The NBC Olympics -- A Phelps Major and Frolics in the Fountain

(ATR) NBC, U.S. rights holder for the Olympics, can brag deservedly about record audiences from the Games notes ATR’s Steve Woodward in a review of the network’s coverage. Woodward says the mostly solid production reflects the influence of the network’s Olympics chief, Dick Ebersol. But Woodward says NBC also served up some soggy moments, too.

Woodward on TV: NBC, the Phelps Network and Romps in the Fountains

Just to satisfy a gnawing post-Olympics curiosity, and with the most-viewed event in U.S. television history now safely in the rearview mirror, I tuned into NBC’s Today program Monday morning. Impressively, Matt Lauer, Meredith Vieira and Al Roker were back on the couch, turned out in Manhattan business attire, seemingly un-jet lagged. Matt and Al were buttoned up, cravats neatly knotted.

I almost didn’t recognize them because one, they were not soaking wet, and two, Michael Phelps was not around, or at least visible in an on-screen graphic. Thirdly, they were in a studio with decent backlighting. For the first time in seemingly weeks, I could see them. (They worked nights in Beijing as Americans arose from slumber).

The Today gang was fascinated by fountains near the set they rarely used on the so-called Olympic Green. (These profitable Games for General Electric/NBC Universal will be very green at the bottom line, indeed). When signing off last Friday from Beijing, before boarding the bird back to JFK, Vieira and typically reserved colleague Ann Curry were at it again, darting about among the rising and falling towers of water.

Never one to disapprove of a little frivolity, I will resist scolding here. But are we Americans supposed to let our (moistened) hair down this freely as visitors in a socialist, oppressive, media muzzling nation? A few days earlier, Roker called the first fountain frolic, “the ultimate wet T-shirt contest”. China’s helpless censors must have been reeling.

As for the Phelps effect, NBC might have rebranded the show, “Today, Tomorrow and Forevermore”. Understandably, Today leveraged NBC’s rights-holding status to ensure Phelps provided ample face time in the days immediately after winning the historic eighth gold medal. They promoted a “Today Exclusive”, with Phelps answering questions by Lauer. For $894 million (NBC’s Beijing rights payment), did we expect Phelps sneaking first onto Good Morning, America?

But when, four days after his last race, Today unearthed another Phelps angle by airing a piece on a lookalike swimmer from Great Britain, I’d seen enough.

As for NBC’s daytime network and cable productions, and its prime time network showcase hosted by Bob Costas, the Dick Ebersol machine appears to be performing as optimally as ever. The airing of live swimming and gymnastics in evening U.S. time slots was a gold medal worthy strategy.

Jim Lampley anchors the daytime desk with stoic professionalism, which, personally, I prefer to the business casual, ad-libbed direction in which sports programming appears headed.

Evenings with Costas remained well-balanced between ranting, expert analysis by gymnastics personality Bela Karolyi, irreverent exchanges with intrepid adventurer Mary Carillo (no Charles Kuralt, but entertaining), and more somber one-on-ones, as needed. His sit down with U.S. men’s volleyball coach Hugh McCutcheon showed Costas has not had his journalistic instincts sapped by years of teleprompter reading. Costas might have been a tad less deferential with IOC President Jacques Rogge. Heck, he was a tougher inquisitor when President George W. Bush dropped by.

You have to hand it to NBC and Ebersol, they are loyal to the core. The network might have been tempted over the years to look for higher octane analysts for some of the marquee sports. There is no doubt the addition of a fresh, new voice to its track & field booth (Alto Boldon) paid off splendidly in Beijing.

We all have our pet peeves about commentators, but considering the sheer scope of the Games, the volumes of stats and the pace of events, and the fact that NBC was averaging about 28 million viewers every night in prime time, its on-air teams were solid if not occasionally melodramatic.

(The digital magazine Slate published a daily Sap-o-meter, which purported to keep track of the number of times NBC used one of 33 words Slate deems to be too sappy for prime time. Words on the list include dream, journey and tragedy. NBC recorded a Games-high 64 sap points on the day Phelps won gold medal No. 8).

Overall, using the new gymnastics scoring system, I’ll award NBC a 16.625, reflecting maximum degree of difficulty and only a few wobbles along the way. NBC attracted a record audience (more than 211 million), which about says it all.

Before we shift our focus to Vancouver 2010, there are just a few lingering questions scribbled in the margins of my notebook:

Where was Jimmy Roberts? The NBC sports essayist did not seem to make regular appearances as in Games past when he narrated the GM/Chevy Olympic Moment segments.

What took them so long? The arrival of NBC’s Total Audience Measurement Index (TAMi) demonstrated the many ways American consumers took in the 3,600 hours of Olympic content on various NBC-controlled platforms. By closely tracking on a given day how many people visit nbcolympics.com, or receive images from the Games using a mobile device (7.42 million Internet users, and 425,000 mobile users on Aug. 18, for example), we assume NBC will compel advertisers to spend more on digital ad campaigns, which can only mean more real-time content and more video during future Olympics.

(We definitely need more content in the vein of “The Matty Blake Show: Going For Bronze” on nbcolympics.com, with “foreign correspondents” supplied by Maxim magazine).

Why not put Michelle Kwan to work? Her Aug. 20 appearance on Today demonstrated she has as much poise and elegance as an observer as she did as a figure skater. (Kwan turned down a skating commentator role with NBC for the 2006 Games).

Do Tiki Barber, Tamryn Hall and Jenna Wolfe despise one another equally, or does the brunt of their unconcealed contempt fall on one more than others? There were days during their Olympic Update show on cable’s MSNBC when I feared one would suffer a career-ending meltdown on camera. Maybe we write it off to their going on the air at 5 a.m. Beijing time.

Not since Connie Chung and Dan Rather has television chemistry been so completely non-existent. Wolfe often seemed the most perturbed, wearing a perpetual sneer. She let Barber have it daily, joking about borrowing his Super Bowl ring (he doesn’t own one because he retired before the Giants won it all last season), and scolding him for missing her point on the riveting subject of baton handoffs during relays.

One viewer, posting a comment to an MSNBC message board, concluded the show was “a train wreck”. I would not go that far. Let’s just say it was a series of abrupt derailments.

Written by Steve Woodward

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