Well, it's begun,

[MadHound]

Americans are grumbling and growling about the opening ceremony of the London Olympics. From outrage over the NHS bit to genuine perplexity about several segments, one American after another is panning the opening ceremony.

The thing is, it was actually a lovely ceremony, if you saw it all, and if you understood the proper historical and cultural references.

Sadly, most Americans didn't see it all. Once again, NBC's coverage was atrocious. Not only did they cut out the tribute to the victims of 7/7, but they exhibited a most annoying habit of cutting to commercial during the vital transition portions of the show, completely interrupting the continuity and flow of the presentation. Combine this with various commentators continuously cutting in and blathering on and on about nothing(do we really need to hear about Meredith Viera's taste in music) and what we have isn't a bad opening ceremony, just atrocious coverage by the Americans.

Also, a lot of Americans had heightened expectations. After all, this was England after all, our ancestoral homeland. We know these people, we speak the same language, like the same music, they're just like us. Except they're not. Sure, America and Great Britain has a lot of cultural touchpoints in common, language, literature, music, etc. But there are distinct and large differences between us nevertheless. That's where the rub is, Americans expecting to fully and completely "get" a cultural extravaganza put on by a people whose cultural, while similar to ours, is in many ways quite different. And since we didn't get all these cultural references, which flew in the face of our preconceptions, many Americans reacted with anger, bafflement and dislike.

The fact of the matter is that even if you aren't versed in British culture, if you approached the opening ceremony with the same openmindedness, with the same lack of preconceptions that you approached, say, the opening ceremonies of Beijing, then you were in for a wonderful British cultural show.

But sadly, far too many Americans and American critics thought that the opening ceremonies would be as understandable as the opening ceremony in Atlanta, only with a British accent.

Their loss. By being disappointed over what wasn't in the show, they missed the wonder and beauty that was an integral part of the show. Truly, a shame.

[malaise]

1. The problem is that Americans saw NBCs version of the Opening Ceremony

It was one fabulous Opening Ceremony. Fugg the haters.

[Posteritatis]

49. Yeah, it sounds like NBC's coverage was a big dish of trainwreck stroganoff. (nt)

[CTyankee]

2. Oh, this too shall pass. I don't think many Americans really care all that much...

and are really ignorant about Britain and Europe for that matter. I doubt if they even quite get the gaffe that Romney made and what that was all about.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

3. NBC's coverage was terrible

they didn't seem to know what was going on. Why didn't they use the British version? I can't believe that they cut the tribute to 7/7. It's like Britons cutting out 9/11.

I hope that I can find the British version on the internet?

[MADem]

4. Who are these morons?

I watched the coverage with a crowd, and everyone enjoyed the hell out of it. The Queen jumping out of the helo was a universal crowd pleaser. The corgis looking up as she flew away--a total hoot. Mary Poppins was great. The bedtime story was a blast. The singing and dancing and fire rings and so forth, everyone enjoyed. No one had a complaint in my rather diverse bunch.

People looking for something to gripe about should look somewhere else. Even with the truncated presentation (the footage was not live, NBC has to pay the bills with ads, etc.) it was a fine presentation. London gets full marks.

[BumRushDaShow]

9. Mary Poppins

My favorite since I was 4 years old. Had the lunch box and had the record of the songs that I wore out.

[MADem]

13. A trot down memory lane!

[BumRushDaShow]

16. Yes yes yes yes!!

I also heard last night that Mary Poppins is back on Broadway and found a link -

http://www.marypoppins.com/about

It's interesting that little mentioned about it was the greedy bankers message underlying it and what happens at the end. Seems spot on today with the LIBOR fiasco.

[MADem]

32. Wouldn't surprise me if the producers had that message in mind! nt

[ananda]

28. Ahh, Dick Van Dyke..

He was so fucking talented.

Thanks for the memory.

[elehhhhna]

57. is, hon. He's alive.

right?

[pinboy3niner]

38. I loved it, too

It was spectacular! And they pulled it off without a hitch, despite all of the things that could have gone wrong.

