London Olympics 2012-Delays, Time Zones, Bogus
I love the Olympics. I always have. I remember when I was a little girl, my dad would tell me I could be in the Olympics because I would be great in the Equestrian events. He may have been delusional, but when I went horseback riding while the 1984 Olympic games were happening in Los Angeles, I would pretend like I was an Olympic rider. I would have my horse jump over logs and anything else I thought necessary to go to the Olympics. I watched every single Equestrian event I could on the family television set, studying the riders’ every move. I was 11 years old and I will not forget the impact the Olympic games had on me at that impressionable age. Those images. That pride I felt. It left me with a sense of patriotism, a sense of belonging. It was special.
We watched whatever my dad wanted to watch and sometimes (okay, well, most of the time) it was not the exact programming I would have enjoyed. We also did not have the ability to watch sports whose times conflicted. We did not have DVR. We could not watch every single event, because once it was broadcasted, it was over. If you missed it, you would have to find out from friends, family, neighbors, the water cooler conversation, or the newspaper to get details beyond the short news clips aired on the evening news. If you wanted to watch tennis and soccer, great-as long as their schedules did not conflict. Our options were limited by our lack of technology.
“The Olympic Coverage Was AWESOME on NBC last night,” Said No One EVER
Today, we have everything we could possibly need in place to watch what we want, when we want, where we want, and DVR it for later. What amazing opportunities we have! What I do not understand is why NBC did not get it last night. I am completely confused by NBC’s refusal to broadcast the Olympic ceremonies last night LIVE! In California, we watched the Olympic ceremonies a full 8 hours after the rest of the free (and probably unfree) world. Why is it that they could not figure out how to make it work? I understand it is about ratings. I understand it is about advertising profits for the network. I understand the network paid millions of dollars to get rights to broadcast. I get that. HOWEVER, there has to be another way that does not completely screw California, and Hawaii (the rest of the West Coast) completely. Advertisers are going to have to get with the program too. This network system is antiquated.
The ceremony went on so late last night that my daughter fell asleep before the torch lighting. If it had been on three hours earlier, we could have been more alert, more interested, and less stabby by the end of it. Viewers clearly want to watch when they want to watch. How can this message be sent any clearer?
It bugs the snot out of me when I am watching a show or God forbid, the Academy Awards (THAT ARE FILMED IN CALIFORNIA for Pete’s sake) and someone on another time zone announces the winner a full three hours before California gets the feed. Instead of live tweeting or Facebooking during the PST programming, I have to shut it down so I do not get spoilers. I want to watch it when it is available. I want to see it when it is fresh and new, not when it is stale and already broadcasted across three time zones, or in the case of the Olympic ceremonies-after the whole entire world has already seen it.
The commentary:
Where to start with this one? The commentary was awful last night. Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! I do not want someone talking to me while I am trying to concentrate on a show and this includes commentators. And Meredith Vieira? Bless her heart. I am sure she is a nice person. How many times did she say “money shot”? She should really Google the contemporary references to money shot. Each time she said, “money shot,” I giggled.
I was properly entertained on Twitter, with some fabulously sarcastic friends on #CleverOlympics. I had a few much needed laughs, mostly at Vieira, Lauer, Costas, and Seacrest’s expense. Everywhere you looked, people were watching at the slated time that NBC deemed appropriate for America and they were not thrilled about it. (NBC, could you tell?) Why did they start the ceremony after the kids’ bedtime? The consensus was that America would rather have watched the opening ceremonies with the rest of the world, instead of with Ryan Seacrest, Meredith Vieira, Matt Lauer, and Bob Costas. We want to watch without so much noise. STOP WITH THE INANE CHATTER! Also, let us decide when we want to start watching a three hour ceremony.
NBC and MSNBC, the Internets are here to stay. Say hello to social media. Twitter, Facebook, blogs, Pinterest, Instagram, Foursquare, and every other avenue of social media is growing with or without you. The sooner you realize how to meet viewers’ wants and needs, the better for all. I am all for you making a profit. You provide us with a service and you should be compensated for that service. No one is denying that. We, nonetheless, should be able to have a say in our viewing habits.
You can find some of the 40 funniest tweets of the evening here, 40 Reasons Vieira and Lauer’s Olympics Coverage was an EPIC FAIL - via Twitter.
