The race


John de Rosier

6 Responses

  1. cp retiree says:

    I’m sure NBC saw this coming. But it seems the only way to beat these three would have been to air everything live — leaving it up to the viewers to record / replay the after-hours broadcasts.

    And unless NO one at the network EVER accesses Google / Facebook / Twitter (on a daily basis) to their OWN advantage, they have no reason to complain about them.

  2. Phil says:

    Let’s face it. NBC did this as poorly as they do the news and everything else. Facebook and Twitter can say who won but the drama is in seeing it.

  3. ReepDaggle says:

    I don’t really understand the basis for criticizing NBC. Their job is to entertain, not to name the winners as quickly as possible. Social media can do that. What it CAN’T do is show the events on multiple channels, with close-ups, replays, slow motion, etc. I don’t follow the games that closely, but if I did, I wouldn’t’ want to know who wins until I watch the event itself. What does knowing the winner ahead of time get me, other than a diminished viewing experience?

    OMG, I actually agree with Phil’s second sentence.

  4. elmer says:

    Heard this elsewhere but agree.

    The Olympics are less about “sports” and more about emotions. Few in the US care at all about the specific sports except at the Olympics, but the fascination is in the stories, the set ups, the perfomance, then the reactions.

    NBC gets it. They know that if you desperately care about the 110 meter women’s hurdles, you know about and have seen the race before prime time. But to the other 99% of the audience, it will wait until 8 to midnight.

    More to the point is the comparison of the social media to real news, where I care a lot more about a report with a little time for the story to have unfolded and reporter reflection than the immediacy of the Web/Twitter (God help us all) and the like.

  5. Tim says:

    Is no one going to step up and say that this is Obama’s fault?

  6. Phil says:

    Reep, by November I’ll have you converted!