Sure, I was just as impressed by the opening ceremonies as anyone else. But it's all gone a little downhill for me.
First, word that the fireworks that awed us were not, in fact, live. And that NBC knew that when they aired.
Then come to find out that the little girl you saw singing was not, in fact, providing the voice you heard. The actual singer was deemed "not cute enough."
Added in is the Chinese women's gymnastics team, with their average weight of 79 pounds and their suspected average age of younger than the required 16.
Throw in the human rights abuses, air pollution, and restrictions on freedom of speech, and you have quite a spectacle.
Plus, I'm missing ABC.
Call me a throwback. But I'm still (still? After 20 years?) having trouble getting into NBC's Olympic coverage.
Now I'm no luddite, and I'm not averse to change or progress. But as a wise person once told me, all change is not progress.
I'm a child of the '70s. And as such, certain things are just tradition, especially when it comes to my television coverage. And I have a hard time letting go. Bert Parks should be hosting Miss America; I am still hoping for Walter Cronkite when I turn on the CBS Evening News. I have totally ditched the morning news shows, with their penchant for non-news stories and over-coverage of every movie that comes out, opting instead for Morning Edition.
And I am still nostalgic for ABC's Wide of World of Sports and its coverage of the Olympics.
NBC has improved, that's for sure. For the worst Olympics ever, I can always look back to Seoul in 1988 when NBC aired Bryant Gumbel .... oh, with the Games of the 24th Olympiad. I distinctly remember watching them switch to gymnastics, show one vault, then back to the studio with Bryant.
And they invited Mary Lou Retton to help cover gymnastics. Except that she was so bad that she could not be allowed to participate in live commentary, contributing only pre-taped spots in a robot-like delivery: "This is the balance beam. It is very narrow. Gymnasts must practice their balance."
I want the laws of nature observed, and I want ABC to take back its sole right to air the Olympics.
I never want to hear that lame-o John Williams Olympics theme ever again. I want the familiar sounds of the Olympics theme as it should be.
I want the summer and winter Olympics in the same calendar year, not this alternating year business.
I want Jim McKay and Chris Economaki, not Bob Costas. (And certainly not Mary Carillo - make her and her poor substitute for Up Close and Personal go away.)
And I want Mark Spitz, not the freakishly shaped - albeit talented - Michael Phelps.
Maybe I want a return to disco dancing, regular Speedos, and Soviet and East German medals domination. I don't know.
But I'm thinking we can compromise. And giving coverage back to ABC would be a big improvement.
At least we'd be rid of Mary Carillo. And that's a start.
2 comments:
Amen. I agree with you completely.
Hi. The "air pollution" isn't as bad as you see in the media. It filled a lot of "air" before the Games. I've been on five marathon training runs here in Beijing during the Games, no different than NYC for me. I love the new Olympic theme, and I associate it personally now with the Chinese CCTV around-the-clock telecast, their version of NBC. I was in Opening Ceremony at Bird's Nest for the best fireworks show I've ever seen in my life...if that was somehow messed with, I'd have to ask why. These Games have been a dream...nothing like them...ever. PS am from Evansville/IU.
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