Finishing up week one…
- It’s difficult to generate gravitas in a brand new sport like Slopestyle. “This is the first time we’ve seen this move in the history of this competition!!” You mean since the last commercial when you introduced the event?
- The Peacock did a masterful job milking every drop of melodrama out of Evgani Plushenko’s abrupt withdrawal from Men’s Figure Skating. Showing him warming up, then a package about how much pressure was on him, then back to the ice and seeing him grimace. Plushenko cooperated by waiting until the last second to drop out. It’s amazing what you can manufacture with a 12 hour tape delay.
- Speaking of Figure Skating—Tom Hammond reminds me of old style newsreel announcers. His response when Jason Brown got up after a crash then completed his performance—“The fans appreciate his moxie!” Oh, and a hearty 23-skidoo to you!
- What’s the difference between Slopestyle and Aerials? Aerials only has a single jump, so the rotation in the air has to be very impressive. It’s really more like diving in the summer games, with rigid rules and scoring.
- As prime time begins—Meredith Vieira, you’re up at the Fortress! Lauer is pulled after doing double duty in the morning and evening—good effort. Costas is still listed as day to day.
- NBC lucks out with a ready-made “adversity to victory” story from US Skeleton racer Noelle Pikus-Pace. Wife and mother, rising star, injured in freak accident, fights her way back, retires, then comes back again to get the silver. You couldn’t write this stuff.
- You know that NBC is worried they are losing viewers when you see “<more exciting event> in 7 minutes” at the corner of the screen.
More to come.