Back to last night, and the finale of women's gymnastics. Of course, it's all Biles, all the time--including a slickly produced intro that declares she's a champion no matter what Of course, they had a week to put this together--curious if they had different edits ready, depending on which events she decided to do. Will she get the "twisties"? (No). Will she do her eponymous dismount? (No). Will she win? (No--she got the bronze, and only because others screwed up). Oh, and there's Suni Lee.
Simone didn't trust the network to "stick the landing" on the family video conference, so she did it herself immediately after she got the bronze, jumping on FaceTime--"Gotta go, I'll see you in a minute on NBC!"
After more track heats, it's the women's 400m hurdles final, which NBC is pushing as "McLaughlin v. Muhammad", complete with a dramatic intro package. A good call by the network. I've noticed each final is preceded in the stadium with a deep boom, like the THX opening.
Then it's off to diving finals, followed by Tirico interview with Simone Biles. NBC milked the entire Biles saga to the last drop, never mentioning that their coverage was part of the problem. Biles returned the next morning for a Today interview with Hoda--and a lot of feels.
Late night--fast forwarding thru volleyball, followed by skateboarding. If you miss the latter, you can see them again the next day.
Daytime--the finals of equestrian show jumping, with a Japanese player ranked 600th in the world making it to a jump-off. Then more sync--artistic swimming. SNL did it better. Canoeing, sport climbing (the Speed discipline is just blazingly fast, the Boulder discipline will be familiar to Ninja Warrior viewers), and diving.
Prime Time kicks off with--BEACH VOLLEYBALL?? AGAIN?? Blech. After that? GOLF??? NBC wants me to give up tonight, and I'm going to abide by them.
More to come.