I'd like to personally commend NBC for screwing up yet another of the Olympics opening ceremonies. NBC is the world's gold medal champion in providing sucktacular coverage of one of humanities better events. Surely we can do much, much better than this.
I especially like how Bob Costas and Katie Couric feel compelled to narrate everything about the ceremony. And I really, really loved how they spoke over Bjork's entire performance — assuring the audience that the athletes were not going to die while being covered by a giant parachute. Weeeee!
Robert, Katherine you are both giant asshats.
Just once I would love to sit behind these twits on Broadway and provide my own dialogue, bloated commentary, and useless factual tidbits during a performance. I ask myself how much more can NBC suck and the answer is none more, NBC could not possibly suck none more.
Maybe I'll go visit Canada where I can see an event without the crap.
Join the fray by reading through and commenting at the end.
I agree, Bob was narrating like it was a baseball game. I think he actually said "infield" more then a few times. He quoting of statistics during the float parade and Katie's "DUH" remarks made for some of the worst commentary I have ever heard...
Announcer 1: "Oooo.... Couric steps up to the mic"
Announcer 2: "You know Jim, she has really hit the gym in the off season, training, downing lots of lozenges, preparing for this moment to cover the Olympics"
Announcer 1: "That's right Larry, her family has always supported her. In fact, as a child she used to cover family get-togethers with a little Fisher Price microphone"
Announcer 2: "Clearly Couric is the real deal"
my thoughts exactly. My boyfriend and I were both yelling "SHUT THE *$%^" UP!!!" because they just would not shut up.
We were gonna write a letter... that was ridiculous.
:)
Some time ago, some asshat decided that americans had the attention span of a gnat, and so long shots of nothing more than an event were struck down in favour of changing camera angles every three seconds and making sure voiceover was running atop the "silence" of the action.
God forbid we actually want to watch the bloody buggery event.
Asshats!
Did anyone see the HD version? Plain horrible - so bad, I actually had thought about writing a letter. It was an hour behind the regular NBC channel, and while there weren't that many commercials, the commercials were all from Sony, and they were always the same one! I memorized the commercial after it showed it the 3rd time. If Sony is going to make a big deal about sponsoring the HD coverage, at least make different commercials, or a string of them that tell a story. For the love of Pete!
And, the HD version didn't have Bob or Katie covering, but the commentators talked just as much. Not to mention that while watching the parade of nations and coming back from yet again the same Sony commercial, they rewound the coverage so we watched the same 20 countries fly by on the screen again. Nonsense! I could have orchestrated that better! NBC really does have a bunch of asshats running the show. And to think they have a contract to cover the next few Olympic games...
Feel free to come to the Metro Detroit area also, flipping between CBC and NBC allows for utilizing NBC for their coverage of American teams while spending most of your time on CBC seeing actual events in real time.
I don't know why would you watch the opening ceremony in the first place. As far sa commentators go, here in Romania we got the same treatment. It seems to be an international trend to narate the obvious on TV.
It's a shame that the whole experience was ruined for everyone watching. Here in Greece there was commentary also, but I felt it was interesting and added to the whole experience rather than take away from it.
Of course, no one said a word during Bjork's performance here, but we were worried about the safety of the athletes under the giant parachute... Thank God they were okay in the end. :P
Yep, it's a universal plague. Same here in Hong Kong from two Australian guys and a Greek lady. Missed the Bjork performance but they wouldn't shut up about how much they (their script writers) knew about Greek culture, history. This is what's wrong with the world :(
I remember Costas having a sense of humor at least, from time to time, from my sports watching days. Couric needs a tranquilizer and swift kick in the ass. And face.
Everytime I get the chance to watch a football, er, soccer match called by the Brits, I remember what a joy sports commentary can be. And just how frickin' awful so much NA coverage is. Yes, the CBC in my great white north does some good stuff (and shows more sports and less soap-opera-y melodrama crap) but, trust me, Brian Williams wears real thin after a little while. And, inevitably, he will try and pick some fight, promote an issue -- doping one year, federal sponsorship another -- that makes me wanna go Elvis on my telly.
"That's right Larry, her family has always supported her. In fact, as a child she used to cover family get-togethers with a little Fisher Price microphone"
Good one Jason! You should be writing for SNL, they need the help.
