NBC's Beijing Olympics Coverage: Thumbs Up Or Thumbs Down?

We're halfway through the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics so it's time to rate NBC's coverage. First a caveat, I haven't seen every single hour of the coverage, but really, who has?

My opinion based on the many hours I have watched? For once, I'll give them a thumb that's almost pointing up. Some thoughts:

I don't get the obsession with beach volleyball.

I don't need to see anymore interviews with Michael Phelps. Don't get me wrong, he was amazing and his Olympic accomplishments were huge, but really, what else is he going to say?

I would like to see some post race interviews with non-American medalists. To feed my own tennis obsession, how about an interview with gold medalist, new No.1 and hottest player on the men's tour, Spain's Rafael Nadal? Or Russia's gold medalist Elena Dementieva? Oops! Too late now, they're on their way to New York for the US Open.

It was great seeing the swimming and the gymnastics live on the east coast, and having NBC tell me what time in the coverage the events would actually start.

It was not so great for my friends on the west coast, not to see the swimming and the gymnastics live. NBC in their infinite wisdom decided they didn't need to.

NBC could have done a better job letting me know where the sports that weren't gymnastics or swimming or beach volleyball were going to air. I had to hunt to figure out that tennis was airing from 2AM to 12Noon everyday on USA Cable.

Congratulations to Barry MacKay and Jimmy Arias for stellar non-stop commentary during the last weekend of tennis. And kudos to USA Cable for letting us know they were commentating from a studio in New York instead of trying to pretend they were actually in Beijing.

Congratulations to NBC on some incredible camera angles like the overhead shot of the balance beam and the wonderful, crystal clear, super slo-mo shots that showed the one hundredth of a second difference between Michael Phelps and second place finisher, Serbian Milorad Cavic in the 100 meter butterfly.

More great camera angles covering the women's marathon, won by the oldest woman ever, 38 year old Romanian Constantina Tomescu-Dita.

And though not necessarily NBC's fault, some very embarrassing moments:

The fake fireworks during the opening ceremonies.

The swapping of the best little girl singer for a kid who was "cuter."

The obviously less than 16 year old Chinese gymnasts---talk about chutzpah! And tell me again why the IOC didn't push that issue past the "their passports say their 16" point?

The ridiculously low scores given to Shawn Johnson and Nastia Lukin during the gymnastic all around final. They came in one and two in spite of what seemed the judges best efforts to keep that from happening.

Other Olympic thoughts around the blogosphere: Lina at Sister Spot has been chronicling Random Thoughts On The Olympics. Here's one about the older than fire---when it comes to swimming, that is---Dara Torres:

Don't get me wrong, I love the Dara Torres momentum. She looked great last night and was a real mom out there on the pool deck when she asked officials to hold the start for a fellow swimmer having trouble with her suit. But, hello NBC, there are quite a few mothers on the US Olympic team playing basketball, softball, lifting weights, running track, kayaking. Let's hear about some of the other mothers who may not have the resources for childcare never mind a "team of people" to get
them in top shape and yet there they are competing at the elite level. They are all role models.

Cindy at Home By The Sea took issue with a Serbian swimming official's comments after Cavic's 100 meter butterfly protest was rejected:

The video says Phelps won, but somehow, that's not right, but they're going to graciously agree to follow the rules? What the hell does that mean? If the video and the touch-pad indicate that Phelps won, how is
that not right? Both of them were wrong, but the eye-ball view was
better? And it's no gracious move to accept the facts, no matter how
heartbreaking it might be for your country.

Diary of An Anxious Black Woman was thrilled with last night's Jamaican sweep of the women's 100 meter final.

Now, if only NBC would shed their America-centric coverage of these games and actually show us these competitions LIVE (while pretending that they're doing so when they have the words "Live" in the upper right corner on our TV screen), I'd be even happier (i.e. I would've loved to see the women's 100 meter dash like NOW! instead of waiting till past midnight!).

Cindy at Here To There And Back---no relation to Cindy at Home By The Sea, at least I don't think so---like me, misses ABC and Jim McKay:

I want the laws of nature observed, and I want ABC to take back its sole right to air the Olympics.

