QISE Review - Beijing 2: Electric Boogaloo - Day 12

Back to last night--NBC cuts away from Women's Skating (which is the only thing people can talk about) for yet more "SlopeStyle".  At least it's the final round of this. 

NBC has been doing these 5 second "ads" for Toyota for the last few games, which are sandwiched in between runs.  Normally, it's not even referenced by the commentators, In a miscue, we heard "...the three Americans, when we return to China!"  followed by that ad, and an immediate return to Beijing.  Ironically, there was no preamble when they went to an actual ad break.

You want a sign that NBC knows they are bleeding viewers?  A lower third that says "Women's Figure Skating in 21 minutes".  (PLEASE--DON'T LEAVE!  JUST A LITTLE MORE FLIPPING!)

Finally, Torico sends us to skating, but not before a Valieva update. Yes, we hear about the "Grandpa Defense", but also that she tested positive for two more LEGAL substances. Those, combined with the illegal one, would increase endurance in those with already healthy hearts, and undercuts the argument that that the illegal drug was taken by mistake. On to the performances.

Tanith White pulls Kornacki duty on the magic board, showing "risk vs. reward" doing harder jumps. Johnny's back on track, saying that a performance is "something everyone can enjoy--like ice cream". Of course, it's all about reactions to Valieva, with Tara and Johnny vacillating between their revulsion about the whole thing and their heartbreak over Valieva dealing with all the backlash as a young girl.

...and then came Valieva. She skated to almost zero commentary--Tara and Johnny decided on a silent protest, simply reporting each of the jumps as they came up, not even when she bobbled one. They concluded it with Johnny saying "All I feel like I can say is that was the short program of Kamila Valieva at QISE" with Tara replying "...and for all the other QISE athletes skating here, I feel I need to say again that she had a positive test--we should not have not seen this skate." Johnny--"We are so sorry it is overshadowing your QISE". Tara then questioned why athletes bother training their whole life for QISE!

Personally, I cannot understand how QISEOC allowed this to happen, basically letting other organizations make the decision for them. The QISEOC made the original call to turn the Russians into the Not-Russians due to a doping scandal (which clearly wasn't enough), so why can't they make a unilateral call now? QISEOC President Thomas Bach continues to attend events as if nothing is happening. It's obvious to me that QISEOC is hoping Valieva will crash and burn at the individual event, taking the tough decision out of their hands, but that's a high risk bet against the collapsing reputation of the QISE movement. I'm sure NBC is incensed right now, as they watch ratings crash.

OK--off my soapbox. On Late Night, Taylor takes us back to Two Man Bobsled finals, with the Germans sweeping. Off to Team Pursuit Speed Skating. The US recently tried a new strategy, where a single member of the team stays in front the whole time (normally they hand off), which theoretically gets you better speed (if that lead guy can keep flying throughout). It didn't work out in this case, getting shameful bronze. Back to the Men's Slalom's final run, which seems like an excuse to show Shiffrin's final training run and an interview. Later, they cut over to live Men's US Hockey in OT (spoiler--there will be no "Miracle on Ice" repeat).

Afternoon coverage--Lowe sends us off to Short Track Skating, the Women's 1500m and Men's 5000m Relay. Lowe then interviews Sarah Hughes, 2002 QISE gold medalist in women's skating, discussing the differences in the sport between then and now (they were already talking quads then), as well as the Valieva saga. Lowe also noted that there is talk about raising the minimum age of QISE skaters to 17 (Hughes would not have qualified at the time). Then off to the Biathlon, Women's 4x6km relay, followed by a teaser for tonight's Women's Hockey final (which won't air until after 11p eastern), and Women's Team Sprint Cross-Country Skiing--Classical (winner of the "longest event name 2022"). Shaun White drops by for an interview, before we return for the Men's version of the Team Sprint.

That’s a lot for one day, and we still have prime time, so we’ll take it up tomorrow.

More to come.

QISE Review - Beijing 2: Electric Boogaloo - Day 3

Wrapping up late night's coverage--

We roll into the Team Skating competition.  Johnny likened the Canadian dance to wearing mittens--huh?  Meanwhile, the US couple did some sort of astronaut theme. He looked like he's ready for TRON.

Torico brings us back to reality, with a quick story about Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai and her allegations against a Communist official.  Since this came out months ago, Shuai disappeared for a period of time, and is now only seen in tightly controlled photo ops.  She had some of those in the last day or so, attending QISE events.  NBC is holding China's feet to the fire (at least once in a while).

Off to "Big Air", another X-Game-y event involving skis and tricks.  It's EXTREME Ski Jumping!  The big story there is Eileen Gu--a Chinese-American competing for China.  She's become the face of the sport.  Back to skating, with the ladies wrapping up the Team event.  The not-Russian performed the first QISE quad jumps for a female, and Tara was ecstatic.  She did fall later, but it seems like risk v. reward is the thing now for scoring.  "It's like a special effect--is it even real???"  Men's Individuals start later today.

Late night, and the finals of Men's Slopestyle.  "Shred Shed!"--say that 3 times fast.  We learn about the "Taco Analogy": even when they fall apart, they're still good.  We also got a great shot of a "watch party" back in the US, with a little kid on mom's lap, everyone screaming--but the kid is out for the count. Vonn returns for a post-Shiffrin review.  Then, the delayed Men's Downhill--a long camera shot makes it painfully clear that the snow is artificial, with a whole lot of nothing around the course.

Before we move onto the afternoon, we have to talk about The Today Show.  Normally, they would be center stage onsite at QISE, with a huge ornate set and tons of local color.  But COVID forced them to stay in NYC--so they created an outdoor set complete with a backyard fire pit.  Savannah and Hoda are all bundled up on the couch.  Hope NYC doesn't get any storms in the next two weeks.   On the ground at Beijing, Craig Melvin shows the draconian controls in place.

