Not much to update around here. I've just been sitting at home with the A/C cranked up and watching the Olympics. Overall NBC has done a good job in terms of the broadcast. I'd say the quality this year is definitely superior to Athens. But then, I'm sure a lot of it has to do with the time difference. When we are watching in prime time, the events are being broadcast live or relatively recent. In Athens, the time difference made it weird, with live events at 2 in the morning. Although, there are some people upset by the timing of the broadcasts with NBC withholding the more important events until prime time for the ratings. But you can't please everyone. If they only broadcast everything live then people would be complaining because they couldn't see the good stuff since most people work during the day. Just goes to show you can't please everyone.
NBC has also done a great job of building up the drama. Will Michael Phelps go for a world record? Will he beat Mark Spitz' record? Will the male gymnastic team recover from losing its top two athletes? Just watching the 400m Men's Relay had me on the edge of my seat, cheering for the Americans. And part of it was because of the drama of the war of the words from the French team. And partly because they were the underdogs. And also because of that last bit of speed at the end when they came from almost a full length behind. Also, I think Zhang Yimou deserves all that praise for the opening ceremonies, despite the little cheats.
Overall, the ratings for the Beijing Olympics have been higher than the past two Summer Olympics. The question is whether they will be able to keep that interest once the swimming events are over and we are onto track and field. Without the draw of Michael Phelps, will there still be high interest in the games? Or will they find other American athletes to hype and build buzz around? I guess only time will tell.
No comments:
Post a Comment