Five-ring circus: The Thread of the XXXIII Olympiad

Again, I'm a broadcast major with extensive experience in the industry, so the way I watch (I hate the word "consume") the Olympics is different than the average viewer. So I apologize in advance for nit-picking.

First, accolades. From a technical standpoint, NBC's camera work and audio direction have been superb. I cannot explain how complicated it must be to try to produce live with dozens of cameras and microphones -- at multiple venues -- while seamlessly weaving in instant replay and slo-motion. The producers and directors and video and audio people in the trucks have been amazing. What they're doing is incredibly hard and they're making it look incredibly easy.

Imagine a half-dozen Super Bowls all taking place at the same time. Now I realize the Olympic global feed is handling the yeoman's work, but someone still is making real-time decisions and doing it very, very well.

And the numbers for the network have been huge from what I can tell. While it's great that Asia (the continent, not the band) deserves to host the Games, the time difference between Bejing and Tokyo kills interest in watching something that everybody already knows happened some 18 hours earlier. At least in this case, there are working people who don't watch the live feed and might not know the results. If the Games can't be held in North America, Europe is the next best option.

However, the primetime "plausibly live" show is a mess at times. It's obvious Tirico tapes his open after the all events are over -- he mentioned Lyles' COVID result two hours before they showed the 200 -- so NBC either doesn't think the audience knows or cares. And yesterday was a perfect example of how trying to package an entire day's worth of competition into a three-hour show completely messes with continuity.

Every time the broadcast returned to the track, the weather was radically different. Pouring rain. Dry. Wet. About to rain. Just had rained. It was glaringly obvious the events were replayed in an order to create the most drama, and I understand that. But it's like watching a movie where nobody paid attention to the background props changing from cut to cut. It's confusing at least, and a bit disingenuous at worst. They need to fire the guy in charge of the weather.

For its own reasons, NBC treats the Olympics as entertainment that happens to have a sports theme rather than a sporting event that happens to be entertaining. And if showing skimpy leotards and bathing suits and bikini volleyball works for them, whatever. At least during the day, I get to choose to watch it the other way around.

But it is what it is. NBC doesn't care what I think. You probably don't, either.

I now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

 

We were spoiled for years up here with Don Whitman at the track and Steve Armitage at the pool.

 

Watched the boxing finals yesterday and Asadkhuja Muydinkhujaev of Uzbekistan, who won gold at light middleweight, has to be in the running for the Val Barker award as the best boxer in the tournament. just a beautiful fighter to watch. His Mexican opponent gave it all he had but he was no match for this guy.

 

Breaking is just a time machine back to 2002.

 

It might be an unpopular opinion, but I think NBC overplayed little pizza dough flipping guy a little bit in the late night broadcast.

 

Canada knows how to get it done.

 

Edison Films. 1894.

 

By the look of her face in the rain, it looked like Gabby Thomas wanted nothing to do with the rain. Her relay was really not great.

I've shit on Tirico for years on these boards. He's a fat faced, ugly pervert. But he has really done a fantastic job this olympics. He transitions from one sport to another flawlessly. He knows water polo, soccer, track, basketball, kayaking, volleyball and everything else. He's been practically perfect as far as I've seen. I still hate him.

 

I am very very old.

 

I'm going to disagree with you.
I've watched the events live. NBC has done a really good job overall.

I've seen only one night of the prime time, but that prime time show isn't for the real sports fans. It's a prepackaged, easily digestible 3 hour highlight show that is produced with my mom in mind (if she were still alive). They've done away FINALLY with the 'plausibly live'. My mom wouldn't care if they went from rain to sun back to rain or whatever. She would want to see the hits of the day played, with some human interest pablum thrown in. That's what the night show is. She's not on her phone checking results from earlier in the day. So the format is fine. And it isn't my cup of tea. but it works for the prime time audience.

 

I wonder if she’ll get bored and turn her focus to another event. As noted, she!s dabbled in the 400, 200 and the 100 hurdles the past couple of years and last year she didn’t compete at all in the 400 hurdles.