It's a mystery to me why some feel compelled to post sourpuss comments. I guess it was just over their heads.

[spanone]

5. nbc's coverage was the 'today show' at night. vapid, shallow and glib.

matt lauer & ryan seacrest.....

[Avalux]

6. NBC Coverage SUCKED. Viera, Lauer and Costas SUCKED.

I endured their stupid comments and commercial breaks at inopportune times because I wanted to see the opening ceremony, and I tried to focus on what I was seeing.

But there were so many cringe-worthy things said by the those three, I couldn't truly enjoy the experience. I can't begin to recall them all but one sticks out in particular. When the camera landed on Romney, Costas drooled:

There's Mitt Romney, here as part of his world tour. No matter your political leanings, he deserves credit for stepping in and rescuing the 2000 Olympics.

I almost put my fist through my TV at that point.

[Greybnk48]

25. Lauer is horrid and Viera is a moran!

Costas is like white bread. Edit: But I loved the ceremony itself despite them!

[Horse with no Name]

46. Agreed. Laughing at the names of countries?

Are they 12?

[glinda]

56. They were embarrassing and I wanted them to shut up.

[tawadi]

59. It did suck

thought I recorded rowing and all I got was swimming and interviews.

[CurtEastPoint]

7. Reminds me of some people's reactions to things different... at Biltmore House

on the tour, I heard two women behind me saying about the huge dining room in the castle, 'Them chairs don't even match.'

[BumRushDaShow]

8. "this was England after all, our ancestoral homeland."

England is not my "ancestrol (sic)" homeland" nor is it the "ancestoral (sic) homeland" of the vast majority of Americans. The parade of the 529 Americans last night showed that we are a compilation of each of the other countries participating, who come from around the world.

If anything, the most annoying part was the &quot off) color commentary" from NBC blabbers.

The fact that the internet has brought a whole generation into real-time discourse with others overseas means that a good segment is aware of the modern UK and will hopefully start a process of unlearning the bullshit and highly distorted "Anglo-Saxon" mythology that they claim is "history" foisted upon us by the paternalistic racists who developed the coursework in U.S.

[MADem]

15. In fact, England is not the "ancestral homeland" of many, MANY Brits.

You're as likely to see Black British and British Southwest Asians presenting your morning news and weather on the telly while you eat yer brekkie as anyone else! Their "ancestral homelands" were hardly that "green and pleasant land" -- even if they live there now and are citizens!

[BumRushDaShow]

17. +infinity

Thank goodness for the internet and people now able to interact with each other across great distances without the "filter" of those with an agenda!!

[txwhitedove]

31. Exactly, and thank you. We need to get away from that mindset.

[sibelian]

10. Have they? I actually haven't seen too many negative articles.

Do you have any links, perchance? I only saw Forbes.

[turtlerescue1]

11. IMO it was Brilliantly British.

Little history; little literary; little stuffy; little societal; little dab of the QueenMother; little corny; little pride; little funny and lots of musical notes. I loved it.

Cherish that flame's contents. Love that no matter the daily realities of so many countries, for one brief minute all were together in one place without weapons and open hatred.

The coverage, well not much can be expected- too much spent in advertising. Figures.

Watched the entire thing, and enjoyed it.

"Cept still adore that headline yesterday: "Mitt the Twit". Likely cause Twit has always been a favorite word, Twit and Dingbat interchange so well.

[Brainstormy]

12. Guilty, guilty, guilty

As an American viewer I plead guilty to almost everything you said. Except the NHS bit, which certainly didn't outrage me, I just thought it a little strange what with all the dancing sick children and the nightmare sequence, etc. There was certainly some weirdness in the tribute to the healthcare system that the Brits are rightly proud of. And I'm sure you're right about our not fully appreciating the distinctly different British cultural references. Without the annoying, non-stop commentary you complain about (and I agree) I'm not at all certain that I would have "gotten" much of what was being presented. That, I think, was the main problem with the ceremony. It was simply too chaotic and incoherent, and again, you're right about American preconceptions. I just don't expect the British to be chaotic and incoherent. Bafflement is right, too. I was baffled by much of the ceremony. But I think I'm as open-minded as the next person, and if I could "get" China's opening ceremony, I don't think my expectations for Great Britian's were unreasonable.

