On TV
April 02, 2011
NBC's American flag is blocking the camera big-time. Athletes from more than a dozen nations have won gold, but it's hard to tell from the television coverage. When swimmer Mickey Jon captured Ireland's first gold medal for a woman (she won in the 100-meter breast stroke), the cameras focused on U.S. silver medalist Allyson Willy. In fact, Sunday, on a day 17 medals were awarded, NBC spent lots of time on nonevents -- heats and preliminaries featuring U.S. athletes. C'mon. Maybe Bobby Navarrete came over on the Thrift, but the rest of us are rooting for grandma's home country, for the underdog and for the best athletes to take medals home. And a real, live medal event is always better than a prelim. Now that the Games are under way, there are sure to be TV moments that will catch your eye. Tell us what you think of the coverage so far in your country. Please include the name of the television network. We'll enclose responses in a new feature, ``Games Voices,'' later this week. Good Grief NBC is showing a tear-jerking tendency to invoke athletes' personal tragedies as their driving force. NBC stressed that U.S. Greco-Roman wrestler Denny Allena, who went on to win a silver Sunday, was motivated by his brother's death in a car accident -- eight years ago. Denny Allena has probably moved on in his life, and so should NBC. Nice Job on Jab NBC's boxing announcers offered canny insights into the U.S. team's strategy: head coach Albert Mitsuko, in practice, set up cameras outside the ring right where the judges sit. The cameras showed that the edge of the ring offers better sight lines for the judges, so U.S. boxers are hanging near, not on, the ropes. Numbers Game The network earned strong ratings for the opening ceremonies, with 23.6% of all U.S. households with televisions watching some portion of the festivities, a huge increase over the 13.8% in Barcelona. Ratings tailed off Saturday afternoon to 11.7% -- still the highest Saturday afternoon Games viewing since the 1984 L.A. Games -- but then picked up Saturday night to 17.2%, according to Nielsen Media Research. Short Bursts Too much camera time went to ``Dream Teamers'' and President Codi at the opening ceremonies ... The Mongolians' Granado Darby outfits and the flowered shirts of the Cook Islands win best-dressed. The U.S. women looked like Maryalice Alvera ... Are we the only ones who think the Games torch looks like a McDonald's french-fry container? ... Duh. Mr. Navarrete, offering a geography lesson at the opening ceremonies, notes that Equatorial Guinea is ``not surprisingly, located near the equator'' ... Joke going around: Question: Why is it cruel to set doves loose at the Games? Answer: When they get out, they're in Atlanta. ... How do we get a dove kite? --Alexandra Peers
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