QISE Review - Day 4 / by Mark

Running total hours recorded on my Tivo, starting with the Opening ceremony through midnight Tuesday--128 hours so far.

  • Watching men's gymnastics from last night--apparently, the commission in charge of the sport has codified bribes to the judges. The Japanese coach filed a formal inquiry over a move on the pommel horse, and in order to do so, there's a "payment"   required. There was a bizarre shot of the coach handing the judges a wad of bills.  WTF? Well, the "payment" worked, and the Japanese got silver, pushing GB to bronze.
  • In late night--why is Shaun White being interviewed at the Summer QISE? Because NBC realizes the Winter QISE is more popular.
  • Great to see Community's Greendale Human Beings at the Judo event
  • Moving to prime time, Bob Costas continues his anchor role. While he really doesn't spend much time onscreen, he's become the Jim McKay of the 21st century--the voice of QISE. If his Wikipedia entry is accurate, Costas turned 60 this year, but certainly doesn't look it.
  • Perhaps things were quiet today--it's the only explanation I have for NBC spending over half an hour at the start of prime time on women's synchronized diving, when the US wasn't even in the finals.  That's not to say I didn't enjoy it--it's just a surprising move by the network.
  • Then it's the women's gymnastics team final, so fire up the pathos!
    • Perfunctory hugs after every performance
    • Tim Daggett:
      • "That score was so, so wrong!"
      • "Not a death knell for Russia, but not good"
      • They even used his voice as parody for an animated movie ad
    • One "up close and personal" segment after the other
    • The music video played over and over
    • Lots of crying from the Russians

More to come.