[XemaSab]

14. As I said in another thread, I didn't see an overarching theme

It looked like several different productions (pastoral England transitioning to industrialism; the NHS/Peter Pan/Mary Poppins/Voldemort bit; the part with the two teenagers and the lost cell phone; the parts with the Queen and Chariots of Fire; and, um, everything else) all jammed together.

If someone can explain to me what the theme was, please do so, otherwise I'm not going to buy the argument that people who didn't like it just didn't get the cultural references.

[BumRushDaShow]

21. The theme was "THEM"

That is (at least from the Boyle perspective) it represented "them" - what they were and still are. In fact, I was thinking that it may have even been "them" from the time just before and during the first modern Olympiad period (1890s or thereabouts) and onward.

It was a hefty sampling of their history and culture (where "culture" = literary, musical, and health/scientific - with their unique sociological overlay on each of those things). It came wrapped in a "British bow" from an area that once had an empire "where the sun never set" (and they became that conglomeration of people from their colonies and commonwealth countries).

I was a watcher of some of their classic humor (e.g., Monty Python, Bean, Fawlty Towers) and older shows thanks to PBS (e.g., old & new Dr. Who, Masterpiece Theater, etc), as well as a myriad of movies (not just Bond)... and there is a style that is uniquely them. It may seem quirky to Americans but the extraordinary use and perfection of satire, witticisms, symbolism, and irony is still remarkable to me and far more subtle than here. They are rarely "in your face", and that is what is interesting. They have been around a long time. Makes me love watching Martin Bashir as he slices and dices through his show.

[dballance]

18. I wanted to strangle Lauer and Viera - Overall I enjoyed it.

They really sucked as hosts/commentators for this. Lauer was all to happy to point out that 80% of the teams participating have never won a medal and most are unlikely to change that this time around. Well, Matt, that's just as insulting as Rmoney's dig on the UK for allegedly not being ready. If I were on one of those teams made up of people who worked very hard to qualify to get to London I'd be throwing darts at a poster of you today. Talk about perpetuating the obviously reasonable opinion other countries have of the USA as arrogant asses.

Of course I'm a major liberal and I think we should have a health care system like Canada and the UK that is single-payer and universal. That aside I enjoyed the real doctors and nurses dancing in the tribute to the NHS. They were all pretty darn good for non-professional dancers. Why the hell does anyone in the US have any right to be outraged over the NHS segment? The UK is not our country so the people of the UK can run THEIR country and THEIR health care system anyway they want. Frankly, those who were upset by it here in the US are probably just those idiot Tea Baggers, congress critters who hate the ACA and their lobbyists and super-pac friends who are trying to sabotage the ACA. Well go pound sand idiots. YOU LOST on this one.

During the Frankie and June segment I can't believe Viera actually admitted she and Lauer didn't know who Tim Berners-Lee is and had to ask before the segment ran. How embarrassing they are so ill-informed. Proving once again our supposed "news professionals" here in the USA live in a bubble that focuses only on what is going to bring viewers or drive web traffic in the next 24-hr cycle. No depth whatsoever in in most of the news talkers. That's why I spend my time listening to NPR and my local Public Broadcast station.

Sure the opening ceremony didn't keep me on the edge of my seat the whole time but I think they did a good job of it.

Seriously, they got the Queen, the real frigging Queen and her Corgis to be a part of it in a really hilarious way. Could you imagine a President Rmoney (aka Wooden Man) being so accommodating?

It just seemed to me that Lauer and Viera were doing their best to find as much negative stuff to say as possible. So sad for them and so sad for the standing and reputation of the USA within the international community.

[meaculpa2011]

20. Britain's NHS is not single payer.

It's single provider. It's as far away from our brand-spanking-new ACA (Insurance Industry Protection Act) as you can get.

