Fuck NBC for fucking with the 2012 London Olympics

[derby378]

They edited out portions of the Opening Ceremonies because they claimed they were tailoring the broadcast to American tastes.

They edited out when IOC President Jacques Rogge spoke in French at the Closing Ceremonies.

Speaking of which - they edited out Muse and Ray Davies completely during the Closing Ceremonies. And they also chopped out entire bits of the festivities.

And as soon as the Olympic torch was extinguished, Bob Costas delivered the line his superiors ordered him to deliver: "See you in an hour, suckers - it's time for a preview of Monkey Balls Hospital!"

Did Dick Ebersol have a stroke or something? Is that why this is his last Olympics? Or did the fuckwittery come from even higher up - for example, from the desk of Comcast's CEO?

Seriously, what do any of these people have against Muse, who wrote the anthem for the London Olympics? Or Ray Davies of the Kinks? Or that second George Michael song that got cut out of the broadcast? Or even Kate Bush, who didn't perform at the Closing Ceremonies but allowed her music to be used anyway?

For that matter, what does NBC have against London for wanting to honor the Olympics in its own way that they have to censor the broadcast for Americans?

That's right - how silly of me. We got the Spice Girls. All five of them. Can I pee myself now?

Fuck NBC. NBC now stands for Nothing But Chickenshits.

Edited to add: I'm derby37-fucking-8, [font color=red]and I approve this message.[/font]

[woolldog]

1. Olympics?

Did we just have an Olympic games? I mustve missed it.

[derby378]

3. Would you like another beer?

I'll get busy with the finger puppets for the grand reenactment. Might take a while.

[sibelian]

2. Success in anything happening anywhere but America isn't part of the story.

So such stories have to be watered down or just thrown away.

[lob1]

6. Yes, we're "exceptional" that way.

[mythology]

83. I take it that you didn't watch the coverage in other countries then.

The coverage always focuses primarily on people from the country. It's not just the U.S.

[derby378]

7. The really sad part of the story is...

NBC and its daughter channels on cable did make a much better effort to capture more Olympic events, even the ones that America wasn't expected to medal in.

Did you know one of the archers on the South Korea men's team is legally blind? I didn't either, but I saw him take gold along with the rest of his team because he's just that good despite his failing eyesight. NBC covered it all, along with a whole bunch of other events. I enjoyed seeing boxing matches between athletes from Cameroon and Mongolia, even if most Americans don't know "what street they're on."

For NBC to turn around and betray its audience like it did during the Closing Ceremonies is just plain shameful.

[sibelian]

24. I didn't know that - they recovered some dignity, did they?

I'd written them off after cutting the 7/7 tribute...

[malaise]

4. Just give thanks they did notcut Imagine

NBC sucks!!

[derby378]

8. YES!! You are absolutely correct

I sat there and cried during the performance. John Lennon was one of ChickMagic's all-time favorite people, let alone people in the music scene, and I know she would have wept with joy at that performance. I'll give NBC credit for running that beautiful vignette in its entirely, but that doesn't let NBC off the hook.

[Panasonic]

15. Hey - I haven't forgotten about ChickMagic

wondering how you are handling things now....

[derby378]

26. It's getting easier

I mourned Ginny for a long time, and there are still times when I get a little teary-eyed, but I'm trying to build a new life. Thanks for checking up on me.

[malaise]

17. So did I

I'm sure you missed her big time. I was crying too.

[KamaAina]

5. Monkey Balls Hospital?!

[alp227]

11. The show really is called Animal Practice.

I saw the moment when Costas announced the olympics would return in an hour after animal practice and local news. But I never knew that NBC edited out the Who until I read the news the next morning. I'd already seen the closing ceremony live online via a pirate stream of BBC One.

[GoCubsGo]

29. Monkey Balls Hospital was HORRIBLE.

I wish I had that half hour of my life back that it took to watch it. And, that is after I mostly stopped paying attention to it in the first two minutes. And, somebody got big bucks to write that shit.