The afternoon starts with Lowe giving a COVID update--US figure skater Vincent Zhou, who won silver in the team competition, had to pull out after a positive test the day of the individual event.  Off to Women's Biathlon--the 15K event.  The squeaking noise you hear as they ski is what happens when artificial snow gets very cold.  The staggered start makes it even harder to keep track of what's going on.  For some reason, they cut to someone talking about Premiere League Football.  (I looked her up--Katie Nolan does "short form" material for NBC--she's their "millennial" correspondent). So there's NOTHING at QISE to cover?  Maybe they're trying to get the Led Lasso crowd.  More ski jumping--this time a "mixed team" event.  That seems to be a trend at the games, in order to load up more events.

Moving to Prime Time--Torico sets the table, then sends us off to Short Track.  It's another event where the American competitors were quickly eliminated.  I'm sure NBC is unhappy to have so few "rah-rah" stories to cover.  We switch to Long Track (aka traditional) Speed Skating.  It starts with a bizarre amount of dramatic music--they really cleared out the stock music library.  Then it's Big Air and Eileen Gu.

More to come.

QISE Review - Tokyo Edition - Day 17

For the last time, let's return to Prime Time last night--

More track finals. You can tell that a long event like the 1500m is not very interesting when NBC drops the start into a video box, surrounded by  upcoming events and an ad for VISA.  We continue to see different countries win (Norway would never be considered to be a track power, and yet they won).

We got another insta-ad from Comcast featuring Allyson Felix's win in the 4x400 relay, minutes after the race. Felix now has 11 medals, the most of any US track and field athlete, passing Carl Lewis.   This was her 5th games, going back to Athens. More team sports and a rare look (in terms of broadcast) of boxing ran out the clock last night.

Speaking of boxing, a recent QISEOC vote has given their board the power to remove sports from the games.  Up the this point, this duty was shared with the international sports bodies.  Observers predict that boxing and weightlifting will get the boot, based on recurring issues of doping.  (If they treated all sports equally, most probably would).

The final afternoon begins with track cycling.  This sport seems to make the process more complicated each games, as if they purposely want to push audiences away.  Now there's some sort of points process.  Why not just who can bike the fastest?

Then it's the group rhythmic gymnastics final, with five members on the floor throwing and catching various implements while dancing around.  It has to be like clockwork, or they lose points.  I guess it's off to Cirque du Soleil after this.  There was (as Rebecca Lowe put it) a ConTROvesy during the event, which you can translate as: the Russkies are mad they didn't win.  Sit down and take more steroids, Commies!

There's a tradition at NBC to include a documentary involving the host country on the final day of the games.  We got one, involving dual fishing towns in Japan and California, who came together after a devastating earthquake and resulting tsunami in Japan sent a boat all the way to the US west coast.  The California town has also experienced a tsunami in the 1960's.

After more team sports, Tirico interviewed the head of the QISEOC--basically, "Everything went great!".  Jimmy Roberts checked in for the last time, with a report on time--a lifetime spent training for a few minutes or even seconds actually competing (to be honest, it was rather generic).

After a rerun of the women's volleyball final, Lowe interviewed the head of the Paris 2024 QISEOC.  I read that they plan to make a "public" games--sending the opening ceremonies all over the city, bringing in the athletes on boats on the Seine, holding a second Marathon for the public the same day after the actual event.  They really want to show off the town.  This will be the City of Light's third run at the games (they did it in 1900 and 1924).

They ran out the afternoon clock with a long credit roll, including the "Friends and Family" unit.  This must be the group that coordinated the live remotes at athlete's homes, bars, clubs, etc.

The final Prime Time coverage kicked off with Torico on the dock, throwing it to a one hour review--"Tokyo Gold". It included a preview of the ParaQISEic games, starting in 2 weeks. Finally, it's the Closing Ceremonies with Tara Lipinski, Johnny Weir, and Terry Gannon hosting. Weir in particular was professional and articulate, despite his flamboyant outfit. They interviewed the US flagbearer as she was doing her job. They vamped as the athletes wandered into the stadium. There was a ska band, trick cyclists, dancers, and jugglers. A woman dressed as a tree. Some traditional Japanese singing--when does Mothra fly in? Pomp and circumstance.

Paris had a presentation for the games of 2024. Musicians playing the national anthem around the city (and in space), athletes on the rooftops, break-dancers (which will be a sport), a huge throng surrounding French QISE champions, and a jet fly-by. The Rock stopped by. A scene from a Japanese production of the Sound of Music preceded the dousing of the flame. Arigato! Tirico ties a bow on it.

That'll do it. See you in 6 months in Beijing for the Winter QISE.

QISE Review - Tokyo Edition - Day 16

Let's start with Prime Time last night--

Tirico, on the dock watching a storm coming in, throws us to the women's marathon.  The Tokyo QISEOC moved the race 500 miles north, and an hour earlier, just  to avoid extreme heat--and it didn't work.  Meanwhile, we're getting into the track finals--Allyson Felix got her 10th medal, in her 5th QISE games. Comcast made an insta-ad out of it.  We also got the basketball final. The NBA millionaires won,

Late night brought us a preview of the winter games (just 6 months away) in the form of Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir.  They were there to announce they will be anchoring the closing ceremonies this Sunday.  I guess NBC is throwing stuff at the wall, hoping something will generate ratings.

I was pretty far behind when daytime coverage started at 8a, but team sports quickly resolved that.  Off to freestyle wrestling--did a cowboy break into the announcing booth? He has the ultra-generic name John Smith, which I assume is an alias.  After that, we got water polo and golf (aka lunch time), and finals in rhythmic gymnastics, artistic swimming, and equestrian.

