There's a poll on AOL today, asking which viewers prefer this year: American Idol or the Olympics. American Idol is the winner by a landslide. Seems plenty of people think the Olymics lack luster this year.
I was thinking about my lack of enthusiasm for this year's competition, and wondering why it's different for me. Is it the star quality of the athletes? Few of them seem to shine as we were once used to. Scott Hamilton. Oksana Baiul. Elvis Stojko. Ty Babalonia. Pikaboo Street. Katarina Vitt. Todd Eldridge. Brian Boitano. Now those were stars.
Also, what did they show before all this snowboarding stuff, which is relatively new and geared toward a younger audience? Didn't we get to see more of the skating competition? That's what I've always watched winter Olympics for--the skating. Singles, pairs and dance. I guess some of it's on USA during the day, but I don't have a chance to see that. I'm guessing most people are working.
Where has the thrill gone?
American Idol is more exciting. Maybe because it's only on a couple of hours a week instead of 24/7 on every affiliate of NBC.
ReplyDeleteThe Olympics needs a little spice to create some interest. Where is Tonya Harding when you need her?
Cheryl,
ReplyDeleteI'm with you. Usually during the Olympics I'm glued to the set and to heck with everything else. I haven't watched it at all this time. I'm not exactly sure why that is. My regular shows are drawing me more the Olympics and I'm a little disappointed.
Now if Randy, Simon & Paula were the judges, Simon would say everyone was just horrible, terrible, and appalling. Randy would be calling everyone Dawg and saying he just wasn't feelin' it, and Paula would applaud everyone for their attempt whether they were good or not. That would be funny for about five minutes but I don't think you'd draw any more fans.
I think in large part they are trying to draw the younger audience with the snowboarding, weird skiing events, etc.
ReplyDeleteHave you seen any luge or fast paced events? Not me. It's the fast paced things and the skating that really gets people.
I haven't gotten to see any of the ice skating this year, either. But, if you can fall in the pairs competition, take a 2 minute break and still get a medal, maybe the quality isn't there like it used to be.
However, I do remember watching skating when they still had the required basics. I didn't find it interesting to watch skaters make a figure 8 for 2 hours. One by one, they had to do a perfect figure 8. They were really judged on this and we got to watch. Now there's exciting TV---NOT!
But I can't say I'm watching American Idol instead. I'm just not watching TV. Read a book, it's better for your brain. :)
I used to love the ice skating but I can't get into it anymore. Like you I enjoyed the past skaters so much more. I was looking forward to Michelle skating and now even she won't be there. I don't watch American Idol either. I've been reading more.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe the American public would choose AI over the Olympics! Wait, yes I can. How embarrassing...
ReplyDeleteI'm with you, Carol. I'm reading more.
I love the Olympics, but I kind of cheat and find out the results during the day. I look online and then decide if it is worth watching that night.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I must say that I am a bit disappointed with the television coverage. I wish that they would show one event straight through instead of jumping back and forth between events. Does that make any sense? They did it last night with ice dancing. They showed a couple of skaters, switched to something else, and then came back to skating. I know the Olympics are not live here in the U.S., so I don't understand why the switching back and forth since it is all taped anyway.
I am also not a big fan of snowboarding and some of the other sports they have been focused on (and I believe that I am part of that younger audience they are targeting).
I love ice skating though, but do not understand the new rules. Does anyone? Oh, and I am fascinated by curling for some reason...can anyone explain to me what they are doing? I watch and watch and still don't know. LOL
I'm with you, neither are that interesting. Seems like they are pretty lax on the rules. I couldn't believe the skaters last night that didn't talk to each other because they fell the night before until AFTER they were done skating AND were in 1st place!!! Now that was just wrong!!!
ReplyDeleteHurry for Cheryls books to go back to....
Surely we can figure out who to write to and make our likes and dislikes known. Perhaps we could start a campaign to write the network and let them know we want to see more skating and we want to see it all in one chunk each night. I'm sure the idea of breaking it up is to make us keep watching, even though we don't want to see some of the stuff.
ReplyDeleteHi everyone. I agree that the olympic coverage stinks. I hate that they show two ice skaters and then make you wait another hour for two more. Then finally at ten thirty they show the last few who win.
ReplyDeleteI saw an interview with Tonya Harding a couple of weeks ago, one of those "where are they now?" shows.
ReplyDeleteI have mixed feelings, because I really like Irina Slutskaya, and would love to see her finally win the gold. Sasha is, well she's almost too cute, you know?
I think it's because we're saturated with the Olympics. It used to be every 4 years and now it's every 2 (summer and winter interchange every 2) and it seems it's on every station. And there aren't that many 'heroes'that you could root for. Take the women's skating--I LOVE Michelle Kwan to death but I think what they did to Emily wasn't right. The two men speed skaters who are 'feuding'--it's supposed to be a unity event. I don't know---but if I'm going to watch intrigue, egos and diva attitudes, I'll go see it with AI.
ReplyDelete