[dballance]

27. Thanks for the correction. I agree the ACA is not so great and not what I would have liked to see

I think when you put in Insurance Industry Protection Act you probably should have made that "Insurance and Big Pharma Protection Act."

[meaculpa2011]

55. At last Big Pharma adds value.

I know many people, myself included, whose lives were saved by medicines that didn't exist a generation ago.

The health insurance industry adds nothing.

[flamingdem]

29. They didn't know about Berners-Lee?

That's pretty pathetic.

[Patiod]

43. I'm pretty sharp in my own field, and I didn't get it

It's frustrating when the computer-technologically literate mock those of us whose expertise is elsewhere.

It's like me rolling my eyes because someone isn't aware of the latest ACIP recommendations, who doesn't understand the CMS stars system, or doesn't immediately recognize the name Anthony Fauci. It doesn't mean the person is pathetic, it just means that health care isn't their day to day bread and butter.

I know it's tough for IT types to fathom how it's possible, but 95% of us aren't enthralled by Everything Tech, don't know the history of the computer or the history of the WWW. Like most drivers don't know much about the invention and development of the internal combustion engine but still aren't "pathetic" and are still able to drive.

TimBL (who I had to google) is not nearly as celebrated here (outside techie circles) as he is in the UK, so I thought cuing the audience into who he is was entirely appropriate.

----And yes, my brother is a stereotypical annoying pretentious techie who literally laughs if you don't have HIS preferred brand of browser or security. [insert the old Rant Over smilie here]

[flamingdem]

45. It's their job to know important figures, that's the difference

I repeat it is in my opinion that they don't know this minimal detail about the internet. They are media people, news people, apparently lacking information.

[Patiod]

48. True. But I think that knowing which Kardasian is which is more crucial to their day-to-day job

Sadly.

(And sorry for the rant -- too many years dealing with snotty techies who think that your choice of OS defines what sort of human being you are.)

[flamingdem]

51. I really do know what you mean

Techie types can be very primate like fighting over this or that tech detail

[meaculpa2011]

19. Silly me. I thought the...

Olympic Games was an athletic competition.

I lost all interest in the games when it ceased to be an amateur athletic competition and turned into a TV reality show.

Yes. Yes. I understand that different countries had different definitions of amateur status. It was still better the way it was.

Opening ceremony? Athletes from all countries march into the stadium. Final torch relay runner strides up the stairs to light the Olympic Flame. Let the games begin.

[MADem]

33. It's actually a big corporate sponsor moneymaker with zealously guarded branding, all wrapped around

a series of athletic competitions every four years.

The competitions are a lot of fun, and they do identify the best and brightest, but the days of some little old farm boy plucked off the tractor and going off to the Olympics to succeed based on his natural talent are a bygone notion.

The Olympics are Big Business, and the world's enthusiasm for a variety of athletic competitions is what fuels that Big Business.

We'll never go back to those simpler times. It's not "all about" -- but it is a LOT about--the hype, the commercial sales, the branding, the athletic gear sales, the endorsements, as much as it is about the competitions. That's why networks fight over the broadcast rights--they know there's gold in them thar rings!

It is what it is...

[ThatsMyBarack]

22. Of course, they had to plug JUSTIN BIEBER!

During Ryan Seacrest's interview with the gymnasts! x 10!

[jpbollma]

23. I loved the tribute to NHS

I bet conservative heads were exploding to see socialized medicine so universally loved by everyone that it made it's way to the Olympics.

[shanti]

61. when i saw that secrest

(of kardashian show fame) was involved in the olympics, i knew it would be bad. ugh, bring back abc!

[msanthrope]

24. "Our ancestral homeland?" What the fuck? nt

[RedCappedBandit]

60. +1

[flamingdem]

26. They cut in the middle of a Sex Pistol's song

blasphemy

[joeybee12]

30. Rec...the real problem was NBC...and did they think only US athletes were singing

along with Paul McCartney....it was horrrific.

