If Olympics coverage were a sport, we'd give Canada the gold; would NBC even medal?

Guest author Philip Michaels lives in the Bay Area, but this week he is in Canada and files this report to TV Barn on watching the CBC's Olympic Games coverage.--AB

Until I arrived in Vancouver this past weekend, I thought the Olympics had been pared down to four sports. Whenever I turned on NBC's prime time coverage, I would either see swimming (which I love), gymnastics (which I detest), beach volleyball (which I feign having little interest in so that I may preserve domestic tranquility), and synchronized diving (which I am surprised to discover is a competitive sport). And that was that -- unless enduring one of Cris Collinsworth's grin-filled, content-free personality profiles has been elevated to an Olympic-level sport. If it has, I ain't medaling, that's for sure.

Yeah, yeah, I know: There's plenty of coverage elsewhere on what have been imperialistically dubbed The Networks on NBC. You've got coverage on MSNBC, CNBC, USA, Telemundo, and -- if you hate sport -- Oxygen. But unless you've got 24 hours of free time each day and a color-coordinated spreadsheet outlining exactly what's on when, you're pretty much dependent on what NBC's showing between eight and midnight. And that, for the most part, has been four sports, some of which may not have involved Michael Phelps.

 

Now, in just the past day or so up in Canada, I've flipped on CBC's coverage and seen, in no particular order: rowing, synchronized swimming, triathalon, track, trampoline, gymnastics, diving, baseball, softball, and beach volleyball. Admittedly some of these sports, I'm not particularly interested in. But I feel like I'm getting a better flavor of the entire Beijing games instead of the handful of sports NBC deems worthy of prime time coverage.

How else is CBC's coverage superior to what NBC has stuck on the air? Let me count the ways.

• Greater depth. Yesterday, in the midst of CBC's coverage, the network aired a lengthy report on doping at the games, followed by a roundtable discussion on the issues raised by the story. It was a stark contrast to NBC's features, which tend to be light and frothy ("Cris Collinsworth hangs out with Michael Phelps' mom! Turns out, she cheers enthusiastically during his races!") or something else of the all-is-well school of reportage.

• Less mawkishness. At the conclusion of one of the diving competitions, the CBC spotlighted a Canadian who finished just outside of medal contention and mentioned, almost off-handedly, how her brother had passed away just before the Games. Now, perhaps this is an unfair question, but how many times do you think NBC might have mentioned that if the network found itself in a similar situation? Ten times? Twenty? From the start of the competition until several days after it concluded? That you are taking the time to calculate a number suggests that NBC tends to overemphasize the sentiment. And this is an Olympics where NBC has dialed down the sap.

• Better analysis. My lasting impression of Tim Daggett, NBC's analyst for the gymnastics competition, will be him bellowing "Wow!" when something impressed him or expressing disdain when something displeased him. What I never really heard was him explaining why one performance in a sport that's entirely subjective was better than a seemingly similar performance. I caught a few moments of CBC's coverage in the men's vault, and the analyst there (a former vaulter) was able to explain why certain landings were scored certain ways in such a clear, concise manner that I almost cared about gymnastics. (Another friend of TV Barn writes that the female diving commentator on NBC "sounds like Nancy Grace (and not in a good way)." And a good way would be...? --AB)

• And if that weren't enough... Watch the CBC's Olympic coverage long enough and you might be lucky enough to see this Wonder Bread commercial.

Really, NBC needs to dispatch someone north of the border tout de suite so that we can learn from our Canadian betters. Then, when 2010 rolls around, the coverage on NBC might measure up to what the CBC is putting out there -- especially if we go the extra step and stash Dick Ebersol in a meat locker for three weeks in February.

Philip Michaels works for Macworld and Macworld.com, contributes to Television Without Pity, roots for the A's and recently enjoyed fine barbecue at Arthur Bryant's.

Related stories at TV Barn:

• Aaron and WBAL Radio's Shari Elliker talked about the Olympics (MP3).

