While I thought that most of Olympic coverage on the NBC family of networks was pretty good to very good, two of NBC's broadcasters really stood out for me: Sports Network Studio Host Michelle Beadle and Track Analyst Ato Boldon.
I was a little skeptical of Beadle. When she was on ESPN I found her act did not wear all that well, although I always knew a lot of that was because of how much I dislike Cowherd. During the Olympics her cute tomboy act went over better, and also was helped by the number of female athletes she got to interview. She had probably the best interview of anyone at the Olympics, with the 2 US medal winners in the 100 M hurdles. She had a little girl talk with them, then asked if things were cool with the other US runners in the race (obvious reference to famous virgin and non-Olympic winner Lolo Jones). They basically said that the members of the team that worked hard and deserved to win would be on the podium that day (the medal ceremony was the day after the race the previous night) and the ones who were not on the podium did not deserve to be there. It was miles away from the usual rah rah puff interview, and addressed some substantial issues in a real way. Thoughout her work I thought Beadle managed to find the right mix between serious sports coverage and having some fun. I will definitely be more likely to look for her on future NBC Sports Network programming. Boldon was no surprise, as he did a great job last time. He is everything NBC might seem to want - he clearly knows his sport, and did not just take a crash course for the Olympics, but he is also eloquent, entertaining and dramatic. And he gets excited about US athletes without making you think he hates the non-US athletes. He lives in LA but is from Trinidad, and he really comes across as something of a a citizen of the track and field world. It makes you wonder what he could do with a really live track and field broadcast. -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en