[RockaFowler]

50. I thought that was horrible, too

I think they panned to the group from Great Britain maybe once. It would have been awesome to see different countries singing this song. I mean Paul is a world icon!!

[tularetom]

34. It's the ancestral homeland of something like 30% of me (Scotland)

Along with Ireland, Switzerland, Italy, Germany and Native American.

And I'd guess something similar is true for many if not most Americans.

Much as I despise NBC's bringing in the Today Show hacks to cover the opening ceremonies, I do have admit that I would have been confused without some explanation of WTF was going on. I remember thinking at the time how much the NHS tribute was going to piss off the dumbass demographic here in the US (if any of them were alert enough to realize what NHS was).

[Patiod]

47. I think "ancestral homeland" is a misnomer. More our CULTURAL homeland.l

Even those of us not of UK heritage share the language and were raised on the literature and plays written there. Language has a huge influence on thinking.

In addition, our government and legal system, though uniquely our own, do spring from British roots.

[Comrade_McKenzie]

35. It was over-the-top. It was odd. It was dry. It was British and I loved it. nt

[HappyMe]

36. I liked it.

It was weird, cool, amusing and over the top.

[riverbendviewgal]

37. I watched it on CTV

Canadian TV...

It was great.

I think those didn't like it are hell bent on disliking it especially after Mitt did not fare well with the Brits...

[sufrommich]

39. What grumbling and growling by Americans? I haven't seen any.nt

[Skidmore]

44. The only grumbling and pissing in the corn flakes I have seen is here on DU.

When that occurs, I generally raise my eyebrows and then consider the source.

[JoePhilly]

40. We had fun ... we cracked jokes about how the sut from the smoke stakes might get on Mitt.

And how the entire thing was about working people, a national health system ... loved the Chariots of fire humor, and we made fun of the silly comments made by the NBC nitwits.

And honestly, I don't think I've heard much complaining about anything but how vapid the NBC hosts were.

[fishwax]

41. almost all the reaction I have seen has been quite positive

To the ceremony itself, that is -- reaction to the coverage has been universally negative.

[ancianita]

42. I loved it. Danny Boyle did a magnificent job for attentive viewers.

Most Americans should be well versed in British culture, since it has fed so much of American culture. For Americans to not appreciate or understand this ceremony's segments says more about their lazy viewing habits than it says about any aesthetic or technical aspects of the ceremony.

Britain rightly honored its cultural power worldwide. Its amazing "Workers of the Industrial Revolution" historical segment honored humanity who built the foundation for all the modernization that the world has since enjoyed. Then honoring children and the care of the vulnerable of society -- classy and bold. Voldemort's 100 feet tall! Mary Poppinses save the children from the Voldemort nightmare! Chariots of Fire with Mr. Bean, heh heh. The British showed their love of subtley beautiful colors, comedy and music!

The rock music movie cubes of the "Digital Age" segment were ingenious. They awesomely visualized the beloved music that the whole world has come to know -- music of the Stones, Kinks, Beatles, Zeppelin! reggae, Bowie! Queen! New World Order, Annie Lennox! light show! Prodigy, Blur, Dizzee Rascal, Bollywood! Muse, Pet Shop Boys! And finally, the founder of the World Wide Web -- Sir Tim's WWW light show "for everyone."

The whole Parade of Nations party to electronica, ambient technopop and live drum corps was the fastet, least boring team parade in Olympic history! Man, I love the British. I'm glad they love themselves.

Now that I think more on this, I think any American criticism of this even fails to properly appreciate -- out a lack of self esteem, I believe --the story arc of all that Britain has given the world.

[Bluenorthwest]

52. All the reaction I'm hearing loved the show, hated the American coverage of the show....

It was perfectly understandable to everyone I know.

[KansDem]

53. It's one big commercial for the corporate backers.

Don't expect anything that might detract from amassing profits.

[99Forever]

54. How dare the ROW...

... do something that wasn't USA centric in their own county.

The nerve of 'em.

[NMDemDist2]

58. i thought it was very well done

good show Brits!!

[Liberal_in_LA]

62. I hated how the commentators kept yakking.