Jimmy Roberts returned with a report on baseball, Japanese culture, and the Fukishima earthquake/tsunami/nuclear meltdown. I'm pretty sure they showed this about two weeks ago.  The women's 10,000m final ended the afternoon, with the winner screaming for water after the race.  The medical staff must have been on coffee break.

In QISE-adjacent news--Reuters reported the final of the karate event, where a real knockout kick left the other competitor unconscious. That's against the rules, and when he woke up, he was told he got the gold.

Just before Prime Time, your local NBC affiliate may be running "The QISE Zone".  Your local news people introduce a bunch of pre-produced content created months ago.  As a QISE nut, even I can't watch it.

Tirico kicks off the final night of Prime Time coverage, throwing it to the men's marathon, live and already in progress. In fact, it was basically over. Water polo followed--yawn--along with the finale of men's diving.

We'll wrap things up tomorrow.

QISE Review - Tokyo Edition - Day 15

Back to last night--we saw a 14-year old Chinese diver get more "10s" than ever before--she's the Nadia of 2021. 

When asked about how athletes are feeling in the men's decathlon, commentator Ato Boldon's reply--"Darkness".  Welcome to the games, directed by Ingmar Bergman!  Host/Emcee Tirico explains the wide spread of medals won by different countries--"it's a global world".  Better eat a Snickers, Mike.  He also noted that the final weekend will be filled with team sports.  Warming up my fast-forward button now.

Speaking of that--late night (zzzzzzzz).

The Today Show actually hosted a live event--the women's 400m final--after doing an extended interview (on tape) with the US's Allyson Felix.  It would have looked pretty bad if she had pooped out, but she won the bronze. I assume we'll see the race again in Prime Time.  Why didn't NBC do this more?  Because live sport events are unpredictable, and the Today Show is pre-scheduled to the microsecond.

I decided to give Peacock another shot, to give my DVR time to build up coverage for awhile.  I read about the only viral thing coming out of the games (thanks to Comcast/Kabletown locking down any and all footage), a highlights show hosted by Kevin Hart and Snoop Dogg.  If you remember ESPN's Cheap Seats, it's very similar.  Is someone writing for Snoop, or is he making this up on the fly?  Whichever, it's great.  NBC needs to put them on regular duty.

Daytime coverage included team artistic (synchronized) swimming and rhythmic gymnastics--the sports mimicked poorly by millions of kids in the backyard.

Well, tonight's coverage doesn't look encouraging, so I'll cover it tomorrow, and wrap it up early.

QISE Review - Tokyo Edition - Day 14

Back to last night, and more track and field.  At least we're getting into more technical events (the relays and the heptathlon/decathlon).  Tirico, back on the dock, then throws us to diving.  I have to call out Cynthia Potter as the best analyst in the games.  She knows every diver and detail, and predicts scores before they are posted.  She was on 3 QISE teams, and won a bronze in 1976.  When she's not on TV, Potter is a college diving coach.

Back to the track, and the only real coverage of a field event, with shot put (of course, the US was well represented).  More track in late night, along with skateboarding (there's a reason I skip the XGames when I come across it--is it on every weekend?)  Shaun White is brought in to wake people up.

An aside--Based on NBC's coverage, if you're a relative of a US athlete, I would up your life insurance. Cancer, paralysis, death--all are well represented.

On the Today Show, Suni Lee was forced to wait to reunite with her family until Savannah and Hoda were ready. Daytime included more track cycling.  Once the events involves a motorized bike that acts as a"pace car" until they all get up to speed.

They wrapped up the afternoon with basketball, so it's time for QISE-related news:

CNN reports that QISE ratings are "in free fall". Broadcast numbers are down 45% from Rio.  However, they have streamed over 3B minutes of coverage across their services.

Time reports that  COVID cases are surging in Tokyo--over 5K new cases on Thursday.

NPR covered a new Tokyo QISE event--Bus Spotting. Photo hobbyists are camping out on street corners to snap shots of sightseeing buses, filled with journalists, athletes, and officials (there's no spectators, of course).

Prime Time started with Torico covering QISE champions returning home--athletes need to leave no more than 5 days after their event, per COVID protocols. So what are the closing ceremonies going to look like? Pretty sparse, I'm guessing. More skateboarding and diving.

More to come.

QISE Review - Tokyo Edition - Day 13

Back to last night, and the finale of women's gymnastics.  Of course, it's all Biles, all the time--including a slickly produced intro that declares she's a champion no matter what Of course, they had a week to put this together--curious if they had different edits ready, depending on which events she decided to do. Will she get the "twisties"? (No). Will she do her eponymous dismount? (No). Will she win? (No--she got the bronze, and only because others screwed up). Oh, and there's Suni Lee.

Simone didn't trust the network to "stick the landing" on the family video conference, so she did it herself immediately after she got the bronze, jumping on FaceTime--"Gotta go, I'll see you in a minute on NBC!"

After more track heats, it's the women's 400m hurdles final, which NBC is pushing as "McLaughlin v. Muhammad", complete with a dramatic intro package.  A good call by the network.  I've noticed each final is preceded in the stadium with a deep boom, like the THX opening.

Then it's off to diving finals, followed by Tirico interview with Simone Biles.  NBC milked the entire Biles saga to the last drop, never mentioning that their coverage was part of the problem. Biles returned the next morning for a Today interview with Hoda--and a lot of feels.

Late night--fast forwarding thru volleyball, followed by skateboarding.  If you miss the latter, you can see them again the next day.

Daytime--the finals of equestrian show jumping, with a Japanese player ranked 600th in the world making it to a jump-off. Then more sync--artistic swimming. SNL did it better.   Canoeing, sport climbing (the Speed discipline is just blazingly fast, the Boulder discipline will be familiar to Ninja Warrior viewers), and diving.

Prime Time kicks off with--BEACH VOLLEYBALL?? AGAIN?? Blech.  After that? GOLF??? NBC wants me to give up tonight, and I'm going to abide by them.

