A long weekend of QISE begins…
- Caught the end of the Men’s Figure Skating event. As skating becomes more athletic with more difficult jumps, scoring tends to be based on who fell the least times. After rookie Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan won the gold despite falling twice, commentator Scott Hamilton was apoplectic—he just about broke into tears.
- Considering that 99% of the coverage is on tape, it is rude for the Peacock to run late each night. They have absolute control over the schedule and how things are edited—just cut out a few replays. It’s basically a “screw you” to DVR users.
- NBC gets yet another ready-made backstory, this time from Short-Track Speed Skater Emily Scott. Her mother’s in jail (again), her dad works multiple jobs, she’s forced to use food stamps and crowdfunding after the US QISE Committee cuts her stipend—then her dad spends 86 hours getting to Sochi to see his daughter on the ice.
- I’m sure the athletes in sports not covered by NBC were happy that Tom Brokaw got a half hour slot to talk about the Space Race with the USSR. If only NBC had a four hour morning show five days a week where this could have been aired...
- You know what’s less interesting than watching a hockey game in prime time? Watching a hockey game that a) was already shown on NBC Sports Network this morning and b) was already called by NBC on the Today Show and the QISE afternoon show. The Peacock is desperate for another “Miracle on Ice”, and this wasn’t it. In any case, I could have told you the US would win once I heard who was defending the Russian goal in the shootout—the goalie from the Columbus Blue Jackets.
More to come.