The HD version of the opening was almost unwatchable. As commented on by Jon, the delay was intolerable -- and then when they looped back to repeat about a half hour's worth of athlete entrances, I gave up and went to bed.
Luckily, they're STILL running it today, complete with the loop and other technical mistakes.
Over and over and over and over and over...
Here's an example of the brain trust who were anchoring the HD broadcast and their innane commentary:
“I don’t think there’s a more appropriately named country in the world, because Equatorial Guinea is on the equator.â€
I knew I was in hell when Costas referred to "the Island Nation of Belize."
Um.... Bob?
The commentary in the UK on the BBC was dignified. Our commentator Barry Davis read from what was obviously a previously prepared script created to complement the 'action' rather than ruin it. The only times he went off script were during the procession of athletes. Silence when needed and everything. Feeling sorry for the people in the US for whom the experience was ruined.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who wanted Katie and Bob to shut the (f-bleep) up. Was it important to be reminded, during the athlete's entry, that Tajikistan was a staging area for the US invasion of Afghanistan? Comments like that totally destroyed the "spirit of fraternity" that the opening ceremonies usually engender. I also loved the way Katie followed that heaviness with a comment on the loveliness of the Tajik female athletes headdresses. Morons.
I am so psyched that I wasn't the only one screaming at the TV last night. It was bad enough hearing that they were stopping audience members and confiscating beverages of any brand that wasn't a sponsor, that t-shirts were turned inside out so competing logos wouldn't be shown on TV. Then I sat through what was probably a beautiful performance by Bjork that I didn't hear a single note of. It sounded like the Macy's Day Parade on Thankgiving. Morons talking over the whole thing, ruined. Bob Costas, what a joke. I am now officially protesting. I will not watch a single minute more of Olympics coverage. The whole thing is a big commercial mess. I am done.
Thank God for the BBC. :P
My wife and I also couldn't believe how insulting Bob was to the dress and culture of other countries, or Katie's moronic twittering. We were quite thankful for the Mute button.
THANK YOU. Bob Costas is such an ass. He truly doesn't know how to shut up. Remember Sydney Olympics when he totally ruined the moment when the one aboriginal runner came into the stadium, gloriously, to light to torch? He talked over that whole thing, too, moronically as always. The people with whom I was viewing the replaying of the ceremonies didn't understand my total annoyance with Bob (and Katie too, but she isn't as stupid as he is). I think this is because they are sports fans and they think no-one else can do it better. Please! I think I could do it better, what about you?
A simple Amen will suffice. Those two are airheads. They did prove entertaining in one regard: their sad attempts at saccharine humor overlayed on what I consider to be one of the strangest hours of television I have ever witnessed. I mean, c'mon, that opening ceremony was just trippy.
I actually thought the commentary was more interesting than the sloooooooo moving boring flying acrobatic guy. And that Bjork - what a bizzar freaky artist anyways. I did like the ending when the last runner took a lap around the track and they announce the names and year of the previous Olympics - at least it was educational. Oh and the lighting of the "large male member" was quite interesting. (Too bad the guy didn't actually ignite the flame - his head may have been blown off - NOW that would have been an Olympic Moment!)
I've had a hard time with Olympic TV broadcasts ever since ABC lost the games and CBS turned the whole event into rock n' roll highlights. But last night may have taken the prize: it took all of ten minutes for me to lose it with NBC, Katie, and Bob the asshat (I love that term, thanks for that!).
I thought old Bobby inserted a few questionable political comments. It wasn't exactly Borgen Project style neutrality, but nowadays it's hard not to go political.
My wife commented on that. She noted that Bob would introduce a country nice enough and then add a quick jab joke now and then. Maybe he's trying to make points with the President.
I appreciated some of the narration during the opening ceremonies, such as the explanations of the theatric portion. However, I found many comments to be banal, unnecessary, or just plain rude. I didn't appreciate the way some comments diminished other nations. I would have appreciated it if they had just shut up unless they were giving necessary information about the ceremony.
My brother said the same thing as your wife, Greg.
Annoying.
Yeah Kostas decided to screw it up again tonight on his Greek runner (Kostas Kederis) -drug testing commentary. I guess he thought he'd be all smart and allude to the structure of Greek tragedies, and Kederis' hubris. What a windbag.
