The immediate thought that came to my mind as I read this: "What would ABC have done had the Miracle On Ice been a 10-3 Russian blowout (which was the score of the exhibition game played less than two weeks earlier)?"
On Tue, Aug 9, 2016 at 12:04 PM PGage <pga...@gmail.com> wrote: > On Mon, Aug 8, 2016 at 9:35 PM, David Lynch <djly...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> One interesting thing from tonight: the medal round for men's team >> gymnastics, normally a marquee event, didn't start airing until well after >> 11:00 ET and was partly pushed to late night. Of course, it was kind of >> obvious from the way they covered what we saw that there wasn't a comeback >> from the early stumbles that made it into the prime time show (i.e., there >> were neither leaderboards at any point nor any coverage of any of the other >> teams.) >> > > I had to pull this out for special comment, because I thought what NBC did > with the Men's Team Gymnastics illustrates the worst abuse of their prime > time tape delay policy. NBC has embraced the fuzzy line between sports, > entertainment and profit in their Olympic package, and I am willing to cut > them some slack, given how much they spend both on the rights and on the > production. But if they do not honor some basic rules about sports, then > the Olympics become a joke; they become not just a reality show like > "Survivor", but junk TV like "Battle of the Network Stars". > > We know Men's Gymnastics does not have the appeal the Women's Gymnastics > have, but it still is a a prime time event, and I have to believe that > NBC's initial plan was to cover it in prime time. They obviously chose not > to (at least, not very much of it) once they saw that the US team did not > do very well. This is ridiculous, first because it just violates what to me > is fundamental about sports: you don't know the end from the beginning. > Your team may win or lose, the game may be close or a blowout. More than > that, while the US did not do well, the event itself was very interesting, > with lots of movement and dramatic stories. For a little while it looked > like the home team Brazil might finish in the medals; Japan came from way > behind to win the Gold - led by what most experts call the greatest male > gymnast in history; Russia got Silver after a lot of frustration. China > came from as far back as the US to get the Bronze. And the US, dead last > after the first round, actually make it interesting for a little while and > looked like they might make the podium. > > In other words, it was not a case of the event not being competitive (for > many years networks might switch from one NFL game to another near the end > if it was a blowout; this was not like that). The event was very > competitive, and interesting, with lots of great story lines. It was a case > of NBC making the cynical calculation that the US not making the podium was > a downer of a story that might turn viewers off to the whole Olympic vibe. > It was the application of Trumpism to television sports coverage - an > effort to "make America great again" by only showing half naked US swimmers > and beach volleyball players pounding foreigners, and denying any facts > that might make Americans feel bad about themselves. > > NBC's ratings for this Olympics (which, overall, so far I am enjoying) are > way down. Most of that probably is due to what has been observed here > already - a critical mass of Americans live much of their lives every day > online and already know the results when the primetime show comes on. > Again, NBC really should show the events live on cable, and then do their > primetime show like a modern, daily "Wide World of Sports". > > But I suspect part of the problem is the utter contempt with which NBC > holds its own viewers. Women may be its core demo, and a larger fraction of > women may not be traditional sports fans, but women are not morons, and do > not need to be treated like they can only watch Lifetime soap opera movies. > This is what an NBC executive had to say: > > "The people who watch the Olympics are not particularly sports fans. More > women watch the [Olympic] games than men, and for the women, they're less > interested in the result and more interested in the journey. It's sort of > like the ultimate reality show and mini-series wrapped into one." > > That is some serious sexist bullshit, and I think NBC is paying for it in > their ratings. > > -- > -- > TV or Not TV .... 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