• The Olympics so far: Visuals pretty, picture isn't

Comments

[DKC]

It's funny ... but the whole time I was watching that darling commercial for the Canadian Winter Olympics in 2010 I kept thinking of the current Chinese women's gymnastics team.

[nev]

In the beginning... Phelps! great!... after NBC's coverage... makes me want to say STFU already.

I get the impression that USA's media coverage pretty much represents how the Americans in general see the world.

[Kamal Ibrahim]

I totally agreed with the writer. I love all those 4 sports as much as the next guy, but to focus the entire broadcast it boring, uneducational and unenlighten. There are more sports in Olympics that the general public need to be made aware of. Or else we will be one of those American public who are not globally conscious and well rounded, other than swimming, gymnastic and beach volleyball. I understand that US has a strong showing on all of those event, but we know that already. Now introduce us to something different and new, like synchronize diving (which I found very very cool) and badminton (who would ever thought it is an olympic sports).

[Calgarian]

Remember, up in Canada, our taxes pay for the CBC partially. That is, whatever is not covered by sponsorship is picked up by the Canadian taxpayers. While the coverage is excellent and indepth, as citizens, we are paying through taxes for this coverage.

[Mike]

While living in the northern midwest, we always used to watch CBC or BBC for Olypmics coverage. the US's coverage is HORRIBLE. They indeed show 4 sports. No judo, no wrestling, no weightlifting, no rowing, no cycling, no fencing. Just swimming, gymnastics, track and field and a few shots of basketball. And that media coverage is reflected in the metals the US wins. The US does not accel in the same diverse number of sports other countries like China does. For example: the US has never won a gold metal in judo, and I bet hardly anyone knows the US just got its first metal by a woman - the bronze for Rhonda Rousey. This is should be huge news....but was it ever mentioned on NBC?

[Dave M., Denver]

I couldn't agree more! And it has been like that for years. When I had the older style satellite dish, I would tune in to CBC's coverage of the olympics over NBC's and would enjoy many more sports. Perhaps NBC can put ALL the sap on Oxygen and let us enjoy the sports we love on prime time.

[David]

Thanks for this wonderful article. We all admire Michael Phelps accomplishment, however, NBC has overkilled the Michael Phelps story. Every single hour is Phelps this or Phelps that. There is much more to the Olympics than Phelps.
Also, the Olympic coverage by American broadcast has always been narrow minded. I completely agree with you that there is much more to the olympics than swimming, gymnastics and women's volleyball.
Finally, its true that you can view some clips over the internet. However, despite my broadband connection, the clips I have viewed have been very choppy. So yet again, my overall olympic coverage is limited to the crap that NBC deems worthy of showing.

[Mike]

While living in the northern midwest, we always used to watch CBC or BBC for Olypmics coverage. the US's coverage is HORRIBLE. They indeed show 4 sports. No judo, no wrestling, no weightlifting, no rowing, no cycling, no fencing. Just swimming, gymnastics, track and field and a few shots of basketball. And that media coverage is reflected in the metals the US wins. The US does not accel in the same diverse number of sports other countries like China does. For example: the US has never won a gold metal in judo, and I bet hardly anyone knows the US just got its first metal by a woman - the bronze for Rhonda Rousey. This is should be huge news....but was it ever mentioned on NBC?

[Shane]

Excellent article. This is the result of the commercialization of the TV news and sports.

[Patrick]

I could not agree more with this article. US coverage of the Olympics is pathetic.

[Rod]

Up here in Seattle we can get CBC, and it's amazing how often in just flipping around the channels I find myself watching the CBC coverage. Even though it favors Canadians who may not be contenders, it shows more of what's going on than NBC, whose "coverage" is sometimes just plain irritating.