[WinkyDink]

33. The monkey is a good actor! :-) (The romance and the girl's incessant blinking? FEH!)

[Ron Obvious]

9. "t was ever thus.

I haven't watched a US Olympics broadcast since the 80's, but everybody complained about the same things back then: excessive advertisement, inane commentary, censorship, jingoism, nauseating human interest stories, tape-delayed ("plausibly live&quot broadcasts.

CBC for those close to the Canadian border is vastly superior, and thank goodness for internet feeds.

Apparently Eric Idle also got bleeped during "Always look on the bright side of life" at the expected place. So petty, so puritan for 2012.

[derby378]

10. Yep, Eric Idle got bleeped

The FCC made NBC do it. They still have obscenity laws that govern that sort of thing.

Unfortunately, I'm in Texas. Unless you want to help me run some fiber-optic cable down from Saskatchewan, I don't think CBC's a viable option for me.

[sibelian]

21. WHAAAAAAA???

BLASPHEMY! (ironically)

[ProdigalJunkMail]

22. nicely done... n/t

[Ron Obvious]

45. FCC

I suppose it's an improvement that the song was played at all, considering how it made the fundamentalists see red back in the day. The FCC standards are so opaque - I only found out recently that criminals were never allowed to be shown to get away with or profit from their crimes on cop shows. That certainly explains a lot of Hawaii 5-0, Kojak, Streets of SF, Dragnet, etc, etc, etc. I've been watching on DVD lately.

Can't give you a cable to Saskatchewan, I fear, but I've heard it rumoured that there might be these illegal streams on 'tinternet whereby a person might see foreign broadcasts. I would never ever ever ever ever ever do that myself, of course, but I've heard of it being done.

[truebrit71]

64. It's 'obscene' to say 'shit' after 9.00pm? When is America going to put on its big-boy pants?

Seriously...I thought you guys had a first amendment or something about freedom of expression or something??? No? Guess not.


Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!Shit!

[nichomachus]

23. The big difference between now and the '80s

Was that they didn't have the internet back then. So, unless you really went looking for it, it was hard to run into a spoiler, and therefore delayed broadcast of events wasn't as big a problem.

Today, when the event is broadcast 10 hours after it occurs, if you don't want it spoiled, you pretty much have to lock yourself in the bathroom -- without your phone.

They need to come up with a better way to do this.

Also, I just want to watch the events. I don't want to watch these analysts tell me what I just saw.

And another thing (while I have your attention), I turned on the Olympic coverage the other night, expecting to see some events and got a full hour history lesson on World War II. It was interesting enough, but really?

[MagickMuffin]

42. I watched it streaming live and then the NBC edited version

I waited to see which or what music would be left on the cutting room floor (yes, I know that is old school)

I was a little surprised when the Idle segment came around. Costas informed us we were in for a surprise. I thought wow he isn't going to spoil it for everyone. Then lo and behold right before Eric's ascent Costas spoiled himself by having to spoil it for the viewing public.


I was disappointed in how much NBC chose to edit out. Shame on them!


We will be downloading a full version to watch again. Our feed wasn't in HD. I thought it was interesting before the event started the commenters informed their audience that if they didn't want to hear the commentary to push "the RED button!" Damn I'm always trying to find ways to shut the commenters up.

If only the "greatest country" on the planet provided us with that technology for those of us who like to

[Ron Obvious]

46. And Ray Davies

Also Ray Davies singing Waterloo Sunset was cut they tell me.

I wish selling exclusive broadcast rights were deemed anti-competitive restraint of trade or whatever the legal language would be. That way NBC, or ABC, or Hell, PBS, wouldn't have to pay through the nose for coverage and need to recover those costs by taking it out on us. Everyone except the vultures would benefit.