You know I would think that with all the ridiculous excuses that NBC has (read: $$$$ hunger) for delaying and editing coverage they could have at least devised someway to give us a mute button on the commentators so we might have actually enjoyed what they forced us to watch 11 hours delayed.
I found myself reaching over and over again for the remote to pause the screen while Greg and I had a "shout-fest" at the TV just hoping the two of them would GO AWAY!!
I only caught the ceremony after the athletes had processed and even I found it utterly annoying how they talked over EVERYTHING! They talked so much over Björk that I could hardly tell it was her, and I'm definitely one of her fans. It took being able to actually see her to know it was her! I mean that's just wrong. If you have to see someone like Björk singing to know it's them that should be a cue to shut the fuck up! (sorry, I don't like censorship unless it's anti-censorship detection stuff like asshat)
Be glad you don't live in Florida though, since we had Charley pass by to the south, there were many, many storms passing through today (partially knocking out our satellite dish coverage during crucial points in certain events). Instead of removing their stupid logo from the right side of the screen, they decided to keep the logo on the right and show counties with tornado warnings right over the scores in women's volleyball. They also decided to put the warning itself in an annoying, flashing box right over the scores for swimming and gymnastics! You could not tell what was going on at all unless you could hear the commentators (which were absolutely annoying during swimming but I digresss)! As if that wasn't enough they kept interrupting the live broadcasts — not when a commercial was on — to tell you the same information that was on the god damn screen!
They also decided to do this last night during the opening ceremony after the procession, and it wasn't even for anything like a tornado. It was incredibly trivial! The only information they had given was the same information that had been on earlier for the ENTIRE day! I'm sorry but if you need warning that a hurricane is coming it's already too late. If you hadn't seen any of the many news channels being on 24/7 for the past few days or heard anyone talking about a huge category 4 hurricane coming your way you almost deserve to die because you're obviously not moving anyway. I can understand if they need to interrupt to give you information you can't see onscreen that may be of importance, or to warn you about a tornado touch-down in your vicinity, but to explain that hurricane Charley is crossing Florida is incredibly pointless. They need a series of checks and balances to determine whether or not these people should be allowed to interrupt anything. I don't care if it's a repeat of Friends or a cherished episode of The Simpsons that I've obviously seen 50 times or more, don't interrupt my programming when YOU think it's important. Hell, those scrolling banners are bad enough. I can't wait until one day cable and satellite are advanced enough to know exactly where you are so they can stop bothering you needlessly, why should I need to know if it's 'severely thunderstorming' four counties away? You get this kind of crap all the time living in a tropical climate, so again be glad you aren't here!
Yes, Bob is a total asshat and NBC is garbage. Did anyone notice, during Saudi Arabia's entrance, how he reminded us of Sept 11th and that the majority of the hijackers were Saudi? Why didn't he just call the Saudi team "terrorists" and get it over with. Bastard. I thought the Olympics were about putting aside our differences and disagreements? Consequently, I've switched to watching CBC.
I think Bob and Katie would have much rather of heard themselves than say, oh I don't know... A world class singer.
You mean there are other countries than the US at the Olympics? And other sports than swimming and gymnastics? Oh, I forgot, you need Bravo, CNBC 6, and the Golf Channel to even attempt to watch anything but swimming.
NBC blows. I noticed all of the political comments as well -- just what I want to hear more about when watching the Olympics: Saudi terrorists, genocide, and which countries are still "red." Costas' "what the hell is up with that 'country?'" attitude was pathetic...
Rest assured, commentary was just as bad here in The Netherlands (and on BBC, I've heard). One Dutch commentator really took the cake by commenting on two big looking people in the parade: "I don't think she's going to compete. Neither will he." Later, when the Samoan athletes walked in, he commented on their clothing: "Those outfits look like they're from Haiti. Um... um... maybe Hawaii." He meant Tahiti. Idiot.
From the Slate article: "As a humanitarian, I feel bad for Canada. But as a TV viewer who wants to see a maximum of sport and a minimum of chat, a bunch of loser Canucks doesn't seem like such a terrible prospect."
This should provide great material for Molson's upcoming "Don't Pity Us, We're Canadian" campaign.
