I find myself frequently wishing she'd add specifics. For Flavia's floor, for instance, she said, "There are several small deductions that are less visible to the naked eye," and I was like, "So, give examples?" I could see what they were, I assume Laurie could see them because she mentioned them (which frankly is better than "they'll find five tenths from somewhere but we don't know where"), so why not point some out? Respect the fans enough to do so.
I did also find myself wondering how much NBC has boxed them in from being able to really do a decent job. They've said in the past that they want to build narrative and create stories, but all I see them trying to do is create superstars. If they wanted narrative there were a ton of options they just didn't even touch on, with so many routines they didn't show. Starting from the bottom and working up, Japan making it to team finals with four members who performed AA well, Romania in team finals for the first time since London, the battle for bronze and silver in which five teams (China, Canada, GB, Brazil, Italy) all had a shot into the last rotation and a half or so. I get that the US was basically going to win barring disaster, but there was competition that we just ignored below them. NBC is lucky Italy and Brazil medalled because they sure as heck ignored the existence of the other teams for most of it. We saw three dismounts and one routine from GB? One vault from Canada? I think two full routines from China and then clips of falls? And nothing of the other teams, it was bad. How do you make a narrative of that? And did NBC make the decision to show mostly only France the other day in qualifications? No wonder the commentary and mood got abysmal. They need to let sport happen instead of creating a narrative ahead of time and pushing it. Sport is not scripted, they need to stop trying to script it.
/ends rant
I did also find myself wondering how much NBC has boxed them in from being able to really do a decent job. They've said in the past that they want to build narrative and create stories, but all I see them trying to do is create superstars. If they wanted narrative there were a ton of options they just didn't even touch on, with so many routines they didn't show. Starting from the bottom and working up, Japan making it to team finals with four members who performed AA well, Romania in team finals for the first time since London, the battle for bronze and silver in which five teams (China, Canada, GB, Brazil, Italy) all had a shot into the last rotation and a half or so. I get that the US was basically going to win barring disaster, but there was competition that we just ignored below them. NBC is lucky Italy and Brazil medalled because they sure as heck ignored the existence of the other teams for most of it. We saw three dismounts and one routine from GB? One vault from Canada? I think two full routines from China and then clips of falls? And nothing of the other teams, it was bad. How do you make a narrative of that? And did NBC make the decision to show mostly only France the other day in qualifications? No wonder the commentary and mood got abysmal. They need to let sport happen instead of creating a narrative ahead of time and pushing it. Sport is not scripted, they need to stop trying to script it.
/ends rant
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