We (and I think I speak for nearly everyone) with our private media get a demonstrably inferior product than those in countries with public media who don't have to pay over the odds for the rights. Well, I suppose that's not that controversial a position here in DU

[derby378]

47. You had me at "PBS"

Please tell me more. Our local affiliate is responsible for making Monty Python famous in the USA.

(And Michael Palin got along very well with my future wife when the Pythons visited the studio.)

[truebrit71]

62. It was Ryan Fucking Seacrest that spoiled it...

Costas and Michaels only fucked up the beginning and "end" of the ceremony with their useless fucking platitudes and "hey whaddya know the Brits didn't fuck it up" comments....

[IcyPeas]

12. agreed, especially about Muse

I watched it online and got to see the entire ceremony live via a BBC1 link.

[derby378]

13. PLEASE tell me they still have a link available

Well done!

[DevonRex]

27. I really like Muse. I skipped last night.

Waited until today to get the full thing online since I knew I'd just get pissed off at NBC again. I figured they'd just bring out Tom Brokaw again to tell us something we already know using old footage put together badly.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

14. they fucked it up from the word 'go'

and never looked back...it was an atrocious example of American consumerism at any cost...

sP

[derby378]

16. More like American CENSORSHIP

Only this time it's not by the government, but by our own media. Wake up, America!

[malaise]

19. We did not have one commercial

so NBC delivered way more crap than censorship.
Our watchdogs know better than to cut opening or closing ceremonies.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

20. i don't know if it was overt censorship

or just the quest for the almighty advertising dollar. within a given time slot they can only show so much...minus their VAST budget of advertising minutes. so, they conveniently edit out anything that might not 'work' for the american audience by overlaying the commercials. i don't think NBC has anything against Muse or the Who or any particular bit they culled...they just chose THAT stuff to get whacked.

what i DON'T have a CLUE about is how Elton got left out of a tribute to British music and pop culture...THAT is much more censorship... probably just because someone got their knickers in a wad.

sP

[liberallibral]

39. Bingo!!!

[bigwillq]

18. I didn't watch the opening or closing

Everything in between was really great!

[elehhhhna]

25. ebersole is a dinosaur

ageist commment? sure, but true, in his case. didn't he fukup SNL ages ago?

[derby378]

28. Ebersol tried to save SNL from Jean Doumanian

I've heard horror stories about the Doumanian period. The only thing Jean did right was she took a chance on Eddie Murphy, and he started showing his potential on SNL until he muscled his way onto the permanent cast list.

Ebersol's reign over SNL produced some of the best American television ever, including the Fear concert on Halloween night, 1981.

How the mighty have fallen.

[Justice wanted]

30. I was lucky I was able to see the BBC feed. Watched it all the time and I am

hoping I will beable to do that with the next Olympic games.

[redroof]

31. London Olympics 2012 Ratings: Most Watched Event In TV History

The 2012 London Olympics won gold in the ratings race this year.

More than 219.4 million Americans tuned in, making this year's Olympics the most-watched event ever in US TV history, according to Nielsen. The 2012 Olympics beat out the 2008 Beijing games, which brought in 215 million viewers.

The NBC primetime broadcast of the Olympics averaged 31.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched non-US Summer Olympics in 36 years. The closing ceremony brought in 31.0 million viewers, also making it the most-watched closing ceremony for a non-US Summer Olympics in 36 years.

The London Olympics boasted an unprecedented 5,535 hours of coverage across NBC and its affiliates, surpassing the 2008 Beijing Olympics coverage by an amazing 2,000 hours.

"The London Olympics was a wonderful 17 days for NBCUniversal, exceeding all our expectations in viewership, digital consumption and revenue," NBC Universal CEO Steve Burke said in a statement. "Every part of our company contributed to our success ... We are proud to have been part of the last two weeks, and we couldn't have asked for a better start to our long run of Olympic Games through 2020."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/13/london-olympics-2012-ratings-most-watched-ever_n_1774032.html

[Baclava]

32. who gives a crap - the Olympics are for the athletes - not the couch potatoes

Brits had a fine showing, well done!