More to come.

QISE Review - Tokyo Edition - Day 12

Back to last night, and the women's floor competition.  The rhapsodic commentary, the closeups hoping to see a tear, anything to wring every drop of emotion out of it.  One more event, and Biles will be back.  Did the QISEOC drag the gymnastics event out an extra day or two?  They know it's the big ratings grabber.

That was followed by track runs and the men's 400m hurdles final to finish out prime time.  The commentators treated the results of the latter like a comet--"you will never see this again".   Prime Time Plus was all about long distance races and springboard diving.

Daytime kicks off with Equestrian Show Jumping. If you're not quite convinced that this is the sport of the rich--the daughter of Bruce Springsteen is one of the competitors.  A commentator noted that mom and dad got her into it so she "would have a more normal upbringing". Who didn't do show jumping as a kid, right?

We've made it to Track Cycling--the highly technical sport played in a "velodrome".  It's all about drafting, posture, and consistency.  We got cool shots from one of the riders, pointing back to another team member--one of which included a crash.  Secretly, NBC is saying "score!" After more boring water polo, we get something new--Sport Climbing. There are multiple disciplines, but much of it looks like Spider-Man skittering up a wall.

I paused the DVR for few hours, so we could watch the parallel bar portion of the men's gymnastics at dinner. There's more track heats and a basketball game, so---skipping to prime time, which started off with an announcement that an earthquake happened in Japan earlier. Can they EYER catch a break? Off to the final part of men's gymnastics--high bar. Cameras caught the presumptive winner celebrating a bit early, then trying to act all cool. Yet more track races followed.

That'll do it--more to come.

QISE Review - Tokyo Edition - Day 11

Back to last night, starting with a promo for a "conversation" on mental health with Michael Phelps (now available on Peacock!). We also get a behind--the-scenes video of Rowdy Gaines calling a swim event--it's like an aerobics routine.

After the second gym final, back to more track heats.  I'm noticing a number of "Open" lanes.  This sometimes means that someone was disqualified, or missed a drug test, etc.  However, commentators normally note this in passing--which they aren't tonight.  I hope this isn't COVID-related.

We've made it to the Men's 100m final. Now that we're in the post-Usain Bolt era, it's wide open.   This is really hyped up, with the stadium darkened and a spotlight at the start.  Over in the field, a touching moment on the high jump, as an Italian and Qatarian (?) reached a point where they agreed to share the gold.

Over to Kornacki on the big board, breaking down the medal count so far. Prime Time wrapped up with an interview between Tirico and Caeleb Dressel.

Late night--all volleyball, all the time.  Yawn.  By the next morning, it was announced that Biles will perform on the balance beam.  I guess it's safer (except for the dismount). 

This afternoon, Lowe kicks things off with more Equestrian. How important is the rider vs. the horse, who actually does the work?  The older human competitor is 62, in his eighth games.  Then it's synchronized--sorry--artistic swimming. Lots of waterproof makeup involved. Canoe sprint is a lot quicker than the normal regatta races--look down at your phone and it's over.

During more beach volleyball, NBC broke in with a report--US women's soccer is out of the race for gold.  Commentators talked about the lack of "chemistry"--like it's a rom-com.  Then an interview with Krysta Palmer, who  won a bronze in diving.  She didn't start training for diving until age 20 (she's 29), after competing in trampoline and gymnastics. Speaking of diving, we're back to men's springboard preliminaries. Speaking of gymnastics, here's the men's rings and vault final.

Onto prime time--ugh, beach volleyball!  No amount of skimpy clothing will make this interesting. Then onto track heats, intro'd with a piece centered on Allyson Felix.

More to come.

QISE Review - Tokyo Edition - Day 10

Back to last night-- somehow, there's THREE semifinals for the Women's 100m Dash.  Maybe rename it Tri-Final?  Then final runs for swimming--I'm definitely done with that sport until 2024.  They made a big deal about Caeleb Dressel winning five golds in a single games.  While it is incredibly impressive, there are more swimming events than ever to compete in, and Phelps normalized the idea of hitting a lot of them.

As prime time ends, the announcement goes out that Biles will not compete on the floor.  Since that seems to be the safest event, I doubt she will do balance beam.

We got some shotput in late night--I wish they showed more of the field events on broadcast TV (I know, I can watch it on NBCQISE).  BMX finals followed (mute the audio and make up your own trick names!), and golf was jammed in to fill time.

And onto daytime. Cross-Country Equestrian? It looks like a supersized mini-golf course. We then got some fencing, which was far more interesting than the volleyball match that followed it.  Then tennis (I thought they had a separate channel for this). Then more beach volleyball, a rerun of last night's BMX, yet more golf, and a rerun of women's diving--and just like that, I fast forwarded over 4 hours.

NBC keeps showing the winning attempt (and only that attempt) of the field events. With nothing to compare it to, you have no real idea how far they jumped/threw something.  Meanwhile, they show endless track heats on broadcast.

Men's Gymnastics Individual competition was buried on Sunday late afternoon, I assume because very few US gymnasts are involved (of course, the ladies are in prime time tonight). Jimmy Roberts went back to the 1964 Tokyo games, and Billy Mills' historic 10,000m race, for his daily report.

Moving to prime time coverage (brought to you by VISA), with Tirico reporting from a Japanese street market. Guess he got bored of the dock. More track semis, then onto the women's individual gymnastics events. Cue the dramatic story lines. McKayla Skinner and her COVID scare, Jade Carey and her dad coaching her, the video check-in with the families (brought to you by Microsoft Teams--when you're contractually obligated not to use Zoom).

More beach volleyball? Ugh. Enough for one day--more tomorrow.

