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NBC refuses to learn from past Olympic mistakes

Published Saturday, August 14, 2004 by seanlmccarthy | E-mail this post

Ah, yes, the 2004 Summer Olympics have begun in Athens, Greece, and already I'm hard-pressed to keep my fingers off of the mute button. We've been living in a 24-7, insta-news world for more than a little while, but NBC continues to employ tape-delay for no apparent reason whatsoever. I mean, if you're going to delay the opening ceremonies broadcast, then shouldn't the anchors (Bob Costas and Katie Couric) have plenty of said time to prepare, um, I don't know, things to say and times when they need not say anything? Instead we see that the Olympics is much more important than a political convention in the most tumultuous time of our generation, yet about as important as the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. No offense intended to Macy's.
Within the first 45 minutes, we've heard more than enough intoning intros by James Earl Jones, several commercial breaks, and heard Couric compare a floating model of the Parthenon to the Wicked Witch of the West's house. Which, of course, prompted Costas to try scatting music from The Wizard of Oz. About a minute later, Costas is wondering aloud about the dry cleaning bill for the Greek costumes. Swell. Just swell. Don't broadcasters of worldwide events know that they're not allowed to mock the proceedings? That's our job. Until then, hit mute.