Like many TV viewers, I get a little miffed every couple of years when the
Olympics take over a network's schedule. I don't begrudge the athletes their TV time, it's just that the Olympics take
a couple of weeks, and that means that shows you like are going to be preempted.
NBC has the Olympics again, starting February 10 and running through the 26th. Which means that shows like The Biggest Loser and Joey and E-Ring are taking a couple of weeks off. Oh, wait a second, maybe this isn't a bad thing...
Of course, I'm kidding, because NBC also happens to have The Office, My Name Is Earl, Scrubs, and The West Wing too (the Surface season finale airs this Monday). But if you're not into the Olympics, it's just something you'll have to live with until late February/early March, when the shows return on a regular schedule. (Of course, I say this, but I know I'll get sucked into the Games...)
So, are you watching the Olympics this year? What events are you most interested in? Are people being too hard on Bode Miller? And if you have no interest in the Olympics, what shows are you going to miss the most?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
2-02-2006 @ 3:01PM
doc said...
I'll watch the various snowboarding competitions, speed skating, and curling. More than likely, the curling will have to be from CBC as NBC doesn't carry much of it. I'll catch most of the speed skating on CBC as well because they have Catriona Le May Doan doing commentary and she is better than anyone NBC has.
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2-02-2006 @ 3:03PM
Michael G said...
I will struggle to watch an event, but I know there will be 5 minutes of (insert game here) and 40 minutes of Olympian Profiles.
I do not want a sappy story about a guy who only does one thing great, because a dying grandmother gave him skis when he was 3 years old.
Show the event or give me back "the office."
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8-09-2008 @ 8:00AM
Kara said...
I do think that the age of the TV is going to change. With more and more networks putting their content on the web, podcasts, accessible through your ipods, etc...
That is why people like nbc is putting over 3000 hours of footage online and even has a mobile site http://mobile.nbcolympics.com
More people will use the web and that will send a signal to network operators that the time of waiting 30 minutes between events is going to be over and the age of people wanting information when they want it and how is going to take hold.
I was just looking at one of the links in another forum
http://www.tiphub.com/92_Best_ways_to_watch_the_Beijing_Olympics_from_your_home.html
This olympics is going to be the most internet publicized event ever!
2-02-2006 @ 3:17PM
Treasure Hunt said...
While I haven't really watched it, it's my personal opinion that curling isn't really a sport.
As a hiker, I have a bit of trouble relating to all the sports in the Winter Olympics, which occur in a controlled environment rather than in the "wild". AFAIK the x-country skiing occurs on a track through the woods rather than, for instance, them having to climb a mountain, deal with avalanche danger, navigate, etc. etc. They're no doubt infinitely better athletes than me, but perhaps they could add in a bit more unpredictability and danger.
Plus, NBC will feature soppy profiles and tape delayed coverage, making it unlike major U.S. sporting events.
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2-02-2006 @ 3:41PM
Jim H said...
Michael G hit it on the head....
As a Canadian living in the US, I have a really hard time watching any Olympics down here.
Some of my reluctance stems from the myopic coverage, but the remainder springs from the effort to turn the Olympics into one big "extreme-a-palooza-thon." Wait a minute, I think that is probably NBC's doing as well.
Between silly new sports, product tie-ins, All-America-All-the-Time, and sappy human interest dribble, I find myself asking the question: Remember when the Olympics had some dignity?
Jim
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2-02-2006 @ 3:52PM
Liz said...
Treasure Hunt, if you haven't watched it, how can you say curling isn't a sport? It's fantastic! As an American living in Canada, I was introduced to it during the Salt Lake Olympics and now am a huge fan. Don't knock it until you've watched it!
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2-02-2006 @ 4:18PM
kel said...
What's the appeal with curling and why is it in the Olympics? Honestly, it looks like shuffleboard on ice. I'd love to hear from someone on why it's so appealing.
(Not flaming here. I honestly want to know!)
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2-02-2006 @ 5:18PM
Evadne said...
Maybe I'm a sucker for melodrama, but I -love- the Olympics. I couldn't care less about sports, but the Olympics get me every time. I'll probably watch all of it, but I loved the snowboarding from the last Olympics. So yeah, our favorite shows (I've watched Criminal Intent every week for four years) are gone for a couple of weeks, but we'll get more episodes later. In the interim, I'll ponder the meaning of Apolo Ohno's soul patch.
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2-02-2006 @ 5:53PM
Chris said...
You know I'll be watching it! My number one reason is this will be my first Olympics with an HDTV, number two is that my wife loves figure skating. Maybe I should reorder those...hmmmm...
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2-02-2006 @ 9:47PM
Mark Allen said...
"The season finale of 'Surface.'"
Is that the polite term for "last episode of all time" these days?
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2-02-2006 @ 11:56PM
Ryan said...
I will watch all the good hockey games and probably a few of the not so good ones too. And also some snowboarding. As for curling...definetly a sport. Much like golf, it is great to watch once you actually understand the skill involved. And great fun to play. If you havnt tried it then you should. Much better workout than golf too.
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2-03-2006 @ 3:22AM
Robert said...
I won't be watching at all, as I am dismayed with what NBC has done to the Olympics. The way in which they've turned the games into a human interest soap opera at the expense of showing actual competition is infuriating. I'll look for some type of after the fact coverage on the net.
I won't miss any shows, since I Tivo them and watch at different times, anyway. And Mark Allen, a show's "last episode of all time" is called a SERIES finale. A season finale is just the last show of the season, without any anticipation of the show being cancelled.
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2-03-2006 @ 10:12AM
Emily said...
I would love to watch the Olympics - if the network would actually show them. Instead, like other posters have mentioned, we get loads of human interest crap that doesn't interest me at all, commercials out the wahzoo and never ending teasers for the events coming up. For each hour of coverage, it seems like we get 5 minutes of actual competition.
I wish they would do a "Sunday Ticket" kind of thing where you could pay to see the events that are of interest without all the other junk. Maybe they do, I got disgusted with the coverage and haven't watched the games in several years. Is such a thing available?
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2-03-2006 @ 3:58PM
Brent McKee said...
I'm a Canadian so of course I'll be watching the Winter Olympics. I'll be watching on CBC and would suggest that my fellow Canadians who are unfortunate enough to be living in the US either take impromptu vacations back home or find a way to get an ExpressVu or Starchoice satellite system into the USA.
I hear that "curling is just shuffleboard on ice" crap from Americans all the time. It is an ancient game dating back to at least the 16th century, and I like to describe it as the strategy of Chess mixed with Newtons laws of motion, played with 42 lb. chunks of granite. Shuffleboard on ice indeed.
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