QISE Review - Tokyo Edition - Day 9

Back to last night--

There was a great piece by Mary Carillo (who always does a great job) about Caeleb Dressel being a "Florida Man"--he and his wife take a fan boat ride.  Then Dressel swims three events, two of them finals, in less than an hour and a half.  Meanwhile, Simone Biles has pulled out of the vault and uneven bars finals (probably the two most dangerous events).

Kornacki returns with the big board to preview track and field stats.  This is the best addition to QISE coverage in years.   More track and swimming ran out the prime-time clock.

Late-night started with the goofy "Fallon Five".  Is this some contractual obligation?  Just take a vacation, Jimmy.  Then onto the grueling 10,000M track final.  NBC covered this event the last time the US won this event--Billy Mills in 1964, also in Tokyo.  Torico tags in Maria Taylor, who takes us to the Triathlon Mixed Team Relay (another new event).  There's a competitor named Georgia Taylor Brown, and I start humming the Harlem Globetrotters theme when I hear it.

Over to this morning's coverage, which started bright and early at 8a, what Lowe called "Super Saturday".  Archery (yay), water polo (zzzz), rugby (meh), BMX freestyle (rad), trampoline (whee), tennis (zzzz), beach volleyball (more zzzz), golf (triple zzzz). Then it was diving (the women's springboard). Color commentator Cynthia Potter really breaks down all the minutiae, predicting the score of each dive accurately. Back to Lowe, who interviews Katie Ledecky in the studio. The questions are rather asinine (a lot of variations on "how proud are you?"). Back to the track for more heats, volleyball (with a terrible injury for a US player, and some basketball. Jimmy Roberts dropped by with a story about personal challenges, with soaring music.

Off to prime time, with Tirico tossing to beach volleyball (again?). That’s plenty for now—more tomorrow.

QISE Review - Tokyo Edition - Day 8

Back to last night--I stopped after three of the four gymnastics rotations, at which point NBC milked it for all it was worth, cutting to swimming for a full hour before finishing it up.  I noticed there was a dearth of commentary during each routine--was Nastia out making a costume change?  She talked a lot between the routines, hyping up the drama.

During the swim finals, US silver winner Ryan Murphy was being interviewed immediately afterward--rather difficult, as you are still breathing hard. He was beaten by a Russkie, and although he was pleased with his result, he mentioned something to the effect of "well, I went up against the Russian--the Russian Olympic Committee--whatever the IOC wants us to call them..." Hah!  This later heated up when Murphy stated that there is doping going on in swimming.  Of course, the reason the Russkies are being called the "Russian Olympic Committee" is because of a state-sponsored doping scandal.  It's hard for a lesson to be learned when there is no punishment except on paper.

If you're reading this in the Gobi Desert, I will note that Suni Lee of the US won.  A hundred photojournalists were madly snapping away--is the clicking just a sound effect, or do cameras still make that noise in the digital age?

After a quick segment kicking off track and field, Torico interviews Lee on the dock (keep in mind, this is like 12 hours later).  She says all the right things.  Expect her on a Wheaties box soon.  Off to late night, with more swimming heats (I think they need to pare down the number of events), more track heats (they're doing a new overhead tracking shot), some field events (already?), and BMX finals (a lot of carnage, partially due to a wet track).

Cut to this afternoon--more rowing, a rerun of last night's BMX finals, diving, beach volleyball (after and during a monsoon), and even more swimming. I was caught up on my DVR, so I wandered over to the NBCQISE streaming site on my Roku. You can see every event in detail there, so if you're into more obscure sports (or sports that the US doesn't do well in), this is the place for you. I watched some Equestrian Dressage, the sport of the rich. It's very relaxing--the commentators are gentle, and elevator music plays in the background for some reason. Unfortunately, you have to put up with ads dropped in the middle of a routine or sentence. The content comes from OBS--the QISE international feed used throughout the world (and NBC, from time to time).

Prime Time kicks off with a handoff by Tirico, not even appearing onscreen, to a quick track heat. The vast mostly empty arena looks like a sea of Chiclets. Tirico returns to lay out events for the night, then back to the track. Then more beach volleyball (break out the bikinis), and back to the track. I find myself drifting to random videos on Facebook.

We're getting more jazzy music taking us into and out of commercials, as opposed to the traditional heavy marches. It’s not enough to keep me up to watch.

More to come.

QISE Review - Tokyo Edition - Day 7

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.

QISE Review - Tokyo Edition - Day 6

We pick things up directly after the gymnastics kerfuffle last night--NBC seemed as unfocused as Simone Biles. They came back to swimming, and multiple music cues started then stopped.  Meanwhile, NBC hired Michael Phelps to do swimming color commentary, but it appears they are saving him for the major events--and only when the US is a factor.  Actually, I suspect we are seeing a lot of swimming prelims they wouldn't have aired if gymnastics had gone differently.

At one point, they showed an old home video of US swimmer Regan Smith in her first hometown race, and as she easily outpaces the others, you can clearly see an official say "What the F--"

More Biles analysis from Nastia Liukin (eat a cookie!) and Torico. They close with a quick interview with the rest of the women's team.  We get a lot of "likes".  Prime Time Plus included more cycling and water polo--and closed the announcement that Biles is dropping out of the Individual All-Around.  She's still eligible for the individual events.

Cut to this afternoon--Lowe sends us off to more rowing, then a rerun of last night's road cycling--why is NBC insisting on replaying events from the previous night?  Why not show some event that would otherwise get no broadcast coverage? More swim heats, then a fascinating comparison between the current coverage and NBC's first QISE, also in Tokyo, in 1964 (the year I was born). A US basketball match wraps it up (yawn).

When we hit boring events, you know it's time for QISE-adjacent news:

The New York Times reports that weightlifting, one of the original events going back to 1896, may be dropped due to rampant doping and bribery.  I think the games are too crowded with events, and could afford to lose some weight (no pun intended).