I never want to hear that lame-o John Williams Olympics theme ever again. I want the familiar sounds of the Olympics theme as it should be.

I want the summer and winter Olympics in the same calendar year, not this alternating year business.

I want Jim McKay and Chris Economaki, not Bob Costas. (And certainly not Mary Carillo - make her and her poor substitute for Up Close and Personal go away.)

Cindy I'm with you all the way, except for the bit about the John Williams Olympics theme. I love the John Williams Olympics theme.

With one more week to go, what do you think of NBC's Olympics coverage?

Megan Smith is a BlogHer Contributing Editor covering Television and YouTube and she thinks the Beijing opening ceremonies---despite little girl-gate---were the best she's ever seen. Her other blogs are Megan's Minute: quirky commentary around the clock, and Video Runway. More of her thoughts on the Olympics can be found in her post: "The Summer Olympics: Love 'Em or Hate 'Em?"

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) on Mon, 08/18/2008 - 9:28am

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LOL..no more Bob Costas please....

Make him go away..

I have been switching between them and CBC (Canada) and CBC keeps showing waaay too much baseball and beach volley ball which I hate.

I also have noticed that the NBC'ers will be sooo pumped for the American competitor that if that person loses they really don't have much to say about the other competitors...but their gymnastics coverage was good...

I also notice a blind spot with Canada..I know we suck at sports..but there seems to be a rule to not even mention our countries name..ever.

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Submitted by Crunchy Carpets on Mon, 08/18/2008 - 12:45

NBC coverage

Have friends in Ireland - 24 hours a day -every heat, prelim, semi and final of every sport!!! I happen to be a sport - phile so I'll take anything - but since when is BMX an Olympic sport? Maybe we will be offering scholarships for under water basket weaving in the future. I have waited through the "Phelps" games for the real Olympics - athletics- yet I haven't seen any field events except the gold medal discus throw, the Australian pole vaulter and oh yeah = Brian Clay's 1500m jog to take the gold in the decathlon. I don't think SUCKS is a strong enough word. Every 4 years we get treated to crap - interviews, bios, or some commentator talking about the night life. WHO THE F@$^%& CARES. We taped the 1988 games and after editing the non-event footage - we had 2 cassettes - 2!!! Even the Atlanta and LA games weren't live. We got the taped delayed highlights. I could go on forever but to what avail? Like NBC is going to care - they've made millions on the ads which means their coffers will be swelling to pilot crap sitcoms for the next 4 years and still have enough left to buy the rights to London 2012 - I think it's time to schedule a European vacation!!

Sorry about the Canada thing - but I guess the only teams that are at this Olympics are China and the USA.

Submitted by abyrne on Sat, 08/23/2008 - 08:21

So Tell Me What You Really Think!

I understand your frustration, but who knows, there are reports that ESPN and ABC want to go in on the 2016 Olympics and they promise to show everything live. We'll see if that happens.

Megan Smith
BlogHer Contributing Editor, TV/YouTube
Megan's Minute: Quirky Commentary Around The Clock

Submitted by Megan Smith on Sat, 08/23/2008 - 08:43

Coverage

I don't think one channel/network can handle it I say they sell each venue/sport to a different entity and then see how good the coverage is.

And another thing - the reason behind shifting the Summer and Winter GAmes to alternate 2 years - $$$$. They found that sponsors and travelers have a lot more money if you let them regroup by 2 years instead of 6 months

Submitted by abyrne on Sat, 08/23/2008 - 08:57

Oh Canada...!

I didn't notice the lack of a Canada mention, but now that you mention it, there had to be some Canadian athletes. I saw them in the opening ceremonies, didn't I?

Or were they disguised as cute little Chinese girls?

