Who is watching on NBC?!

[ice coverage]

I love saucy Johnny! And I'm glad he's hard on the Americans because, as one, I'm not thrilled with most of our skaters either. I don't know about the "viral" comment but I do think many of them spend an inordinate amount of time coloring their hair. ...

LOL, are you implying that "inordinate" would not apply equally to the amount of time that Johnny Weir spent on his hair/make-up/wardrobe when he was a competitive skater?? Meaning Weir's off-ice hair; Weir's off-ice make-up; Weir's off-ice wardrobe.

Agree with Mrs. P.
I have no problem with Johnny's commentary when his criticism is based on his skating expertise.

But none of the U.S. men are obsessed with social media and going viral. Not Jason or Adam. And definitely not Max or Josh or Nathan or others.
So Johnny's comment simply does not make any sense.

 

[el henry]

Only saw a bit of the NBC coverage, but...

Good old Johnny. If anything, I am kindly disposed to Johnny because he was considered somewhat of a native son by the Philadelphia media. I wasn't watching skating at the time, but I loved that he was so OTT. When he snarks well, he is funny (the Kovtun commentary last year: "What is he trying to say? That there are monsters in his closet?" was a classic.)

But Johnny has gotten lazy as a commentator. "Trying" to go viral? As was noted upstream, what does that mean?:scratch3: Please tell us Johnny, how do you *try* to go viral? And it has jackson squat to do with the object of his commentary, so puh-leeze .... He's just phoning it in. Cause he's oh so cute and witty.:sarcasm:

No pairs? with Alexa and Chris the first American pair making the GPF in seven years? No ice dance? With the Shibs and Madi and Zach (and others not at NHK) going to GPF? A separate cable telecast don't feed the bulldog.

But TBH, that's why I only watched part. God, I miss Uncle Dick and Wide World of Sports....

 

[Daniel1998]

So how did they commentate? Did they do it live with the event, or live on air? Or neither?

And lol at the fact that they're showing GPF coverage a WEEK after it concludes. :con3:

 

[TontoK]

I miss Dick Button, too.

I don't mind the snark so much... Button could dish that out, too. But what he had that JW doesn't is the "teaching moments."

Dick Button would explain why a spin was good... or not. He'd instruct as he was commentating. That's what JW doesn't do.

Surprisingly, Tara does try to do that at times. Johnny's contribution has boiled down to cattiness and flamboyance.

 

[winky97]

So how did they commentate? Did they do it live with the event, or live on air? Or neither?

And lol at the fact that they're showing GPF coverage a WEEK after it concludes. :con3:

I think they recorded their commentary after the event concluded. With the time difference I would be shocked if they had their behinds up watching and doing commentary. It was killing me waking up to watch.

 

[CCC]

For me, "Johnny" is wearing very thin. His outrageous "Daily Looks" and lame comments are not doing any favors for figure skating coverage. Tara is holding her own. I look to figure skating commentary to embellish the performance, not to act like a technical specialist. After spending some time before the NBC broadcast re-watching some US Nats and Worlds with other commentators, that's what made me love figure skating. Can't imagine with the current NBC Broadcast commentary, that skating will be able to stay on network TV.

 

[mrrice]

Slider11,

Is this a joke?? Dick Button was very nice to people he liked. However, he was downright cruel to quite a few skaters including my all time favorite, Maria Butyrskaya. He said some very unkind words about Elena Liashenko at her final Olympics. I HATED it when he'd compare every skaters spiral's to Michelle Kwan's. In her defense, Michelle had gorgeous spirals. However, the girl didn't have a true Lutz and Maria and Elena BOTH had true outside edge lutz's.

 

[mrrice]

Only saw a bit of the NBC coverage, but...

Good old Johnny. If anything, I am kindly disposed to Johnny because he was considered somewhat of a native son by the Philadelphia media. I wasn't watching skating at the time, but I loved that he was so OTT. When he snarks well, he is funny (the Kovtun commentary last year: "What is he trying to say? That there are monsters in his closet?" was a classic.)

But Johnny has gotten lazy as a commentator. "Trying" to go viral? As was noted upstream, what does that mean?:scratch3: Please tell us Johnny, how do you *try* to go viral? And it has jackson squat to do with the object of his commentary, so puh-leeze .... He's just phoning it in. Cause he's oh so cute and witty.:sarcasm:

No pairs? with Alexa and Chris the first American pair making the GPF in seven years? No ice dance? With the Shibs and Madi and Zach (and others not at NHK) going to GPF? A separate cable telecast don't feed the bulldog.

But TBH, that's why I only watched part. God, I miss Uncle Dick and Wide World of Sports....

I was totally confused by this.....I can't believe they didn't show the Shibs and they were the only US Gold Medal in the event. WTH???

 

[slider11]

Oh my...guess I hit a button! I don't recall unkind comments made by Dick Button about Maria or Elena. I do recall him being quite complimentary to irina Slutskaya. My point is that my recollection is that Dick made instructive comments about the skating-some I think folks liked, some they didn't. He was witty, humorous and I'm sure offended now and then. But, imo, there was a touch of class to his commentary that I think is lacking.


s this a joke?? Dick Button was very nice to people he liked. However, he was downright cruel to quite a few skaters including my all time favorite, Maria Butyrskaya. He said some very unkind words about Elena Liashenko at her final Olympics. I HATED it when he'd compare every skaters spiral's to Michelle Kwan's. In her defense, Michelle had gorgeous spirals. However, the girl didn't have a true Lutz and Maria and Elena BOTH had true outside edge lutz's.

