pieces on sports and athletes you were suggesting, both here and in Europe over the past two years. I think these are more important in the winter than in the summer, plus they could do nothing in China.

I do think NBC has done a poor job of organizing its coverage. I have trouble finding sports I want to watch, and see lots of repeat coverage. In some ways, I think the Winter Games don’t have enough interesting events for the expansion of time NBC is devoting to it on all its broadcast and streaming networks. It definitely feels slapdash this year.

Edit: I also occurred to me that NBC could be trying to see how cheaply they can produce a Games, for example, keeping most of the sports commentators in the US, especially with viewership falling off.

Lot's of great food for thought above. Of course Tokyo was nothing like a normal Summer Games, pre-pandemic, but I thought Tokyo did an outstanding job on making the best of a shit situation. Examples: they used their mascots as rally points for the athletes, there was wonderful coverage on Instagram by the Mascot accounts, and they were out there at events, lining up with volunteers in the rain to wave on the buses that took athletes to their venues, they did their best to create a convivial atmosphere and both Mascots and Volunteers 'stood in' for spectators. Was it the same? Of course not, but they really tried hard and it brought tears to my eyes seeing them lining up in the rain with Someity the mascot, to cheer on the athlete buses. In contracts, the China mascot's account on social media is so lame, and they're never really showing up much. I mean, it's China, it's a completely repressive regime where they actually think it's appropriate to use their military to raise flags at the Opening and Medal ceremonies! That's insane, I cannot believe that the IOC hasn't banned military presence from actual ceremonies at any Games. It made me sick to my stomach to see that nonsense and it casts a pall over the entire Games as well, at least for me. I hadn't thought about the fact that that NBC had to regroup 7 months after Tokyo but OTOH, shouldn't they be able to pivot to a Winter Games quickly since they already did one during a pandemic? As for background pieces, they could always do them outside, it's not difficult. I've seen about 3 pieces maybe, all the same three athletes shown so many times now I turn the channel when they're on yet again for the umpteeth time. And lastly on the above, I hope that NBC isn't trying to see how cheap they can do the Games because as most have said here, being remote lacks the warmth that on site commentating brings, at least IMO. And damn, I miss seeing Mary Carillo's weirdo pieces and Chris Collingsworth looking like a consummate stoner doing his pieces.

On 2/19/2022 at 5:37 AM, galaxygirl76 said:

For me these games really suffer from not being in an actual wintersport area. Yeah the venues look great but I miss real snow. It's upsetting to know that these games could have been in Oslo but the IOC delegates were too demanding/greedy and the people of Norway noped out of it so we ended up in a country that was controversial the first time around and is even more controversial now.

Lillehammer will continue to be the gold standard for winter games. Those games were perfection. 

This is a great point! I too wondered how China would host a Winter Games and here we have all man made snow, up til it started snowing this week, but even so, that wouldn't have been enough base for any of the sports to use. It's preposterous to give Winter Games to countries that cannot guarantee snow. It's like the IOC is using it's 'everyone deserves a medal/chance' but no, if you don't live in a country with venues that can guarantee snow, you shouldn't be allowed to submit a bid.

On 2/19/2022 at 9:18 AM, Kemper said:

I agree that coverage for these games has been low key. NBC has not helped itself by making the coverage a way to sell Peacock. I know they paid a ginormous amount for the rights; so who could blame them for trying to get a return on that.  Also - there was a huge conflict, attention-wise, with The Super Bowl. Even with the pandemic, a time difference and a horrific host country, I wish there had been more genuine enthusiasm from the network about these games, these sports, and so many more of the athletes. It was like we trudged from one event to the other. And I absolutely love love love the Winter Games.

I refuse to pay for Peacock so I was concerned going into this Olympics that I'd miss out on a lot of stuff, and NBC felt like a cheap two-bit hooker trying to get us to buy into Peacock to see 'more'. But what I've found is that having access to both NBC and USA Network has allowed me to watch pretty much everything I wanted to see, but the difference is it all feels very disjointed, unenthusiastic (from NBC, not the athletes or commentators), and I am seeing replays of everything over and over and over again. For instance, yesterday I think they replayed the Men's Ski Half Pipe like 4 times? Every time I thought it was something new the way NBC led into it, but then I'd see it and realize it was the same event for the 3rd or 4th time. And the channel info lists it as "NEW" or "LIVE" programming when it was taped the day before and the live feed is like 24 hours old. It's like people with no experience in broadcasting an international even are at the control. In contrast, the Tokyo Summer Games were being shown on like 5 or 6 different channels on my cable directory, and I was taping and watching shitloads of stuff and it wasn't being regurgitated multiple times like this Games has been. I just hope this isn't a harbinger of Games to come and it's just an unfortunate set of circumstances that has led to this. I miss the enthusiasm and build up of the old Games, like when we were being set up in week one for an event in week two and everyone was looking forward to it. They showed footage last night of Apollo Ono skating and I remember how exciting his Games were! Speed skating was so exciting, not just because an American was in the top mix, it was just electric and we watched every race. Last night was the first time I sat down and watched some speed skating and it was like I was dragged to it reluctantly, so the above comment about us being trudged from event to event rings true to me.

Edited February 20, 2022 by gingerella

[Kemper]

gingerella - you said it all …. and said it beautifully.