My husband wrote this comment to NBC via the NBC sports commenting ability on their website. Bob Costas usually isn't quite an ass; I think "that insipid Couric woman" was egging him on. Don't they know it's rude to talk during a singer's performance?
bjork is the shizzle. we tried to switch to the SAP channel during her performance in an effort to block out katie and bob, but sadly it was the weather. better luck next time, i suppose.
Does anyone know if the Bjork performance is on the web anywhere?
thanks.
"My wife and I also couldn't believe how insulting Bob was to the dress and culture of other countries, or Katie's moronic twittering. We were quite thankful for the Mute button."
"Was it important to be reminded, during the athlete's entry, that Tajikistan was a staging area for the US invasion of Afghanistan? Comments like that totally destroyed the "spirit of fraternity" that the opening ceremonies usually engender."
They really had a terrible america-centric view throughout the whole thing. I too was pissed off when Bjork was singing and they spent the whole time joking about the athletes suffocating under her dress or someone pulling on it and knocking her off the stage. From what I did hear of it it didn't sound like one of Björk's greatest performances, but they could of at least done some decent sound management and gave a feed from her mike rather than picking up the amplified sound off the stadium mic's.
"giant asshats" - amazing diction!!! :-D
I don't mean to "go against the norm" but I enjoyed the commentary and sarcasm of Costas. I personally don't like Bjork and I'm was happy to have Costas and Couric rambling over her. In fact, during that part of the ceremony, my family talked about the "dress" covering the athletes and wondered what the purpose was, etc.
About the "america-centric view" of the opening ceremony, what do you expect in America? I'm not saying it's good or bad, but it has become the norm in this country.
What, you were expecting Costas and Couric to deliever anything besides utter crap? That's one of the reasons the Olympics are about as ho-hum as it gets when they come around every few years. There's too much and the covergae is pure-muckity-muck over and over again.
It would be nice to see a network that actually cared about the sports and performances cover the Olympics...hmmm..ESPN
http://www.web-original.com/bjork/Oceania.mov
for those of you who are interested in the song WITHOUT commentary.
"I personally don't like Bjork and I'm was happy to have Costas and Couric rambling over her"
What about the gazillion other viewers who might have enjoyed it without the rambling over? (Rather like "I don't like it, you won't see/hear it").
"About the "america-centric view" of the opening ceremony, what do you expect in America? I'm not saying it's good or bad, but it has become the norm in this country"
Jeez, America (no matter how good at many things it may be) is just 1/260 of the current family of nations, areas and territories in the world. Grow up, get a life, shut up and let others watch the event from different perspectives.
However, aiming at the lowest common denominator and presenting a moronic view of just about anything of interest in the world has become the norm for much of the media.
And we all (well, at least I) grew up believing that in the future technology would enable us to watch anything the way we wanted (read, intelligent coverage). Yeah, right. Sighh.
I don’t think there’s a more appropriately named country in the world, because Equatorial Guinea is on the equator.
oddly enough, the equator does not pass through any part of equatorial guinea, so the comment is unnecessary, annoying and incorrect. nice work.
i missed the bjork performance (*sob*) because after i heard bob make an idiotic crack about "djibouti", i had to change the channel in disgust and shame.
Back Off!
NBC coverage is very informative. Why only yesterday I learned that Athena is the patron saint of Athens and that Puerto Rico and the United States are on the same continent.
Nobody else is giving me that information!
So sit back, relax and play the Olympics drinking game.
Watch gymnastics, and everytime the use the word "build" or the phrase "open the door", down a shot. Before long you won't care about the coverage.
I guess we shouldn't be surprised that NBC's coverage was awful. However, i was watching it and wanted to ring both of their necks. Costas was the worst of both. Just a typical narrow minded sportscasters.Can't think for himself, has to have statistics,etc. or otherwise he wouldn't know what to say. I wrote a letter to NBC proudly stating my disgust with their coverage. I"m a Bjork fan it was bad enough that they yapped over the entire thing. What really was irritating was their moronic, juvenlie comments througout the beginning events of Greek art,etc. They just don't know when enough is enough. Course, they make a living at reading teleprompters,etc. I suppose you can't expect them to have some self-awareness and speak intelligently.
I think I broke the record for the number of times I said "Shut UP, Costas!" And Katie Couric needs a 2x4 to the head. Really. She is simply an appalling excuse for a human being. I so wish I had an alternate way to access the games...
