NBC Broadcast Criticism/Conversation

[MaryClare]

I only meant technical to the extent that Tim gets technical, basic knowledge of the COP and judging.

If someone misses their only acro series on beam, how confident are we of John or Sam picking up on that? Or are they going to sit there going oh that score seems kinda low?

 

[esta]

Same!! :smiling_face_with_three_hearts: They are in my humble opinion of gold standard and just my preference over all others.

 

[rlayt]

I love K & B too. If only…

 

[RichardL]

Are we really thinking Tim Daggett is gone as commentator? And we get these smiley hype people instead who really don’t seem to be keeping up with the rules of the sport or the past results of the athletes they’re talking about? This is so disappointing.

 

[arabiandoublefront]

Well, he isn’t gone completely yet, but I wonder if NBC is trying to go the same route with gymnastics as they’ve gone with figure skating by hiring relatively younger commentators. I’m still salty about Scott Hamilton being gone.

 

[Laura722]

It really stinks Tim won’t be commentating for WAG. I hope it wasn’t because of the gymternet blaming him for hyping up Simone going into Toyko, which obviously was encouraged by NBC.

 

[rlayt]

EVERY media person in and outside USAG hyped Simone. Simone’s people hyped her too. Tim shouldn’t get blamed.

 

[makam]

I mean, she deserved the hype. Twisties were a fluke. Absent extenuating circumstances (she could have caught covid too), Simone was the safest bet other than Katie Ledecky. People who blame comentators for network policy are aiming for the wrong target. I don’t Xwitter, but people should be bombarding nbc with requests for quality coverage for the Olympics. They have a year to figure out a picture in picture or chyron scheme that keeps the US gymnasts on the screen while still showing the other competitors.

(Getting FIG to figure their judging shit out and speed it up. When the gymnaverse judges can come up with a score 30 seconds after a routine and it is within a tenth or two of actual, there is no excuse for 5 min waits on bb–especially since it isn’tlike they are getting replays.)

 

[Big_rock_show]

Another aspect of Tim I liked - he obviously attended and took notes at podium trainings and talked to the athletes, because he could tell you if a gymnast’s performance differed from what they had been doing in the practice gym or podium trainings. And often he could talk about how the gymnasts were feeling, because he had just been talking with them. I liked hearing those tidbits.

 

[JDB]

Tim’s MAG commentary is more passionate since he’s been involved in men’s competition and coaching. I think him focusing on men’s coverage is a good development.

 

[RichardL]

I agree, but at least Tara and Johnny are super smart about the sport way beyond their own competitive careers, which they reference almost off-handedly as if it was some other life (which it was). Peszek for example (Roethlisberger too, Hernandez I can’t even begin to discuss) is way too concerned with stuff like how the athletes are feeling or whether their minds are in the right place or whatever, but there’s a whole sport being contested. It’s not a reality TV show.

 

[CameliasFingerpaint]

This is what confuses me about the gymnastics coverage. Johnny and Tara use technical jargon all the time and do not dumb down their coverage in a sport that I feel is more difficult to understand technically.

 

[JDB]

NBC’s figure skating coverage is better overall. Commentary makes the IJS accessible. The tech score display box is more informative. And figure skating broadcasts include entertaining vignettes.

 

[RedBirdie]

Same with their Olympic diving coverage. It’s really great, absolutely no dumbing down for casual viewers.

 

[makam]

Tech box is what gymnastics needs. Tell us, on the screen, what is being intended and what the value is. For things like BB and UB, 1 button should be able to mark an iffy connection for a quick update. I know that gymnastics moves faster than figure skating but it would at least be a start. Obviously that only gives half of the score but figure skating also only does that and it has been working okay.

It is a bit more challenging that gymnastics moves all have multiple names (the technical name, the creator name, sometimes the shorthand name, a creator + half name even if there is a new creator) so they would have to come up with a scheme and hold to it.

 

[rlayt]

NBC, if you are reading, the red, yellow and green things are not sufficient. Casual fans can handle more complexity.

NBC owns several channels. Why not have one with more technical stuff? Couldn’t they have a technical commentator on one?

 

[arabiandoublefront]

I can’t stand Tara or Johnny ninety percent of the time, nor can most other figure skating fans. I literally think the only thing they handled well was the Valieva drama.

 

[JaJa]

I mean, she deserved the hype. Twisties were a fluke.

Totally correct

 

[Matilda23]

When Tara and Johnny didn’t commentate Valieva’s long program?

 

[CameliasFingerpaint]

I’ve heard that many figure skating fans feel the same way, which really puts in perspective how fucking awful NBC’s gymnastics coverage is.