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NBC shows admirable restraint in pairs-gold story
By Scott D. Pierce
Deseret News television editor
Just as the IOC and SLOC managed to make the unprecedented awarding of a second gold medal in pairs figure skating an important moment without overplaying it, so did NBC's coverage.
A simple statement by analyst Sandra Bezic — "Isn't this incredible?" — needed no elaboration. And received none.
And it was hard to argue with Tom Hammond when he said there was "more then a touch of irony there" as IOC member and ISU President Ottavio Cinquanta — the man who seemingly resisted this solution — presented the medals to the Canadians, Jamie Sale and David Pelletier.
The NBC announcers went out of their way not to paint the Russians, Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze, as villains in the scandal, heaping praise on all four skaters. "If there's a price to be paid, the skaters shouldn't have to pay it," said Scott Hamilton.
NBC actually managed to restrain itself, for the most part. It wouldn't have been surprising to see the network promoting the upcoming medals ceremony at every opportunity — both within the other events and in advertisements.
But, while it was mentioned several times, it wasn't made the main focus of coverage — at least not until rather late in the evening.
(Not that NBC managed to stay away from hype altogether. The ominous report on the state of ice-dancing was introduced with the pairs skating controversy, and there was even some slow-motion tape that managed to make the suspended French judge look shifty-eyed.)
And some of what could have turned into excess turned into nice moments, like a snippet of Sale giving Sikharulidze a hug an hour or so before the ceremony and video of the four chatting amiably before they went out for the ceremony.
The NBC team's real challenge, however, will be to put "Skategate" behind them for the final week of the Games. Not ignore it, certainly, if it's relevant. But not obsess over it, either.
WELL, DUH: NBC reporter Kelly O'Donnell managed to make herself look silly interviewing the four skaters after the ceremony. First, she told Sale that she'd be happy to know she wasn't the only Canadian gold medalist on Sunday because that country's hockey team had won that day.
Um, they're a long way from awarding any medals in hockey.
Then O'Donnell held her microphone to Pelletier's face as she asked him a question, which made that question inaudible to viewers.
LEAVING US LOST: NBC's speedskating analysts, Ted Robinson and Eric Flaim, didn't do much to help viewers at the end of the 1,000-meter short-track speedskating race that left four of the five finalists sprawled on the ice, an also-ran (Australian Steven Bradbury) with the gold medal and American Apolo Anton Ohno scrambling to make it over the finish line and with a laceration on his leg.
Flaim opined that the race ought to be rerun, but neither he nor Robinson explained what was going on or why. A complete explanation didn't come until after the U.S.-Russia hockey game.
THE RATING GAME: It wasn't exactly a miracle on ice, but Saturday night's hockey faceoff between the Americans and the Russians attracted the highest ratings for any hockey game of any kind on TV since the United States beat the USSR in 1980.
A 7.2 rating is by no means enormous, but it's darn good considering the game began at 11:30 p.m. on the East Coast. (And it was 26 percent higher than what NBC has been averaging in the time slot with "Saturday Night Live.") However, it couldn't really compare to those games back in 1980. The U.S. win over the USSR pulled a 23.9; the gold-medal game against Finland did a 23.2. And both those games were shown on tape.
On a less positive note, NBC's numbers in prime-time continued their decline — Saturday's 14.0 rating was the lowest-rated night yet. That dropped NBC's nine-night average from Salt Lake City to an 18.4 rating.
That's 12 percent higher than what CBS had after nine days in Nagano, but then the 1998 Olympics were the lowest rated since 1968. Of course, any kind of improvement in an era when all major sports franchises are in decline is an accomplishment.
Salt Lake continued to outperform the nation as a whole, averaging a 31.6 rating after nine days.
E-MAIL: pierce@desnews.com
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February 18, 2002
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