[legaleagle53]

2 hours ago, gingerella said:

I refuse to pay for Peacock so I was concerned going into this Olympics that I'd miss out on a lot of stuff, and NBC felt like a cheap two-but hooker trying to get us to buy into Peacock to see 'more'. But what I've found is that having access to both NBC and USA Network has allowed me to watch pretty much everything I wanted to see, but the difference is it all feels very disjointed, unenthusiastic (from NBC, not the athletes or commentators), and I am seeing replays of everything over and over and over again. For instance, yesterday I think they replayed the Men's Ski Half Pipe like 4 times? Every time I thought it was something new the way NBC led into it, but then I'd see it and realize it was the same event for the 3rd or 4th time. And the channel info lists it as "NEW" or "LIVE" programming when it was taped the day before and the live feed is like 24 hours old. It's like people with no experience in broadcasting an international even are at the control. In contrast, the Tokyo Summer Games were being shown on like 5 or 6 different channels on my cable directory, and I was taping and watching shitloads of stuff and it wasn't being regurgitated multiple times like this Games has been. I just hope this isn't a harbinger of Games to come and it's just an unfortunate set of circumstances that has led to this.

I wouldn't worry about this being "a harbinger of Games to come." The next three Games will all be held and broadcast from time zones that are more US-friendly (Paris 2024, Milano-Cortina 2026, and Los Angeles 2028; no word yet on who's hosting in 2030). The temporal logistics that made these Games (and the Tokyo Games last year) so problematic won't surface again until Brisbane in 2032. Hopefully, the technology will have improved by then to the point that it won't be more than a minor inconvenience for the US or any other country.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, legaleagle53 said:

The next three Games will all be held and broadcast from time zones that are more US-friendly (Paris 2024, Milano-Cortina 2026, and Los Angeles 2028; no word yet on who's hosting in 2030).

LA maybe, but I'm not sure Paris and Milan-Cortina are actually more US-friendly in terms of time zone, at least for a typical 9 to 5er on the East Coast (i.e. me). 6 hours ahead means it will be 11pm/midnight over there by the time I get home from work, so everything will be over. With PyeongChang, Tokyo, and Beijing, their day was just getting started right at prime time. So I'll actually get to see FEWER live events in 2024 and 2026 than I did the last three Olympics, at least during the week.

And that's not really a complaint; that's the way it works and I don't expect them to cater to my schedule every time.

[legaleagle53]

2 minutes ago, tracyscott76 said:

LA maybe, but I'm not sure Paris and Milan-Cortina are actually more US-friendly in terms of time zone, at least for a typical 9 to 5er on the East Coast (i.e. me). 6 hours ahead means it will be 11pm/midnight over there by the time I get home from work, so everything will be over. With PyeongChang, Tokyo, and Beijing, their day was just getting started right at prime time. So I'll actually get to see FEWER live events in 2024 and 2026 than I did the last three Olympics, at least during the week.

And that's not really a complaint; that's the way it works and I don't expect them to cater to my schedule every time.

It looks as though Salt Lake City may host in 2030, so there's that, too. But I was under the impression that SLC wanted to hold off until 2034 for some reason.

[Rootbeer]

11 hours ago, galaxygirl76 said:

 

Lillehammer will continue to be the gold standard for winter games. Those games were perfection. 

I attended the '94 games in Lillehammer as a spectator and I can vouch for the incredible spirit there.  I can also verify that every bit of the snow and ice was real, really real, like several feet everywhere real,  The Norwegian people love winter sports, they love being outdoors and enjoying the beautiful countryside and their love of sport and the land was infectious.  Aside from COVID, I do think that holding the games in a country where the people are not really allowed to be themselves outside of very narrowly defined parameters leads to a tamping down of emotion for the entire event..  The Norwegians loved every minute of hosting the Olympics and showing off the beauty of Norway in the winter and there was no way anyone who experienced it couldn't be left smiling.

So much of these games have just seemed rote and lifeless.  It would probably help if there were spectators, but, being in China, it would only be a narrow segment of the population who would have access which is also problematic.

In Lillehammer, we had the KING and his family riding on buses and trains to the venues with everyone else.  Every Norwegian above a certain age was entitled to attend the event of their choice.  Everyone applied and there was a national lottery for the tickets.  The cross country skiing was so popular that the finish line was in the stadium which was full.  The stadium was in the middle of a huge public park, mainly woods.  The king issued an invitation to anyone who wanted to camp out along the course to come on out and cheer the skiiers on the trails for free.  They estimated over 100,000 Norwegians came out, pitched tents, lit camp fires and waited for the sun to come up and the races to begin.  There was about 3 feet of snow on the ground and it had to have been below zero.  Entire families, grandparents to little kids, were hanging out in the woods singing songs and enjoying the moment.  

On the night of the closing ceremonies, as we walked up the hill from the town of Lillehammer to the stadium, maybe a mile, people in the neighborhoods had set out luminaries along the snow banks in front of their homes and our way was lit with candles and people standing in their doorways thanking us for coming. CBS didn't have to manufacture Olympic spirit, it was right there every moment. That is what I want to see again.

Edited February 20, 2022 by Rootbeer

[legaleagle53]

I echo the sentiment regarding the Norwegians as hosts. I vividly remember when Dan Jansen won his only medal (Gold) in Speed Skating. The Norwegians practically adopted him as one of their own, and they cheered for him as loudly when he won as they would have if he had won for Norway. I've NEVER forgotten that moment!

Edited February 20, 2022 by legaleagle53