On Mon, Aug 8, 2016 at 9:35 PM, David Lynch <[email protected]> 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 .... 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 --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
