Johnny & Tara not fun this event. Fewer replays.

[Query]

Watching NBC Olympic coverage, Johnny and Tara used to be a lot of fun to watch.

Not this year.

Also, I think the replays are fewer this year. It used to be one would see several jumps, etc., per performance. So either they are spending more time in ads, or there is less time between performances.

It has always amazes me how judges - and sports commentators - are able to catch incredibly small errors. A few milliseconds on one very slightly missed edge, and they see it. Granted, Johnny and Tara say the technical specialist miffed several calls, but still - how can anyone see such minor issues at all? Sure, at this level, they probably know the routine, so can specifically look for the most likely mistakes in real time, and go back and look again - but many of the mistakes are so small, and so short, it seems impossible they would notice them.

[tstop4me]

It has always amazes me how judges - and sports commentators - are able to catch incredibly small errors. A few milliseconds on one very slightly missed edge, and they see it. Granted, Johnny and Tara say the technical specialist miffed several calls, but still - how can anyone see such minor issues at all? Sure, at this level, they probably know the routine, so can specifically look for the most likely mistakes in real time, and go back and look again - but many of the mistakes are so small, and so short, it seems impossible they would notice them.

But now in figure skating, as in many other sports, the action is digitally recorded by multiple high-resolution cameras, providing multiple points-of-view.  You can zoom-in for extreme close-ups and do a frame-by-frame review.  There are always some close calls, of course, so there remains some subjectivity (just like in tennis when a ball hits real close to the outer edge of a line).  But I wonder if there is an appeal process in the event of a blatant goof by a technical judge (or judges)?

[AgnesNitt]

My non figure skating friends have been commenting on the snark in Johnny and Tara. Since I don't watch TV, I haven't had a chance to observe.

PS I hate the Team competition.

[tstop4me]

My non figure skating friends have been commenting on the snark in Johnny and Tara. Since I don't watch TV, I haven't had a chance to observe.

Believe me, you haven't missed anything.  I didn't like Johnny and Tara at all when they first started, and my opinion hasn't changed since.  Fortunately, the ice dancing commentary is handled by Tanith White ... she has true class, and is a welcome relief.

[FigureSpins]

I thought they had some valuable insight before they started coordinating their outfits.  At that point, they lapsed into cattiness and haven't come up for air since.  There should be a dress code for NBC on-camera personalities that excludes excessive rhinestones.

Johnny's comments usually favor skaters with links to Russia or the old eastern block countries of the USSR.  He's a bit too obvious - why is he commenting for a US network?

This Tweet explains a lot about the switch in temperment.

Added Weir: "It's the era of reality TV. And we try to make the best reality TV show there is at the Olympics."

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/article199314284.html#storylink=cpy

Why bother being a contributor when you can be a Sensation, as he was in "Be Good, Johnny Weir" before he joined NBC? 

Their contract should be ending soon and they can go on to greater vehicles like Big Brother.

[Bill_S]

I'm old enough to miss Dick and Peggy.

One bright note - I did enjoy NBC's "Olympic Ice" segment (Liam McHugh with Scott Hamilton and Tanith White). The first one was intelligent and done well. I hope it continues with the same level of content that the first one had.

[amy1984]

I follow both of them on social media and they're fun.  But for actual coverage I'd prefer literally anyone else.  Or silence.

I can't remember where I read this... if it was an article or just someone commenting online... but they said basically if they're this mean on air, imagine what they say when they think no one is listening.

They're mean girls.  And they're way too old for that.  High school was a couple decades ago.

I think NBC was probably sort of like 'well the sport is full of drama so why not get some commentators who participate!' But what they don't realize is that us viewers mostly just watch for the skating.  Most of the people I know who are actual skating fans tolerate them at best.  They seem to work better with casual viewers who are watching for the olympics, etc.

[tstop4me]

Johnny's comments usually favor skaters with links to Russia or the old eastern block countries of the USSR.  He's a bit too obvious - why is he commenting for a US network?

Hmm, I wonder if Robert Mueller is following this?

[Query]

But now in figure skating, as in many other sports, the action is digitally recorded by multiple high-resolution cameras, providing multiple points-of-view.  You can zoom-in for extreme close-ups and do a frame-by-frame review.  There are always some close calls, of course, so there remains some subjectivity (just like in tennis when a ball hits real close to the outer edge of a line).  But I wonder if there is an appeal process in the event of a blatant goof by a technical judge (or judges)?