Megan Smith
BlogHer Contributing Editor, TV/YouTube
Megan's Minute: Quirky Commentary Around The Clock

Submitted by Megan Smith on Mon, 08/18/2008 - 13:05

NBC sucks

I noticed some things that were definitely bothering me about the Olympics, too. The Chinese gymnastics team was bringing tiny back to be sure. They might be stripped of their medals if someone does some seriously checking around. AND it REALLY bothers me how much they were talking and overcovering some events to the detriment of other events. We hardly saw the Romanians and they took the bronze. COMEON!! Can you show a little less hugging on the sidelines?

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Submitted by SavvyD on Mon, 08/18/2008 - 13:19

Some Hugging, But Not So Much

I'm feeling ya' about the hugging on the sidelines. And it would have been nice to see a bit more of the Romanians.

Megan Smith
BlogHer Contributing Editor, TV/YouTube
Megan's Minute: Quirky Commentary Around The Clock

Submitted by Megan Smith on Tue, 08/19/2008 - 09:46

Coverage in Britain

I am glad I found this discussion about the NBC coverage. I am not able to see it here. I'm an American in England. It is interesting to find out that the NBC coverage has been centered a lot on the US. Well it is the same in England. They do a British centered broadcast here. So I guess that the US is not alone in doing this. I guess it's just the way it is, huh? :-)

Submitted by Dori7 on Thu, 08/21/2008 - 02:29

That's To Be Expected

It's to be expected that American television would focus on Americans and British television would focus on the British, it's just that since we're such a multi-cultural society, I'd like to see NBC cover a few more non-American athletes.

And the continued obsession with beach volleyball is still beyond me!

Megan Smith
BlogHer Contributing Editor, TV/YouTube
Megan's Minute: Quirky Commentary Around The Clock

Submitted by Megan Smith on Wed, 08/20/2008 - 11:22

I Agree

Yeah, I know that each country's network concentrates more on their own athletes. I'm fine with that. I am in the same situation as you, I wanted to see more variety over here too. That's all. But it's all good. In the end, I am just glad that the athletes got their chance to compete. It is interesting to see what the coverage was like back home. Thanks for your report. And hey, I'm sorry for hijacking your original post. I really am. This was about NBC, not about my experience in Britain. I guess I just feel so isolated over here sometimes and I just get interested in what is happening back home. :-) Thanks for keeping me up to date.

Submitted by Dori7 on Thu, 08/21/2008 - 02:35

Not A Problem

One of the great things about BlogHer is it's sense of community. What better way to keep up with how things are back home?

Feel free to comment anytime.

Megan Smith
BlogHer Contributing Editor, TV/YouTube
Megan's Minute: Quirky Commentary Around The Clock

Submitted by Megan Smith on Thu, 08/21/2008 - 04:42

Have a Great Day

Thanks for the invite. I will be back to comment. I know that it's early there, so I wish you a great day!

Dori :-)

Submitted by Dori7 on Fri, 08/22/2008 - 09:21

Things I've noticed about NBC's coverage...

NBC was covering almost nothing 'live' unless it was in North American waking hours. A few nights I couldn't sleep, and was able to get live coverage on CBC, but NBC was showing taped stuff from hours before. They did cover live stuff in the evenings but that seemed to be it.

Costasaaaaaagh.

I also did have issues with the USA commentary. I had to turn the channel a few times just because it was making me quite annoyed. One example was this morning in the women's basketball match the commentators were going on and on about how in the end it wasn't even close, that the American team was simply an epic team, that the American dominance of the sport continues, etc. It seemed very chest-thumpy... to me, a very non-sportsmanlike attitude.

Finally, I also find it very interesting how NBC is ranking the medal statistics and who's in the "lead" in the medals.

On BBC it's ranked according to golds:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/olympics/medals_table/default.stm

Same on Canada's CBC (although it does have an option to sort by total medals):

http://stats.cbc.ca/olympics_medals.asp?sort=gold

Same with Australia's The Age:

http://www.theage.com.au/olympics/beijing-2008/medal-tally/

But on NBC, it's ranked according to total medals.

http://www.nbcolympics.com/medals/index.html

Which is interesting, since if you rank by golds, China is first, but if you rank by total medals, USA is first. I have to wonder if the USA would sort differently if the situation was reversed.

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Submitted by zchamu on Sat, 08/23/2008 - 09:15

One more thing...