[derby378]

34. You do realize the Olympic Stadium only seated 80,000, right?

The Olympics are a global event to be shared with everybody. That's why I take a very dim view toward censoring the Olympics, whether for political reasons or for imagined economic gain.

[Baclava]

52. I watched more than the ceremonies for my entertainment - good stuff during the day

Listening to Doc Emrick call the women's water polo games was a trip.

Great stuff!

[WinkyDink]

35. NBC streamed it live, because of complaints about the Opening Ceremony. :-)

[derby378]

37. Oh, whoopie doopie derpy doo...

I mean, sure, that's nice, but surely they could have broadcast it on television as well? Even the part where Jacques Rogge spoke in French?

[WinkyDink]

38. I absolutely agree! But I knew they wouldn't. ;-)

[Travis_0004]

53. I'm guessing most of their audience doesn't speak french

NBC does what they think are best for their ratings. If broadcasting the full 3 hours would have been better for their ratings, then they would have done so. Their thinking was that most people would find 3 hours too long. I only watched about 10 minutes of it, so I don't really care either way.

In making a decision, some people will be upset, but the fact is, NBC is a business, and they need to make money (and use a big event as a hopeful segway to get people to watch whatever show they are showing next. If the average person found 3 hours too long, it would hurt the ratings of the next show, since people would change the channel before it was up.

I was too busy watching breaking bad to care either way.

[JonLP24]

70. I agree

also NBC can't make everyone happy. I skip all the ceremonies, in fact I even skipped the closing ceremony and checked out Animal Practice which many people complained that they had to sit through to catch "The Who" or whoever.

I do wish I was watching what you were watching.

[Le Taz Hot]

61. Which you got to see ONLY

if you subscribe to a TV service. Most of us watched it here:

http://tvpc.com/Channel.php?ChannelID=3

[amuse bouche]

36. I agree with your sentiment

I watched the closing ceremony online, (NBC) then later on NBC. They really chopped it up

Besides that, I hate how spoilers were everywhere. No matter how much I tried to avoid them,
the media just wasn't happy unless they gave us the results of events we hadn't seen yet.

The Brits did a great job. I read from some Brits,there was a jab at Mitt during the closing ceremony, but that must have been cut out too. I'm going to watch the BBC version and see what it was

[phylny]

40. Our daughter stayed up because she's a big fan of Muse.

She had work today, but watched the whole damned thing, and didn't see them. She was po'd, for sure. She ended up seeing them on Mexican TV (probably someone uploaded to Youtube).

[derby378]

41. I stayed up waiting for Muse, too

Not having Internet access at home, I was telling myself, "I guess Muse will take the stage after The Who is done with their set, seeing as how they penned the London 2012 anthem and all." Maaan, I am such a chump when I've a mind to be one.

[roamer65]

43. I miss CBC coverage of the Olympics.

I always have watched Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's coverage, until they gave it up due to budget cuts. NBC blows. CBC just turned on the cameras and showed the whole opening and closing ceremonies in their entirety.

[derby378]

44. I didn't know they discontinued it

What I really miss is ABC's coverage of the Olympics, way back in the day. They brought some much-needed gravitas to the event. Then CBS tried their hand at it and botched it mightily, so the Olympics migrated to NBC where it's been ever since.

[maryellen99]

67. CBC will broadcasting 2014 and 2016 :)

No more NBC for me!

[WolverineDG]

48. They didn't air the gold medal men's soccer game on Saturday

& it was a nail-biter! I saw it on a Mexican station instead. It was awesome!

However, they did show the men's water polo final between Italy & Croatia. Who the hell made that decision?

[derby378]

49. I saw Mexico vs. Brazil live on Telemundo

God, I love Andres Cantor.

[JonLP24]

72. I thoroughly enjoyed that match

Italy vs Croatia.

