Ask any U.S. citizen how they feel about NBC's coverage of the Olympic Opening ceremonies, and you'll likely get a snarling answer in reply. The reason is obvious. The network went to commercial every couple of minutes, the commentators talked over much of the ceremony, and to add insult to injury, the big-hearted executives decided to eschew coverage of the tribute to British terror victims in favor of Ryan Seacrest's vacuous interview of Michael Phelps.
Really, NBC? How is an inane interview that serves no other purpose than to garner enthusiasm and viewers for a sport more important than a tribute to innocent people who lost their lives? The tribute was specifically aimed at honoring the 52 victims of the London bombings that were later determined to be a series of suicide attacks.
The singer was renown Scottish vocalist Emeli Sandé, who sang "Abide With Me" while interpretive dancers played out a heart wrenching scene against a smoky backdrop accentuated by a glowing orange orb and soft lights meant to symbolize the sun, fire, hell, rebirth.
It was evocative. It was gut wrenching. It was understated and dignified, and in the end, it was quietly triumphant, as a little dark-haired boy was lifted from the pile of 'bodies' crouched around him. He was a beacon of hope for a more peaceful future, and the whole performance was really a tribute to everyone who has died through violence. This was perhaps the most important six minutes in the entire Olympic opening ceremonies, and yet, millions of Americans didn't see it.
But instead of airing this loving tribute, NBC instead opted to plaster Ryan Seacrest's pretty face on national television for the sole purpose of interviewing Michael Phelps the day before his racing began. It's just one of the many reasons the network is nicknamed the No Broadcasting Company.
What's even worse, Bob Costas, Matt Lauer and Meredith Viera couldn't keep their mouths closed long enough for viewers to enjoy the ceremonies in peace. Bob Costas, in particular, threw out a number of insulting comments about some of the countries during the parade of nations, and Matt Lauer became the King of Stating the Obvious when he declared that, out of the thousands of athletes present, the majority would never win a medal.
On a final note, NBC's live streaming only to cable subscribers—another slap in the face to those people who actually prefer to watch events as they happen. You can't even purchase a subscription specifically to watch the Olympics. Instead, you have to be an existing cable subscriber, otherwise you're out of luck. Of course, you can try IP masking programs and other ways to get around this, but it shouldn't have to be this way.
In short, NBC, you failed, and you failed miserably.
For those who want to see this beautiful tribute, you can watch it at this link here.
©2012 Reno Berkeley for Gather News. Berkeley can be found on Tumblr, Google+, and Facebook.
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Comments: 3
All this fits with the general Corporatocracy agenda and narrative. Plenty of ads. Don't remind people too much of terror, especially not of Britain's more sensible response to it, rather than the USA's paranoia/police state overreaction: "Homeland", TSA, SOPA/CISPA/PIPA, constant state of War rather than Keep Calm and Carry On.
The UK is a police state too, in some ways more than the USA in terms of video surveillance, but it doesn't give up everyday freedoms in response to terror. People can still get on the Tube after the 7/7 bombings, without the equivalent of TSA VIPR Teams showing up.
Mark, the reason that we British get on with things and we don't give up everyday freedoms is that we are well used to terrorist atrocities. We have had years of bombings not just with what happened the day after we received the London nomination to hold the Games but for over thirty years of Irish terrorism that could come back at any time.
We just don't scare easy anymore, we have a good security system in place that for many years I was part of. We also understand that no matter how hard we try and no matter what we have in place to stop attacks, one will eventually get through and that people will either die or get hurt. The trick is learn from that attack and by learning from that attack our defenses become better.
Getting back to the opening ceremony it was a shame that all of you could not watch the ceremony from start to finish without all those breaks and when they did show it to many people were commenting over what was happening, because if I may says so you all missed a real treat.