You said:

"Congratulations to NBC on some incredible camera angles like ... the wonderful, crystal clear,super slo-mo shots that showed the one hundredth of a second difference between Michael Phelps and second place finisher, Serbian Milorad Cavicin the 100 meter butterfly."

From what I understand, all camera work in the pool was done by the Australians and fed to all other broadcasters. That's what they said on the CBC, anyway.

Visit my blogs at ThreeSeven (all that's irrelevant and amusing) and ecochick (all that's green, cool and Canadian).

Submitted by zchamu on Sat, 08/23/2008 - 09:24

Cameras

Yeah - NBC had nothing to do with the set up. They are just the recipients of the smarts of the great camera angles set up by people who know what's important. If NBC had set them up they would have been in the hotel rooms, bars and walk ways around China to show the 'important' stuff.

Submitted by abyrne on Sat, 08/23/2008 - 09:33

You could be right about the

You could be right about the camera work, but even if the work was outsourced to other crews, considering the amount of money they paid, I'm pretty sure NBC has a final say on where every camera and every technician, is placed. If NBC wants six underwater cameras, they either put them there themselves or hire the people who will do it for them.

Megan Smith
BlogHer Contributing Editor, TV/YouTube
Megan's Minute: Quirky Commentary Around The Clock

Submitted by Megan Smith on Sat, 08/23/2008 - 09:35

I'm pretty sure every broadcaster paid
through the nose...

BBC, CBC, ABC, whoever else.. they all ponied up a lot of money for the rights, I'm sure, so I doubt NBC had any more say than anyone else unless they were broadcasting a certain event, much like the Aussies did the pool.

I'd be interested to find out exactly how it works. All events seem to broadcast a single feed, so I wonder if each broadcaster gets a "host" feed for a certain event and then they are able to set the camera angles and whatnot. I can't seem to find any information about it though.

Edited - aha, found this: Beijing Olympic Broadcasting is the host broadcaster for the whole games. So all feed comes from them. http://www.bob2008.com/indexen.aspx So my claim that the Aussies did the pool was incorrect - however, now i'm wondering what the hell they were talking about on CBC? Hrm.

Visit my blogs at ThreeSeven (all that's irrelevant and amusing) and ecochick (all that's green, cool and Canadian).

Submitted by zchamu on Sat, 08/23/2008 - 10:11

All Good Questions

I'm not sure of the answers but if I find out, I'll let you know.

Many times for big national events, the American networks will share a pool feed---which can be several camera angles but is directed from one place---and then they can supplement with their own cameras and technicians depending on their access and their budget.

I would think the Olympics is very similar. The BBC, etc could be using an NBC feed and supplementing with their own footage of certain events. And then of course using their own commentary.

Megan Smith
BlogHer Contributing Editor, TV/YouTube
Megan's Minute: Quirky Commentary Around The Clock

Submitted by Megan Smith on Sat, 08/23/2008 - 10:14

Late as usual

But I couldn't help laughing about the differences in viewing experiences. I think that I have seen more ping pong table tennis in the past two weeks than in my entire lifetime. Here in China its around the clock coverage (and now replays) of ping pong, badminton and air rifles. There are 5 different channels that showed events live (all CCTV channels) and I never knew the variety of sports that were in the Olympics. While I don't find it necessary that all the sports be broadcast live, (badminton, ping pong) it would really be nice for the US to expand its coverage to include the rest of the worlds teams. If nothing else the kids watching would get a much needed geography lesson!

Off to watch re-runs of the tumbling toddlers team win!

Submitted by JenInShanghai on Sun, 08/24/2008 - 21:36

Not Everything Has To Be Live

But it's really much more exciting when it is live. And though ping pong and badminton are not my thing, I wouldn't have minded NBC switching out a couple of nights of beach volleyball for some table tennis or some tennis court tennis.

Megan Smith
BlogHer Contributing Editor, TV/YouTube
Megan's Minute: Quirky Commentary Around The Clock

Submitted by Megan Smith on Sun, 08/24/2008 - 22:52