[Raine]

50. That totally pissed me off, I waited a fucking hour for them to return with 7 MINUTES of The Who

I dont' think I've seen such a crappy stunt to promote your fall shit before. I wouldn't watch their garbage new shows if they paid me!

[dflprincess]

51. If they edited the Opening Ceremonies for American tastes

Last edited Mon Aug 13, 2012, 10:51 PM - Edit history (1)

I'm surprised they didn't lose the tribute to the NHS - kind of ran counter to what we've told is the horror of "socialized medicine".

[vanlassie]

54. Cutting Ray Davies is a disgrace

They should hang their heads in shame. WTF is wrong with NBC. NOTHING BUT CRAP

[Blue Owl]

55. Thanks again for dumbing it down, M$M

Real good, there...

[malaise]

56. Well lookie lookie-NBC's Olympics coverage was most-watched TV event in US history

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/aug/14/nbc-olympic-coverage-most-watched
<snip>

Despite complaints during the Games of delays in broadcasting popular events until primetime hours, problems with online streaming and edited versions of the opening and closing ceremony, NBC said that more people watched the 2012 Olympics on television than the 215m who tuned in for the Beijing Games in 2008.

NBC said it also smashed online records, recording nearly 2bn page views and 159m video streams of its Olympics coverage.

NBC, a unit of cable operator Comcast Corp, paid $1.18bn for US broadcast rights to the London Olympics, and executives said earlier this month they expected to break even because of the strong TV ratings.

The network, which showed a record 5,535 hours of sports and ceremonies across multiple broadcast and cable networks and online, said its primetime TV coverage averaged 31.1m viewers over the 17 nights of the Games.

[truebrit71]

66. Proof that when you have a monopoly on the coverage people sit through shit coverage...

...if that's all they have on offer...

[malaise]

71. My exact thought

[Puglover]

57. They left out divers that got the bronze.

I don't remember which particular diving event it was but a Mexican diver took the bronze and the fuckers never showed him. After that I noticed they left out most of the competitors. Absolutely abyssmal coverage. Barely worth watching IMHO.

[NCTraveler]

58. And that says lots.

It's hard to mess up the closing ceremony anymore than London themselves did.

[truebrit71]

63. Not really, but thanks for playing....

...

[NCTraveler]

78. Yeah. It was pretty bad. But to each their own.

Nice eyes.

[HughBeaumont]

59. All I know is I'm glad Mike Oldfield played . . .

. . . during a tribute to NHS and British Children's Hospitals (wish it was a not-so-veiled "Fuck You" to America's for-profit health casino). That is, the parts I heard when the NBC spokesidiots weren't talking over it.

[derby378]

65. I still remember Meredith Viera trying to sing during the Opening Ceremonies

That's right, Meredith dear, the Opening Ceremonies of the 2012 London Olympics are all about you.

[leeroysphitz]

60. who cares

[Lizzie Poppet]

68. I didn't watch their coverage.

I watched live, on the dozens of online streams available. Much of the time, this was the (excellent) BBC coverage. I got to see both the opening and closing ceremonies in their entirety (as they happened). I got to see a wide range of events and listen to commentary that actually didn't make me want to gouge out my ears with a pencil. NBC can piss off.

[mikeytherat]

69. They also occasionally ran ads DURING a football (soccer) game. Not at halftime, during the game.

There would be a brief commercial, and when they came back, we'd hear the announcers saying, "We'll show you that goal you missed during the commercial..."

mikey_the_rat

[Dreamer Tatum]

73. They can't show every second of it on TV

if you wanted to experience the whole thing, maybe you should have gone over there.

And maybe they cut Ray Davies thinking that he was last relevant 30 years ago, and people probably had their fill of him by 1975.

[ThatsMyBarack]

74. NBC bleeps out SHIT, but....

It is okay to interrupt the Closing Ceremonies for a monkey show pushing jokes about animal sex and snake pee!