 

[whatif]

LMFAO, Dick Button?? Reallly!!!! I will take "shady" Johnny Weir any day. Thanks but not thanks.

 

[psycho]

Omygosh guys, guys, Johnny/Tara/Tarasova/Whoever is soooooo mean!!! I mean, sure, I laughed when they made a joke about a skater I don't like, that was gold, sooooo funny, but how dare he/she make fun of my favourite?!?!?!?!?!11111 My favourite and anything to do with him/her is extremely serious business because they are the greatest/cuddliest/hottest/fart rainbows and even when they mess up it's a masterpiece and how DARE that lazy/jealous/biased/uninformed/off-base stupid commentator not worship the ice my favourite skates on????!!!!!!11111 Uggghhh. And remember that one time the commentator fell/under-rotated/popped a jump? How DARE he/she now comment when someone else under-rotates/pops/falls. I mean, the HYPOCRISY! So annoying....So now in order to show my outrage at the commentator making remarks about my favourite that I don't like, I am going to call him/her childish names and totally miss the irony of the situation....

 

[Mrs. P]

Ah well, we all have our opinions. Thanks guys for participating in this thread with me. I had fun!

 

[solar]

I do believe that Johnny and Tara's comments can be a bit mean-spirited. However I'm refraining from saying anything else because I haven't seen the broadcast yet I've never been too bothered by their commentary though. It's nice to get commentary from past skaters, even if it is about costuming or social media or less-important factors during performances.

 

[temadd]

Johnny and Tara simply talk too much. Comments about the skate are fine, but the ongoing conversation for the entire 4 minutes is annoying. I'd prefer to hear the music and enjoy the skate

 

[humbaba]

Johnny and Tara simply talk too much.

Most skating commentators talk too much. When I run across a commentator who doesn't talk too much, it's wonderful. Like finding a diamond in a trash heap.

 

[skylark]

Johnny still on a roll! "Definitely a performance [Ashley] will look back on from YouTube, and have to learn from."

This was after the gang talked about how Ashley wanted to skate a program that fans will want to see on YouTube in the future.

Actually, I believe that years from now, present fans and new fans will definitely be watching both Ashley's Hip Hip Chin Chin and Moulin Rouge programs, for pure enjoyment, inspiration, and to see what a skater can do when she inhabits her music powerfully and marries that with a genuine connection with audiences, whether those audiences are live, you-tube or via broadcast. And when her performance shows what she's capable of doing technically. Not the performances from NHK this week-end, but from SC, from 2015 U.S. Nationals, and we'll see ... maybe also from future events this year.

Why were Ashley's PCS high? Same reason other skaters have had their PCS held up even on a bad skate day.

I've been wondering why there's so much bad will expressed toward Ashley around here. Closer observation shows me that her critics are often fans of her competitors. So, jealousy on behalf of their skaters, who may not feel the same ill will. My bet is that most of the skaters are respectful toward each other. As Liza T. said at SC, "Everybody can make a mistake." And they know everyone can have a bad skate, a bad day, a bad competition, sometimes a bad year.

Many people don't like the scores that Ashley receives. I think the judges are better judges of whether or not she deserves her marks. Chances are they appreciate her technique and her artistry.

 

[Matilda]

Most skating commentators talk too much. When I run across a commentator who doesn't talk too much, it's wonderful. Like finding a diamond in a trash heap.

I wouldn't blame the commentators for this. It's usually the producers (who may not even be into skating as a sport) who expect the commentators to, you know, commentate during the programs. They cannot leave it all to the replay, especially on NBC, where time is limited to begin with and much of the replay time is consumed by ads. Johnny and Tara did not say a word during the last two minutes of Yuzu's FS though, which was lovely.

 

[Matilda]

For those of you complaining about NBC not showing pairs or dance, here's Johnny:

@JohnnyGWeir: @jkinchicago As a commentator I have no production control of our telecasts. I too would like to see pairs and dance. Please write @NBC.

https://twitter.com/johnnygweir/status/671114223875936257

 

[apgold]

I guess we'll have to write NBC!

Still, I really don't understand why NBC didn't show the Shibs - they have sometimes shown C/B on previous broadcasts if they won gold. They could've skipped Zijun Li's performance in the ladies to make time for it (no offense to Zijun, I like her skating but her FS was unremarkable).

As for Johnny's comments, I don't mind a little snark but I felt his comments about Jason and Mirai weren't even snarky, just petty. I actually am starting to enjoy Tara's commentary more - she seems more fair and insightful.

 

[ice coverage]

... I've been wondering why there's so much bad will expressed toward Ashley around here. ...

You don't like the scores that Ashley receives. ...

Hope you realize that the focus of sabinfire's post was not Ashley.

Continuing the line of conversation earlier in the thread, sabinfire merely made note of another example of what some felt was a pattern in Johnny's NHK commentary. The example at hand happened to be Johnny's commentary about Ashley.

sabinfire's post did not express any bad will toward Ashley.

Nor did give sabinfire give any opinion on Ashley's scores.