The technical panel doesn't have time to review everything in such detail. If what is said on TV is right, each potential error is marked for review, before it gets reviewed, and I don't see how they can do that with so much reliability. It seems like almost any move could have a few milliseconds wrong in a way that would be very hard to notice for most of us.

As far as appeals, some Olympic decisions have been reviewed by the IOC, if this article

  http://www.cnn.com/2002/LAW/08/21/skating.indictment/index.html

is correct. It says that medal awards were reviewed and revised by the IOC, relating to 2002 Olympic ice dance medal placement ice dancers Elena Bereznaia, Anton Sikharulizde, Jamie Sale, and David Pelletier. I don't know if the article got all the details right. But you may recall there was a lot of publicity over the matter.

But it's not common.

Figure skating isn't the only sport with potentially bad calls. E.g., hockey, football and basketball have many uncalled penalties, that sportscasters notice rather frequently. There are controversial decisions in many sports. For the most part, many sporting organizations require the competition-time decision to stand, in their rules. If they didn't, arguments over decisions would stretch out for long periods of time, and it would be hard to decide who should progress through competition ladders, or be eligible to compete in higher level competitions.

It doesn't surprise me that mistakes are made. What amazes me is how good judges are at detecting subtle flaws. I guess that is part of the selection process for high level judges.

[icedancer]

The technical panel doesn't have time to review everything in such detail. If what is said on TV is right, each potential error is marked for review, before it gets reviewed, and I don't see how they can do that with so much reliability. It seems like almost any move could have a few milliseconds wrong in a way that would be very hard to notice for most of us.

There are people that are basically working for the technical panel whose sole job on the dance events is to time the lifts using stopwatches  - and the tech panels know the dances SO WELL that they can just feel any timing mistakes on the pattern dance portion of the Short Dance.

As far as appeals, some Olympic decisions have been reviewed by the IOC, if this article

  http://www.cnn.com/2002/LAW/08/21/skating.indictment/index.html

is correct. It says that medal awards were reviewed and revised by the IOC, relating to 2002 Olympic ice dance medal placement ice dancers Elena Bereznaia, Anton Sikharulizde, Jamie Sale, and David Pelletier. I don't know if the article got all the details right. But you may recall there was a lot of publicity over the matter.

They were pairs - not ice-dance BUT there was an exchange for placement of the ice-dance teams as well in that debacle -

It doesn't surprise me that mistakes are made. What amazes me is how good judges are at detecting subtle flaws. I guess that is part of the selection process for high level judges.

The selection process for National judges is very rigorous and I cannot IMAGINE how hard it would be to be an International Judge - plus there is a review process after every competition (from Regionals to Nationals to World Competition) where as I understand it the review process is brutal.

You have to be really tough to be an International Judge that is for sure!

P.S.  I think I may be the only one that is liking Johnny and Tara's commentary fine - and I think Tanith definitely does the best job of anyone out there - she would be a good sports commentator in any arena! (Plus she just seems to nice!)

[Query]

As a person who isn't so good at catching the subtleties, I find all the commentators remarks useful. I suspect NBC or the USFSA told Johnny and Tara to tone down the byplay. I don't agree. This should be a fun sport and game, not an autopsy. Terry used to provide the statistics and work the math, and did a great job of it. I think Johnny & Tara tried to do that too - and it isn't their strong point. But they sometimes do take off on a tangent, and miss what is happening on the ice, which I don't like.

Maybe NBC should create an alternate audio program, with no commentary, or place the commentary on the subwoofer audio channel, so people with 5.1 audio can turn it down or off. Or put Johnny & Tara on one audio program, Scott and Tanith on the other. For that matter, I would love to have someone trained as a figure skating judge make commentary too.

[skategeek]

I've been streaming online (stream.nbcolympics.com)- you have to log in with your cable/subscription provider, but they show all the skating and there are different commentators who are much nicer to listen to.  Plus the "enhanced" feed has a sidebar with a second feed that either shows the coaches during a program, the training room, or the practice ice.  (Last night I spotted our local Olympic skater and my LTS coach at the practice rink.)