[Aerows]

75. NBC's coverage of the Olympics was nothing short of atrocious

From commentators that wouldn't shut the hell up, to selective editing and the ridiculous delayed broadcasting, I would say this was the WORST Olympics coverage I've ever seen.

I hope they never get the rights to broadcast them again.

[October]

76. Let's not forget the 4 minutes of BALLET! Prima Ballerina Darcy Bussell of the Royal Ballet flew in

to extinguish the flame...

a la Phoenix style.

But ballet is art, and I guess that's not AMERICAN enough for some.

[ThatsMyBarack]

77. NBC should.....

TEAR UP THEIR OLYMPIC CONTRACT AND FIRE STEVE BURKE!

[MinM]

79. Majority Of Americans Want NBC To Air Olympics Live: Gallup

[RobinA]

80. I Always Wonder

about this. Everybody complaining that it isn't broadcast live. Am I the only person who likes the Olympics and WORKS? I can't watch gymnastics at 10am, and I can't watch figure skating at 3am. I did see Greg Louganis bop his head on the board live from Seoul, but that was because I was watching at 7am while dressing for work. How would working people watch other than at prime time? I just don't get this complaining that its taped.

[malaise]

81. So you can watch the repeat

People want to see the games live

[Riftaxe]

82. Olympics on NBC...

[derby378]

84. Nice contrast!

[yawnmaster]

85. holy crap. the opening and closing of the Olympics are just big half-time shows...

it isn't the Olympics. The sports and athletes are the Olympics.
Online you could see every event live as it occurred, streamed by NBC.

I don't, personally, need the fluff of the opening and closing ceremonies or the oft inane narration of the events.
I did, however, love to watch the live stream, even if I had to watch at 2 am and later (earlier).

[derby378]

86. The way I see it...

These cities go to great lengths, sometimes ridiculously great lengths, to attract the Olympics. When a city actually lands the Olympics, the opening and closing ceremonies are not just a tribute to the athletes who participated, but also a way of reaching out to the rest of the world in a spirit of civic pride and the commonality of humankind. It's their way of saying "Hello, World."

And it's big and flashy and sometimes goofy and occasionally the rest of the world scratches their heads at what they're seeing in the main stadium, but it's the host city's gift to us, the ones who couldn't compete, the ones who are cheering on our friends and neighbors from afar.

True, we can do without a lot of the narration, but at least let us watch the spectacle the way the hosts wanted us to see it - uncut, unabridged, and uncensored.

[yawnmaster]

89. It can be watched on the internets that way. Watching on US based network TV you are going to get..

what the network thinks you want balanced with what their advertisers want.

[derby378]

90. Lots of people don't have the Internet at home

And my experience with streaming shows that it still doesn't quite match a regular broadcast.

[yawnmaster]

91. then they are stuck watching the show from a US perspective and at the will of the broadcaster.

I've been dissatisfied with the networks in the past, also, but oh well, life goes on.

In the olden days they'd be lucky to hear it on the radio or read about it in the newspaper (or see a newsclip at the theater).

[derby378]

92. That ain't the way it works, chief...

What American households were treated to on Sunday night wasn't an American perspective on the Closing Ceremonies - it was corporate censorship, augmented by the fact that NBC decided to interrup coverage with a preview of Monkey Balls Hospital instead of running the ceremonies uncensored and in its entirety. If North Korea wants to chop up coverage of the Olympics on state-run television, we can't stop them, but this is being done on our soil.

[yawnmaster]

93. that's America! and don't call me chief! eom

[alarimer]

87. I missed what was probably a really great Olympics because of my revulsion of NBC's coverage.

Every single fucking time they screw it up in the name of profit.

By all accounts it was a really great show. For the rest of the world. For us, not so much.

[derby378]

88. Do you have cable?

The cable channels had much better coverage of the Olympics overall than the mother station.