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Originally Posted by spreedom
I don't disagree with your point that NBC has been absolutely horrible with their coverage.... but isn't it possible that more people are just interested in volleyball? I mean, I only am because of the aforementioned bikini jiggling, but I think volleyball is just a more interesting sport.
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Well, I would hope that weren't true, but I fear it may be. At least, I think that NBC execs must be making the same calculation that you are. But if that is the case, wouldn't NBC want to show MORE advertisements when they have the (supposedly) larger viewing audience with beach volleyball? If as you suggest there's a smaller audience watching the 10K event, why show commercials during that race? Just let the race finish and move on to a more viewer-friendly event. My specific complaint is that they cut away twice during the 27+ minute race for minutes at a time, which really leaves a viewer wondering what happened. In beach vollleyball, by contrast, they showed much longer uninterrupted stretches of the match, even when there is more deadtime, and even when, on a tape delay, the nature of the action allows for interruption without leaving a gap in the action.
I guess that I have always seen Track & Field as one of the most essential, defining (series of) events of the Olympics; one of the events with the most tradition and history. Beach volleyball has less than a 20-year history as an official event. And Track & Field has a whole lot more athletes participating than beach volleyball. It's not that I don't think that beach volleyball doesn't deserve ANY coverage; but when it gets disproportionately MORE coverage, and better-quality coverage that I begin to wonder about motives and values.
One thing this broadcast has made clear for me: I hate Bob Costas (Olympic double gold medalist in Pomposity and Hot-Air Bloviating). Did NBC really bid over $1 billion to give Costas a talk-show vehicle? He has the most annoying delivery of any broadcaster since Brent Musberger. Way too much of every day's coverage is of Costas sitting down with athletes (invariably Americans, invariably winners of something) who don't have anything particularly interesting to say. ("How does it feel to win a gold medal?") These don't seem to be interviews as much as branding opportunities.
Worse still: The Social Media Reports. Could there be any less sport-relevant news coverage than having a Ryan Seacrest-type come on for a report on how many million tweets have been about the Olympics, and about how many people are writing on Facebook about Tweeting about the Olympics, and how many people are Tweeting about posting on Facebook. And updates on Celebrity Tweets on the Olympics!
I'd really rather see them let the events themselves do the talking.
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Originally Posted by GhostFace
I can't even imagine. Their morning program is so hideously atrocious. The only good thing that ever originated from that network is the show 24.
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Gotta give Fox credit for The Simpsons.