Back to last night--
I don't tend to comment on the actual performances, but Bobby Finke's comeback in the 800m Free swim final was astonishing. He was running in fifth throughout, and was a body length behind the leader, as he went into the final length of the pool. He somehow found a new gear and passed them all, winning the gold. NBC barely had any race footage of him to show--they had written him off.
After various technical snafus up to this point, NBC finally got the "live reaction and split screen" bit working with Caeleb Dressel's win in the 100M free--cue the waterworks.
NBC is now moving Suni Lee to the "America's Sweetheart" role in lieu of Simone Biles. Lots of coverage, including her poor father, now a paraplegic. Let's hope she isn't also crushed by the pressure. Kornacki returns with more stats leading up the all-around, which kicked off this morning, but is being saved (at least for broadcast) for prime time.
COVID watch--US pole-vaulter Sam Kendricks tested positive, so he's out. The Australian field team went into temporary quarantine because of it.
As I watched a a medal ceremony, I wondered why NBC, on it's galaxy of networks, couldn't have put together a 24x7 channel of just those? They are wasting a slot with their "Flame Cam".
Onto late night--I'm getting annoyed with 3x3 Basketball color commentator Kyle Montgomery, who vomits slang and catchphrases. "She could put the round thing in the round thing" "It flows like a HER album" "They've been in the lab, and they've got the formula". That's all from the first minute of play.
A quick break between the women's and men's events with a blatant plug for Amber Ruffin's Peacock show, disguised as an interview.
During the Today Show, swimming winners were interviewed. Some were clearly exhausted (can you blame them?), and they mumbled through it.
Back to afternoon coverage, and a melange of events. Rowing, water polo, BMX (total action!), volleyball, canoe, swimming (the medley relay--with men and women together--is a mess to watch). In a shocking move, Rebecca Lowe announced up front who won the Women's All-Around Gymnastics final--something that was aired live this morning, but won't be shown on the mothership until tonight. This is a sign of how little broadcast figures in media calculations anymore.
And then came prime time. Tirico was forced inside due to a storm, and throws it to gymnastics. I'm sure it was exciting for the three people on the planet who didn't already know the outcome. We do get to see a few non-US competitors--rare for NBC. We also got a (quickly created) slick intro called "Suni and Jade", narrated by Taylor Swift. Surely NBC didn't produce a set of different intros for all the team's permutations.
Meanwhile, I saw a VISA commercial that seemed to suggest that they were responsible for creating the internet. Hmmm...
More to come.