[Firth]

I totally agree - the coverage of the Olympics on NBC has been anything but "Olympic". They only show a very small cross section of sports and fill in the rest of the time with gloating interviews (by the time everything was done, I am glad Phelps is not on this week). But as always, NBC has a fasincation with the trivial and mediocre. And be honest - beach volleyball is one of the most boring actitivies and should be removed from the Olympics. This sport I think is geared more towards those stuck in puberty. Beyond that, there appears to be no value as showing how Olympian-worthy true athletes really are.

[Craig]

Along with Beach Volleyball - when are they going to have Olympic Poll Dancing? I can see it now "The American men are still lagging in the rankings for Olympic Poll Dancing but the women's team is much better".

[Fred]

The sad part of course, is that CBC lost the rights for 2010 to CTV - a network that has little recent history of covering anything besides figure skating.

[JimBob]

CBC's going out with a bang. They were outbid for the Canadian broadcast rights to the Olympics beginning in 2010, so it'll be interesting to see if the rival network is able to maintain the high standard of coverage in Vancouver/Whistler.

Unfortunately, for every time the Wonder Bread commercial airs, we're forced to endure at least three Bell and/or McDonald's ads. C'est la vie!

[DChristineB]

Umm... I think NBC is doing a good job. We are Americans right? We are being represented by team USA no? Then we should be watching mostly our country. Canada doesn't have as much representation at the Olympics which gives them more room to present different countries. I can also change the channel and see the other events on another channel showing the olympics.

[JC]

NBC's coverage is indeed terrible. It's like we're watching the swimming, beach volleyball, gymnastics channel.

I get CBC where I live in America. I've watched the Olympics since 1996 on CBC and it's great. With CBC, you get a better feeling for how big the games actually are because they show a variety of events. CBC won't have the 2010 and 2012 games which is too bad. They will be on CTV. I'll have to vacation in Victoria or Vancouver during those times!

[looney]

canada is still lame

[bill thomas]

Someone finally noticed. Every Olympics is the same - NBC has days and days of women's gymnastics, and events delayed for 12 hours to play in prime time. Two American girls in dramatic competition for days. Reality Olympic tv. This Olympics was a little different having lots of swimming which I enjoy. Here in South East Michigan we get the Canadian coverage on our cable and it's always fantastic. Real time coverage, coverage of all of the sports, and excellent commentary not always by celebrities but by former competitors in that sport. The Canadians also have a different attitude too - it's o.k. not to win, just being there and doing their best is an honor. It will be the same in 2012 too.

[Jim Caires]

NBC's coverage of the Olympics is awful, you would think that the only events in the Olympics were swimming & gymnastics. There was
no coverage of tennis, arechery, wrestling,pole
vaulting, archery, shooting etc.

It is really boring to see only swimming & gymnastics.

Jim

[Daniel]

If you think CBC is good, then you should watch the french version of CBC (Radio-Canada).

Their coverage is 10x better than CBC, and I won't comment on NBC.

They have outstanding guests that know their sport, past olympians, one funny journalist (yesterday he took weighlifting lessons, using the outfit of the canadian women who finished in 4th place last week).

Their coverage is in-depth, and shows every country (Canadians, Chinese, Americans, ...).

The language might be a barrier for some, but at least you don't get all of the commercials (versus NBC).

[Jason Michale]

It's funny how true that is. Now I wonder what else they keep from us. I guess if I want some real reporting I will look to the north for answers. I must applaud Canada.

[Shazzer]

I'm not surprised by Aaron's experience. I discovered a bunch of Olympic sports that I didn't even know existed after moving to Sweden in 2002.

[true]

This article is so true, NBC is pathetic in their coverage.

[Young Chiang]

I used to live in metro-Detroit area, where I could watch the American coverage of Olympics and the Canadian one. Now I am in Indiana, I don't have an alternative. Is NBC still in the old-fashioned American automotive industry practice- buy it or leave it? To my understanding GM, Ford, and Chrysler woke up a while ago. I feel happy for them, though many people left metro-Detroit area already.

Young Chiang, PhD