Link: http://www.nbcolympics.com
So the Olympics are over. Well, actually they run through week's end, but now that the lady's figure skating has finished, there's not much reason to watch, right? These games are a major disappointment, at least for the folks at NBC. One of my sources in the research department at the network tells me that basically every network beat NBC and thus, beat the Games. My question is - Why?
First, let's look at the competition. I have to be honest, we had every TV running at the house last night, and we still had enough to watch that my Mother-in-Law, ever faithful, had to tape ABC's Dancing with the Stars for me. Last night was like the perfect storm in our house - We had CBS' Survivor, ABC's Dancing with the Stars, Fox's American Idol, and NBC's coverage of the Olympic Games. Holy cats - that's more TV than probably should be allowed by law, but those shows are never all on at the same time! For decades, the competing networks typically rolled over and aired reruns or B-grade programs during the Games for the simple reason that they supposed everyone in America wanted to watch the games. It became a self-fulfilling prophecy, really. Assume people watch the games, air junk, people have nothing to watch but the games... you get the idea. This year though, the competition decided to kick sand in NBC's eyes, bringing their best shows on the highest power nights. American Idol won each night hands down - whoa. That's not normal.
But the bigger question isn't just programming choices at the network. The question is really, what is different about us? I have to admit that outside the ice skating, there wasn't a terribly compelling reason for me to watch. Every single super-star we attempted to promote failed miserably. And yes, I understand that its tough to pick the winners ahead of time, but really - could Bode Miller have been any more disappointing? So, yes, admittedly, I lost interest on that front alone.
But here's the real kicker - Americans no longer hate communists. Bingo. This is the single biggest reasons the coveted 18-35 demographic is Olympic-apathetic. Okay, I see you scratching your head. Think back - When Ronald Reagan was shouting things like "Mr. Gorbachev, TEAR DOWN THIS WALL!" you really didn't like the communists much, did you? Oh - The Cold War - Now you remember! The Olympics were the symbolic showdown we hoped we didn't have to live out with real force. When Americans beat the red army that was the Soviet Hockey team, we felt a collective swell of national pride. Now that we all sit around the campfire and sing a global kum-bay-yah, there's not the collective chant of U-S-A! U-S-A! in our living rooms as we pull for our hometown heroes to claim the gold and look down from the podium at the evil empires of Marx and Lennin. I mean, really, who are our enemies? I don't see any Iranian figure skaters or North Korean hockey teams to compete with. You know, perhaps if there was an Al-Queda Alpine Team I would have watched more downhill skiing. Just maybe.
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