NBC’s coverage was worth the overindulgence
Tweaks for next time: Keep Costas, hold back the tears
Sometimes too much is just enough.
NBC provided more coverage of Sochi’s just-concluded Winter Olympics than anyone could possibly consume, and the overabundance worked. People who wanted events live or in full could watch or record during the day; those who wanted only highlights could watch in prime time. That gave everyone as close to what they wanted as they could reasonably expect to get. Now the Games are over, closed by a gorgeously enjoyable if sometimes politically troubling ceremony that, in a burst of self-knowing humor rare at this or any Olympics, included a joking reference to that infamous opening ring that would not open. NBC’s next winter shot comes in South Korea in 2018, where it faces the same time-zone difficulties and will respond, one hopes, with the same general plan.
With just a few tweaks: Protect Bob Costas at all costs. How invaluable is Costas? This weekend, he asked International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach whether it was wise to give the Games to a country with a “horrible human rights record” and aired a startling essay pairing praise of Russia’s people with a blistering attack on its foreign policy and treatment of gays and dissidents. In doing so, he single-handedly reversed the image that NBC was burying its head in the Black Sea sand. Put that man in a plastic bubble if you have to, but keep him healthy.
Pass the skating torch. Once again, prime-time skating analysts Sandra Bezic and Scott Hamilton proved to be enthusiastic, knowledgeable, experienced — and seemingly incapable of saying anything even remotely interesting. Luckily, NBC has two clear heirs apparent in breakout TV stars Johnny Weir and Tara Lipinski, who marry an infectious chemistry and a flair for entertainment to a welcome willingness to be critical. I fear overexposure (Oscar fashion commentary is a step in the wrong direction), and I’d hate to see them leave the daytime, fullevent broadcast. But they’ve earned a nighttime shot.
A little more live information, please. One of the joys of the “Live Extra” feed of the closing ceremony was watching without blather, trusted to figure out on our own that the dancers in the glittering silver costumes represented a school of fish. Still, a few graphics identifying the performers wouldn’t hurt. Surely that’s something NBC and the Olympic Broadcasting Services, which provides the feed, could work out.
Don’t oversell. The women’s figure skating gold medal was never expected to come down to a battle between Americans Gracie Gold and Ashley Wagner, despite the promos suggesting it might. Some obfuscation in prime time is fine; it should be a spoiler-free zone. But don’t tell us things you know are never going to be true.
Give up on grief. The real problem with Christin Cooper’s infamous interview with Bode Miller was not the collapse-inducing question about his brother’s death, but her obvious effort to complete a narrative NBC set and kept setting in advance: the driving power of grief. All of us harbor some grief in our lives, and all of us will release it if pressed hard enough. That doesn’t mean loss is what’s motivating us — or is in the forefront of our consciousness — at that moment. It’s just possible that every single person who wins a medal does not want to dedicate it to a dead spouse, sibling, parent or friend. Assuming they do — and pushing them to cry about it — is the worst kind of lazy, sobsister journalism, and a good example of when too much is actually too much. Leave it in Russia.