During Wednesday's gold rush with some star-studded storylines from the Winter Olympics, NBC's primetime coverage again showed that the Games are not sports on TV.They're not a vehicle for complete coverage and timely results, either.
They're just a TV program with a sports theme ... and that's really OK.
People who cared, and even those with no interest at all, knew hours before it happened that Lindsey Vonn had won gold in the women's downhill. Her story of talent and overcoming injury has been one of the most omnipresent themes of the Games. Many viewers probably planned to watch at night and see the gold-medal run for themselves because that was the only way they could see it.
As part of its storytelling approach, NBC began its Wednesday night broadcast by focusing on a Fantastic Four, of sorts, some the most marketable U.S. team members -- Vonn, Shani Davis, Apolo Ohno and Shaun White -- who would be the focus of the evening's coverage. They would be the stars of the show, a show set to last for several more hours and designed to drive ratings and maintain viewership -- the same goals of any other TV show.
That approach makes sense on many levels for NBC. Because the Olympics only happen once every four years, viewers might be willing to exercise a bit more patience for results and stories. Additionally, while critics and media members regularly gripe about the lack of live events shown by the network, those people probably represent a minority among sports fans.
Could NBC have shown Vonn's run live Wednesday afternoon on one of its sister channels? Probably. Would it have made sense to do that, when fewer people would've seen it and then show it again at night? Probably not. (Another factor that plays into such decisions are the highlights of the events. Once something airs, it is not available for other networks to air the highlights for a specified period. If NBC would've gone live with it in the afternoon, that would've changed when footage would be available for replay by its rivals. That's why ESPN's morning shows had only still images of Vonn.)
While NBC's approach makes sense on many levels, some confusing warts remain. Most notably, they come in terms of access and timing.
Examples from Wednesday night's coverage include:
-- A nearly two-hour gap between when Davis won his gold medal in the 1,000-meter speed skating event until the time an interview with him was shown on TV. He crossed the finished line at 8:43 p.m. He was finally interviewed -- after several "coming up soon" teases -- at 10:40 p.m. That's silly and unacceptable. Especially because all of what happened in the interim was hardly meaningful.
-- A lack of follow up on the Vonn story. OK, her run was shown in the Davis interim, airing at 9:36 p.m., but appropriate context and reaction was missing. With Vonn's gold-medal run actually completed hours before, NBC should've had a longer interview or something new from her. Yes, the network designates what it's showing "live" and what it's not with an on-screen graphic but that's a subtlety missed by some and not always consistently practiced. Instead of showing the run and adding context, though, viewers got the run only -- and the impression that it had just happened. Or had happened more recently than it did.
-- A wonderful shot of snowboarder Louie Vito programming his iPod before a run with no follow up about what he listens to while competing. Or whether he's alone in using music during the run, or if it's something all snowboarders do. Something like that would've helped make the competitors more personal. Then again, it was Vito, not White -- and he was the predetermined focus.
More nitpicking ...
-- During White's preliminary run, which earned a huge score of 45.8 (out of 50), commentators said the run was spectacular and would easily earn him a spot in the halfpipe final. Then, when the score was announced, they said he has a "sigh of relief." Why? If he was clearly the best and put down a good run, why would he be relieved?
-- While the speed skating venue had problems with its ice again Wednesday, something NBC mentioned within the first five minutes of its broadcast, no reports ever followed about the situation. After the logistical problems the Games have endured at that venue and others, you start to wonder if NBC has decided not to pile on the Vancouver folks in that regard.
-- With several mentions about the "breakout" and surprising performances by Korean speed skaters, there was not attempt to explain why. When unexpected results surface at the Games, cynical and even long-time viewers inevitably wonder why -- because the Olympics have a long history of performance-enhancing efforts eventually being revealed. And the way it was covered, or not covered, just allows more speculation.
-- After White's first run in the finals, with the highest score of the night, how could a camera other than NBC's be the one that was in the foreground for a shot. So, NBC viewers saw White, and also the back of the head and back of the camera from another country's feed. It was just surprising they did not have another options. That at least happened live, though.
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