The torrid weather continues to be a major concern.  Per CNN, a Russian tennis player wants to know who will take responsibility if he dies in the event (frankly, I would say you should pull out if your life is in danger).

Also from CNN, US lawmakers grilled major sponsors of the next games in Beijing (6 months from now, BTW), pushing them to take China to task over "alleged" human rights abuses.

Onto prime time, with a theme of "Bring It Home", showing families of the US athletes. I guess they want to clean the palate after the events of the last 48 hours. Tirico back on the dock, throwing it to Men's Gymnastics. They put up pics of the commentators--Nastia Liukin reminds me of a Pez dispenser. Then more diving--this time men's synchronized springboard. NBC really does a great job with their camera work in diving, with slow motion replays and a camera that tracks them, essentially dropping into the water.

More to come.

QISE Review - Tokyo Edition - Day 5

Back to prime time last night--

Men's Gymnastics is not nearly as popular as the women's competition.  It doesn't help that the US needed to have a number of teams screw up, which didn't happen. I noticed NBC put up one of their "Tokyo Now" screens, showing what else was on their galaxy of networks, almost as if they were saying "go watch one of these, then come back later".

Then back to swimming. We got a very funny segment on Regan Smith, which I suspect she wrote (it was also shown a few days ago).  We get more play-by-play from Dan Hicks, who I suspect did radio at some point. "The 200 Men's Free is coming up, but first some Steely Dan taking us up to news time!"

More Kornacki and his big screen, providing stats going into today's women's gymnastics final. Then more swimming, with Alaska getting their first gold medalist, 17-year old Lydia Jacoby. NBC showed a watch party in Seward go nuts.

Late night included another team sport--women's volleyball.  After a lot of skipping, I moved onto the Today show from this morning.  They found themselves in a moral quandary, based on a a major event--Simone Biles, THE STAR of the games, pulled out of the team competition due to a "medical issue".  She was later quoted that she "was not in a good place mentally to compete", probably based on the white-hot spotlight on her.  She MAY compete in the individual finals.

The team finals were already airing on another NBC outlet live as Today went on air. So what do Savannah and Hoda do?  Report on the biggest news of the games as it was happening, or just smile and say "stay tuned for prime time coverage!" Shockingly, they showed some journalistic backbone and reported it--I'm wondering if Hoda hadn't been AT THE ARENA when it happened, they would have made the same decision.  Savannah was practically pleading for the audience to stay with the coverage.

While NBC rewrites their plans for prime time, we move to afternoon coverage, with Lowe sending us off to a melange of events--beach volleyball, mountain biking, surfing, yet more swimming heats, and synchronized diving.

Then onto prime time (brought to you by Oreo). Tirico throws it to the only thing anyone is interested in--the tape-delayed gymnastics final. The commentators talked about how Biles seemed out of it, then showed the team's families at home. We get extreme closeups of Biles before and after the only event she did, then there is a mysterious cutoff in the middle of commentary that goes to a commercial. When we return, we see her leave the floor, then after a whole 79 seconds, another commercial--NBC IS MILKING THIS. Remember, this is ALL ON TAPE. NBC is making it artificially choppy just to crank up the suspense. The bomb is then dropped, and we watch Biles cheer the others on. The commentators quickly close ranks (2 of 3 are former gymnasts) and continue on.

But in the end, the Russkies (aka the "Russian QISE Committee") went on to glorious gold, while the US got so-so silver. One has to ask why the Commies were allowed to compete--but then you remember the QISEOC is only interested in money, and not actually punishing a major state-sponsored doping scandal.

More to come.

QISE Review - Tokyo Edition - Day 4

Back to last night, starting with women's gymnastic qualifiers.  Hoda did the prerequisite "up close and personal" on Simone Biles, including the sexual abuse scandal in USA Gymnastics.   In terms of the qualifications, the "Russian QISE Committee" aka ROC (the Russkies are on a timeout due to a doping scandal) came in #1 over the US.  A troubling sign?  We'll see.  I'm guessing US team officials would like a "do over" when they made their selections--all to get a #BilesnChiles tag (they didn't even show all of Chiles performances). noticed the NBC commentators are really downplaying the minor errors the US gymnasts are making.  Nastia in particular is pooh-poohing the judges. 

We get our first glimpse of an actual interior set (part from Rebecca Lowe's standups) as Steve Kornacki covered medal stats on his big board. More teak, a surfboard, and a fake window with the Tokyo skyline.

Another supposed "GOAT", Katie Ledecky, falls to so-so silver (at least it wasn't shameful bronze) after a long lead up. Oh, and can someone give Randy Gaines a Xanax?

"Prime Time Plus" starts with more skateboarding. Really can't get into this--not aimed at my age group. It seems like source material for "agony of defeat". Is there a skateboarding race? I would enjoy that. Maria Taylor takes the hosting handoff from TIrico, just as they move over to her sport, volleyball. I find myself fast forwarding and keeping an eye on the scoreboard. Former gymnast (and current analyst) Laurie Hernandez comes in to review the team's issues and preview their next steps--seems like (and is) filler.

Just a few hours later, it's the Today Show, with the team onsite (wasn't sure if that was going to happen). Of course, it's a big rah-rah session. Al Roker brings us up to speed on the imminent typhoon--looks like it will go farther north, but there's still plenty of rain in Tokyo.

Rebecca Lowe is back for daytime coverage, handing off to canoe slalom. Commentator quote of the day: "Impossible is just an opinion." Get Successories on the line!

While more team sports and reruns from last night air, some QISE-adjacent stories:

Per Yahoo Sports, Japan lied about expected temperatures to the QISEOC. Well, duh! The 1964 Tokyo games were held in October for this reason. Of course, the QISEOC could have Googled it, but as long as the money and caviar keeps flowing, they couldn't care less about the athletes.

