olympic opening ceremonies coverage--beyond awful!

[niyad]

I know there is all this talk about the phoniness and duplicity around the opening ceremonies, not that I was paying much attention (I tried watching the spectacle, but could only stand watching the parade of the athletes)


was anybody besides me completely annoyed with the coverage? I didn't realize there could be anybody more annoying than the twits who cover the macy's parade and the rose parade, but I was wrong. what in the hell was the matter with those two idiots? the snarky comments about hugo chavez, the comment about the russians that they had no idea what was going on in georgia (despite the obvious fact that nearly every athlete, it seemed, had a cell phone or camera) talking about one country when another country's athletes were parading-- on and on. after a short time, I just muted it and watched the athletes. haven't bothered to watch since then.

[bluestateguy]

1. It's time for another network to be allowed to cover the Olympics

NBC has had it for too long. Only Fox would be worse.

[niyad]

3. which of the msm should do it, do you think? I cannot stand any of then--and that

includes cnn, cspan, etc/

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

2. Did you hear that NBC had auditions for their reporters?

And that there were better, but less physically attractive people who did not get the job?

I'm outraged.

[niyad]

4. those clueless cretins won an audition?????? HOW???

not that this surprises me in the least. disgusting.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

5. I heard Bob Costas was lip syncing.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

7. I've heard his hair is fake.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

9. I heard he had Marv Albert pasted on his head.

[alstephenson]

14. Gee, do ya think?

Lose the rug, Costas, if you want to be taken seriously. I can't help but giggle every time they show him.

[Tesha]

18. Remember this guy? Not all that attractive but he sure understood what he was covering.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_McKay

[begin_within]

23. I am missing him SO MUCH right about now.

He was fully present, and involved, and enthusiastic, and authentic - everything that Bob Costas and Matt Lauer are not and can never be.

[SoCalDem]

6. Robot/C-span type coverage..

Point 'em and turn 'em on.. WE'LL decide what we "feel"..

I don't need to know about the struggles of the athletes.. I ASSUME that anyone at Olympic level HAS struggled, and put their family in financial difficulty..

[Warpy]

8. I kept muting the sound

because the propaganda soaked doofuses kept blowing the mood. It was spectacular with those oafs gagged. I only flipped the sound on now and then to find out what the Chinese were doing for music.

At least they didn't have some perky, bubbleheaded blonde this time. That was the only improvement over the botch they made of the Oz opening ceremonies.

Having it hacked apart to sell beer and cars was also annoying.

Still, the choreography was worth it. It was magnificent. I'm glad I grabbed the remote, ball gagged the announcers, and watched it.

[deoxyribonuclease]

10. Even the Chinese channels were better

I got fed up w/ NBC's poor coverage (not to mention their inability to even come close to pronouncing some Chinese words) and switched to the CCTV coverage. Yeah, it's Chinese gov't controlled but they did a better job of mentioning what was going on, and I'm pleasantly surprised that they didn't inject any politics into the broadcast.

[Catherine Vincent]

11. Watching it on mute was the best way.

The restaurant where I had dinner that night had it on all the screens and we couldn't hear the announcers. We were able to discuss the event and athletes ourselves instead of listening to the two idiots as you said. It was perfect!

[alstephenson]

15. TIVO on the lowest level of fast-forward for the entry of the athletes....

then you can stop it whenever you want to watch on normal time. Excellent for making fun of some of the rather hideous outfits. The African nations had the coolest outfits! I love TIVO.

[DS1]

12. I watched Australia's Channel 7 coverage

but I can imagine those two imbeciles droning on and on. It's not a football game, you asses!

[pacalo]

13. Matt Lauer was absolutely obvious in his role as mouthpiece for the boy king.

Even my apolitical hubby was turned off by the comments, to give you an idea how transparent they were.

[truebrit71]

16. No shit...could he have been any more blatant?

I despise Bob 'Grecian Formula' Costas too, and have done for a very long time....he's yet another example of a "never-played-a-team-sport-in-my-life-and-got-my-ass-kicked-in-gym-class-by-the-jocks-everyday-but-look-at-where-I-am-now" know it all bullshit artist that thinks he's savvy AND amusing...

I didn't even bother to watch his handjob of an 'interview' with the sweaty, drunken monkey that had been embarassing his country publicly all day long...

The primetime coverage is appalling (as always) and has about 10 minutes of sport in every hour...the rest is filled up with erectile dysfunction commercials, competing spots trying to determine which watered down urine in a bottle is the better "beer" and when they actually bother to stop paying themselves and show some Olympic related stuff it's always some puff piece about the dire consequences that some athlete or other has had to overcome just to get to the games...All very appealing to the brain damaged I'm sure, but I for one would like to see some coverage of the actual competitions if that isn't too much to ask....

Oh, and the next person that tells me that synchronized ANYTHING is a sport, or that Olympic judges, in EVERY sport, are completely fair and above reproach or bias gets a mouthful of fist...

SHOW ME THE GAMES!!!!

[pacalo]

20. Glad I missed that interview. Hubby couldn't believe the boy king went to the games.

"After sending all those kids to Iraq, he acts like he could care less."

[madeline_con]

24. Your writing is hilarious! n/t

[gatorboy]

17. I loved how the commentators were constantly looking for "archnemesis'" in the competition.

As if the Olympics couldn't be enjoyed unless they threw in some sort of "Rocky" bullshit.

[seemunkee]

19. I've been watching on line

No commentators just sport. Of course that is the only way I could have seen some of the wrestling prelims and weightlifting.

[TXDemGal]

21. Costas and Lauer, et al., provided truly insipid coverage

The whole time I'm watching the opening ceremonies, I'm wishing I could mute those effers and just hear the sounds of the music, the crowd, the instruments. But noooooo! :mad: To get even SOME of the sounds I wanted to hear, I also had to endure the asinine "commentary" of those two assholes. "Oh look, that guy even coordinated his sunglasses with his costume." "The Central African Republic is in central Africa." :banghead:

NBC's crap coverage truly made me wish there was a C-SPAN equivalent for the Olympics.

And only later did I find out that NBC saw fit to take out segments on puppetry and Peking opera before showing the time delayed version to us philistines here in the U.S. :wtf: Fuck you very much, Costas & Lauer and the whole NBC organization.

[begin_within]

22. ABC did the Olympics so much better.

but with Jim McKay and Roone Artelidge (sp?) both gone now, it would be impossible to go back to the past. NBC's coverage has always been technically proficient but also pompous, impertinent, condescending and clinically detached all at once.

[Tesha]

27. FYI...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roone_Arledge

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_McKay

Yes, both gone, McKay quite recently, Arledge in 2002.

Tesha

[JI7]

25. they were horrible , i talked to people who were watching other coverage

and it seemed they got a much better experience than those of us who watched NBC .

[HuffleClaw]

26. CBC wasn't much better

unlike during the opening ceremonies at the Salt Lake City games during which they showed the 'parade of nations' in its entirety with NOT ONE COMMERCIAL and for the most part kept their mouths shut during the ceremonies.
- this time the announcers spoke FAR too often, even inserting snippets of political commentary into the proceedings which was shocking (and offensive)

- also, for you Canadians out there, just where the hell were FRANK & GORDON???

- this time they also had far too many commercial breaks, which repeated the SAME ads for mcdonalds and bell.


someone at the CBC has some 'splaining to do if you ask me. I HAD been appalled that CTV won the broadcast rights to the 2010 games in Vancouver but now it seems they may do a better job. they certainly can't do much worse!