Friday, February 17, 2006

Olympic Ratings

The NBC brain-trust is probably wondering why TV ratings for the winter Olympics are so low. They'll probably blame Merkin Idol and peer-to-peer networks and global warming — the usual suspects. But I think it is bone-headed programming.

I'm not watching the winter Olympics because all I get on broadcast are highlights. Guess what, I got those several hours earlier on the internet. Why should I watch them again?

What would get me to tune in would be more varied coverage of the entire Olympic Games, or at least detailed coverage of the most popular sports.

So if they want to show figure skating, show us all of it. Yes, I'd like to see the skater from Equatorial Guinea. Merkins like to see crashes (Nascar ratings are pretty good aren't they?). And if you can't do that, how about getting up close and personal with the athletes you do feature? You know what I'm talking about: I'd like a little spice added to the coverage to keep it interesting. They can start by stopping that idiotic practice of changing the camera angle every time a figure skater is skating backwards toward the camera. You know what I'm talking about.

Then again, since I don't have paid TV I may be missing interesting coverage that is already there. But somehow I suspect that what you're really getting on cable's Olympic coverage is more idiotic banter between Katie and Jim and fawning interviews with Merkin athletes asking the same tired questions that fawning reporters have always asked. Yawn. I'm gonna switch back to FOX — I hear they're going to show a selection of the worst tryouts for Merkin Idol!

2 comments:

Gene said...

please explain how "curling" is considered a sport. also, why it isn't played by 70-something women with blue hair.

William Bob said...

Curling is a sport because it takes a certain amount of skill and/or precision to win.

That is the only definition that I can think of that also fits synchronized swimming, rhythmic gymnastics, and several other sports.

I would be willing to accept many olympic sports if they were slightly modified. For example, curling should be conducted in a rink built into a pub and participants must have a certain blood alcohol content.