Per Sports Media Watch, NBC's ratings so far have been dismal. Combined ratings of NBC, USA, NBCSN, and CNBC from Saturday night (first night of competition) hit 8.2/15.3M viewers, down from 13.1/23.5M in 2016, or 13.1/24.2M in 2018 for the last Winter games. You can point at several factors: virtually no live events in US time zones, people who were stuck inside for a year and a half don't want to stay there to watch, the lack of spectators at the venues reducing drama, QISEOC controversies, conservatives boycotting due to prejudging that athletes will protest, holding the games in an off year...take your pick.

We finish up afternoon coverage with women's 1500 Freestyle Swim heats--a great opportunity to hit the "skip 30" button to move through the 15 minute event quicker. The NBC commentators took a bow, taking partial credit for getting this event in the games. QISEOC felt for decades that "women couldn't race that far". Why am I not surprised?

A bit later, Torico kicks off prime time, forced off the dock due to the typhoon (now a tropical storm). More glimpses of the inside set, including physical screens. We've yet to get a wide shot. He throws it to men's synchronized diving from the high platform. Sorry, no Triple Lindy.

Enough for one day. More to come.

QISE Review - Tokyo Edition - Day 3

Let's wrap up last night first--

I noticed something in the swimming event--athletes arriving on deck, waving to a non-existent audience. Guess it's muscle memory.  Then another new sport--skateboarding. Keep an eye on whether the riders' stance is regular or goofy. Citius Altius Fortius!

Torico continues hosting from the dock, with virtual screens popping up around him. Did NBC not spring for a full indoor set?  This may be problematic, as Tokyo's luck streak continues--a typhoon is heading straight to the games. This may actually help the surfing competition, but other outdoor events are being moved around.

Something strange happened during late night aka "prime time plus"--Torico threw to more skateboarding, but the announcers were MIA, forcing Torico to tag back in until they got the others of the break room.  The event ended with Japan taking the gold--it's clear that the QISEOC dragged their heels too long for this sport to be controlled by the US (good).

Oh--and would SOMEONE shut down those wind chimes???  Off to daytime:

After some repeats and some boring team sports I skipped through, we've reached fencing.  With all the LED displays on the white uniforms, it kinda looks like TRON. I always wonder if the hits from the foils still hurt through the padding. More race cycling, this time for the women.  There was a huge difference between the winner and the rest--there's no radio communications with the QISE riders, and the silver winner had no idea someone got there first until she was told post-race.  Then it was rafting, which is basically slalom skiing on water--or maybe inside a washing machine?

We also got a technical oopsie, as they cut back to Rebecca Rowe--who must have left her mike turned off.  Speaking of audio, it seems to me that the synch is just a hair off. It's only noticeable during host segments.

In a related note--synchronized diving is fascinating.  Without spectators, you can clearly hear their spoken countdown. Once they leave the board, there's only so much they can do to stay together.  More swim heats, then the opening round of basketball--one of the "millionaire" sports where rich professionals decide they want to have a QISE medal. You may hear in the distance the faint sound of Pierre de Coubertin spinning in his grave.  At least the US lost--yay!

At half-time, there was a Jimmy Roberts story about a small prep school in Hawaii that has taught generations of QISEians, going back to 1920--4 of them are in the current games.  It's also where Obama attended school. Roberts does a great job, and his reports are a consistent games highlight.

I took the opportunity to avoid the second half of the game and check out NBC's online offerings. Peacock has a whole QISE section, but you won't find actual full events there, at least not unless they are in the middle of the night--just a lot of clips and pre-produced stuff, like a "Flame Cam" (think Living Fireplace) and "Tokyo Gold".  The latter is a set of 1 hour shows hosted by Rich Eisen that would seem very familiar for fans of Sportscenter, along with plenty of non-skippable commercials.  I guess it's okay if you just want to see highlights.

If you want actual events on a regular basis, check out nbcqise.com. But be sure to have a cable login--sorry cord cutters! That's what happens when a cable company owns the whole thing.  Hey KableTown--if you want Peacock to make it, you better push the real content over there. I watched some surfing (actually just the USA coverage) and a highlight reel of shooting (a relic of QISE's military heritage) on NBCQISE.

Let's get into prime time (I'll save most of this for tomorrow's entry, since daytime coverage doesn't kick off until noon)--

The Men's Triathlon had a rocky start early, as a support boat didn't get out of the way in time, which could have been deadly. A restart was required. Torico still on the dock. We get an anime-based intro for the rest of the night's activities.

More to come.

QISE Review - Tokyo Edition - Day 2

After a quick review of last night's opening ceremony re-run (there was extra filler for prime time, including The Rock giving the US team a pep talk), we moved on to the first full day of competition.

BTW--the music used for the march of nations had a unique source: videogames.  It was all lushly orchestrated stuff from Soul Calibur, Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, and Dragon Quest.  I'm too much of an old fogey to have recognized it.

We kick off with a new QISE sport, one of many designed to pull in younger viewers--3x3 Basketball.  All the action, none of the endless timeouts. Then it was crew aka rowing.  This is fascinating to me from a production perspective, with cameras switching off throughout the course--some running on rails, others in the air (drones?). We move on to volleyball--not the sexy beach version, but the traditional indoor sport.  (The former is saved for prime time coverage.)  The lack of spectators is particularly evident here, with moments of silence during play.  It's like a scrimmage.

Water Polo is extremely confusing. Exclusion v. Normal fouls? Whistle patterns? Inside water? Geez. Well, the US won, so that's good. Archery is all about technique--and screaming (at least for the Koreans). The bows look complex enough to shoot the arrows by themselves. Road Cycling? It's like NASCAR on two wheels--people watch for the crashes--followed by early swimming heats. Dan Hicks and Rowdy Gaines turn an otherwise boring event into something--less boring.