Opening night, Paul and I are sipping on tasty Maker's Mark and Coke, anxiously awaiting the Lebanese team to make an entrance. We somehow manage to keep our spirits up through the ceremony despite the comments from the lovely and very cultured Bob Costas. Two hours later, the Lebanese team is almost on the main stage, we're so excited and for the third Olympics in a row, NBC goes to commercial break and skips the entrance entirely. Yeah…who cares about them stupid Lebanese, where's that anyway…
Who puts Coke in Maker's Mark? That's just wrong....
Who posts comments about other peoples comments? Loosers who are too bored and unattentive to fill the site with meaningful opinions on the topic we are all here to read and comment on, the Olympics.
I think that was a joke, chill.
Anyway, you can always expect olympic coverage to be dumbed down because its a general public broadcast, and well the general public isn't watching PBS or BBC. I think Costas is alright, and hes not 'stupid', hes quite smart and articulate, but yes he does talk alot and should shut up 80% of the time, but hes being paid for doing so, unfortunately. I find Katie really annoying though I have to say. I dont watch tv anymore so I dont have my Sat dish to get the other events on. I really wanted to watch trampoline and badminton :)
Steven Rubin,
You personally not liking Björk — how that can be I know not — is not a good excuse for anyone to talk over a singer's performance. That's rude in every country that's participating in the Olympics. That's like sitting down when they play someone's national anthem. If you went to a hockey game in Canada — I'm assuming you live in the U.S. since you heard Costas — would you sit down when they play Canada's anthem? I would certainly hope not. That is also highly rude and on the same level as talking during any performance.
Joe Clay,
I've been to some Canadian sporting events, and no, I don't sit during the national anthem, but this isn't my point.
My real point was, and still is:
I PERSONALLY don't like Bjork so I didn't mind them talking over her. I never said that they had the right to talk over her or that they weren't jackasses for doing it... because they are.
I am not a stupid pro-america, anti-world kind of person, I'm just saying the America-centric POV is what is now EXPECTED in America's media. I hate it! I never said it was good! I love the world, and frankly, now I can understand why the rest of the world thinks we're conceited idiots (because the media is).
Hey, baseball-boy, shut the f*** up! Bjork has more talent in her discarded toeclippings than Costas does in his entire body. Look up "twerp" and you will certainly find a picture of Bob Costas. Someone, please, get this guy off the air.
When did loser start being spelled with two o's? And lose for that matter. Just a question because many people are spelling it that way, and I am beginning to question my spelling ability. (Sorry, for commenting on someone's comment :)
I, too, am upset with the coverage of the games. If I see that hobbit, Bob Costas, ask another moronic question I will scream. I am an American, but my husband is from New Zealand and I am constantly being embarrased by our media. But I can't say that the Aussie guy, that was commentating the diving competition for NBC, was a peach either. In fact, he sucked. So, NBC is a hotbed for crappy commentators. They are wearing me down, almost to the point of not wanting to watch. And that's a shame because I love the Olympics and love the spirit of the games.
It's truly painful to see someone, who has given their all in a race of some sort, have to answer a question like, "Did you think you could do it coming into this race?" Like the athlete would say: "No, I thought I had absolutely no chance. Which is why I train every day and give up a normal life, so I can give my all and have to answer questions like that."
One more comment, and then I am through. I also have HD programming. And besides the Sony commercial, that my 6 year old son can (and does) recite verbatim whenever it comes on, I cannot and should not have to stand for that stupid promo of Heather Locklear in that soon-to-be-cancelled-shortly-after-it-airs show. LAXitive. Its almost as bad as the self promotion of the Doppler radar by NBC during the Atlanta Games. "Oh my god, we are so self absorbed! Let's all run around airports shouting into our cell phones and call it a drama! I hope we win emmy's! Let's also further the bad image of America and airport security, by having an actress with a dog, be so clever and smug looking, while welcoming an asian woman to America and asking her where the drugs are. IT WILL BE SO COOL! Let's also have a grizzled old air traffic controller in an hawiian shirt get so overwhelmed with the clever goings on that he has to shout 'Shut it down! Shut it all down!' This will be the best show since anything that NBC has tried to put Bo Derek in!"
Night!