Last night I commandeered our big TV to watch the opening ceremonies of the XX Winter Olympics, brought to us this time around by NBC. I imagine that network paid big bucks for the honor, but what I saw made me think it wasn’t up to the challenge.
In the past the opening ceremonies have been broadcast live or — if not live — at least in full. NBC’s approach was to spend the first hour of its telecast featuring sport announcers who discussed winners of past years and introduced some of this year’s competitors. I waited and waited for the opening ceremonies, which had already taken place because Turino, Italy, where the Olympics are being held, is several hours ahead of us. So I couldn’t understand why the network didn’t just cut to the chase. We have plenty of time for bios on the players later.
The Olympics holds a dear place in my heart. I was an ardent viewer back when both the Summer and Winter Olympiads were held in the same year, with four years in-between. Then someone got the bright idea that these spectacles should rotate, so that there was an Olympics on television every two years. Personally, I think this decision has done a lot to saturate public interest.
Last night’s coverage didn’t help matters. Eventually, the commentators got around to the opening ceremonies, but it was a cut and paste job at best. A snippet of this here, a clip of that there, several shots of the Italian Alps, until the parade of the athletes from the various nations began. I liked that the athletes, some of whom have no chance at medals, all had an opportunity to be on television and possibly be seen by their homeland fans. I’m certainly glad NBC didn’t cut away just because Costa Rica or Senegal were entering the stadium at the time.
I read in the paper today that the opening and closing ceremonies cost $35 million to produce. For a town like Turino, that must be a large budget for such an event. I think NBC owed it to viewers like me, as well as the host city, to spend more time showing the lighting of the flame and the various activities surrounding it. No, I wouldn’t have exchanged the parade of athletes for it, but I certainly would have forgone the banter among the commentators.
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