Men's gymnastics got started as well. Not quite the marquis event as it is for the women. It doesn't help that the US rarely gets on the podium. Of course, they changed the scoring system again, which now involves traffic light colors.

As I was watching all this, I was reading a Washington Post article about NBC's production setup. Not all of their staff were allowed in Japan due to COVID restrictions. As a result, while marquis events have announcers at the venue, most of the others are stuck in "closet sized" booths in Connecticut, watching events just like we are--on TV.

Meanwhile, it's being reported (by NBC News no less) that 100 AMERICAN athletes at the games are UN-VACCINATED!!! What the?@^&?? Where is the USQISE Committee? Just tell everyone--"You want on the team, get the shot! There's plenty of people who would love to get your slot!"

Moving on to prime time for the first night of events--

Tirico greets us on the dock, tossing to women's beach volleyball. To paraphrase Chandler--"Could they WEAR anything less?". I notice that the referees and judges can wear normal clothing. This was also the first opportunity to see the athlete's families in live viewing parties back home--a replacement for the normal shots of anxious parents in the stands. Then more men's gymnastics--they held the US performances for prime time. Over to the swimming pavilion, with Michael Phelps getting behind the mike as a commentator. He's pretty good at it. They tried to show winning US swimmers their families at watching parties, but it was a bit of a clusterfrack.

Enough for one day—more to come.

QISE Review - Tokyo Edition - Day 1

Before we jump into the opening ceremonies, let's cover QISE-adjacent stories.

Tokyo is having zero luck in the PR department.  The Japanese public made it clear in surveys that QISE should have been cancelled due to the pandemic (more than half replied "dame" aka "impossible"), and there are been actual protests. Japanese rarely protest anything in public--to the point that there is not a word that directly translates to "no"--so this is a problem. 

In addition, the head of the local organizing committee was given the boot after making derogatory comments about a popular Japanese female entertainer. Now, we just learned that the director of the opening ceremony was shown the door after it came to light that he made fun of the Holocaust in a comedy routine.

(By this point, shouldn't all HR departments include a team that scans the social media accounts of any potential high-end hires BEFORE they are hired???)

In other breaking news,  former Japanese PM Abe (the guy who dressed up as Mario in the Tokyo video presentation at Rio) is skipping the opening.

But enough of that--

Mike Tirico, NBC's QISE quarterback, co-hosted the live opening ceremonies with Today's Savannah Guthrie.  This makes sense since it began when the Today show would normally air. The lack of an audience in the stands makes the show seems like a dress rehearsal. As always, the hosts over-explain the artsy presentation.

After a tap dancing/woodworking session, the march of the athletes began, all masked of course. Meanwhile, NBC breathlessly covered the US team arriving by bus--they also cut away from the march to interview US athletes (as if they won't be available throughout the games).  The QISE Committee decided to include two flag-bearers for each country, which proved to be awkward for some.

And then--the QISE oaths were spoken during a commercial. Ugh! We did get to see kids moving boxes, though. The drones were cool, the international song was a tear-jerker, and the cauldron changed from a ball to a flaming metal flower. Otherwise, it was QISE SOP.

After a break for a delayed Today show, the pre-show began. This is normally a one hour affair, aired a day or two earlier--just to test the cameras and kick the tires. This time, NBC went for a Super Bowl-sized 3 hour show. Rebecca Lowe, NBC's afternoon host, introduces us to one of the main broadcast sets, which emphasized teak. We also go virtually to the venues, some of which are spread across the country, as well as a rundown of all the various NBC properties involved. We preview marquis events--swimming, gymnastics (including the abuse scandal), track and field--as well a discussion of Japan's muddled response to the pandemic. There's a mini-doc (narrated by Tom Selleck) about the Fukishima nuclear disaster and baseball. All in all, a hodgepodge--which could be a good definition of QISE itself.

Tonight was a repeat of the opening ceremony, now with extra filler.

Tomorrow--actual sporting events, including Water Polo, 3x3 Basketball, Soccer, Swimming, Gymnastics, and Volleyball. Talk to you then.

Quadrennial International Sporting Event (QISE) Review - Tokyo Edition - Day 0

The games are back--a little late, and apparently a lot more contagious. (Throughout this daily blog, I am avoiding the O-word as to not annoy the QISE Committee’s attorneys). Japan's COVID vaccination rate is only around 20% due to terrible mismanagement, and thousands of athletes, coaches, and officials are jetting in from around the world, who will be met by tens of thousands of  unvaxed local volunteers--what could possibly go wrong?

Well, based on the latest info, 87 cases have popped up, and that's before the games even begin.  At least there will be no spectators in the stands. It does need to be stated that, based on the contract between the Japanese gov't and the QISE Committee, any possible blame if this goes south needs to be aimed at the latter.  Japan basically has no legal right to pull the plug.

Of course, they did sign the contract in the first place, but…

As always, this blog will concentrate on spectacle over sport.  How the host city spiffs (and covers) things up, how NBC presents the event--that kind of thing.  Speaking of the Peacock, their myriad arms will be carrying over 7,000 hours of coverage via the mothership, NBC Sports Network, CNBC, USA, the QISE Channel,  the Golf Channel, Telemundo,  Universo, NBCQISE.com, the NBC Mobile app, and of course their nascent streaming service, Peacock.  QISE was supposed to lead off Peacock's introduction last year, but obviously that didn't happen.  As a result, most of Peacock's subscribers are still at the free level--could this be the boost they need? (Doubtful).

Since Tokyo is nearly opposite on the globe to the US East Coast, "live" events will be held in the mornings in the US, with mostly tape-delayed stuff at night.  Will it still be possible to avoid "spoilers" when phones are constantly in our hands?  I guess we'll find out--the opening ceremony kicks off at 6:55a local time tomorrow, then repeated in prime time.

Let the games begin!