What NBC should have done preparing for the Olympics

They should have started a couple of weeks out and done a series of
ROAD TO THE OLYMPICS. Highlight all the major participants (both US
and Foreign). Do ALL the up-close-and-personal stuff, show a bunch of
the highlights from the Olympic Trials and the games leading up to this
(World Championships, Goodwill Games, PanAm Games, etc.). Do shows
with rules of various events (like Curling).

Then durign the Olympics, they can just focus on the games themselves.

Did NBC do ANY sort of pre-Olympics shows?

Nancy1...

What they should have done was to do a survey and find out what people
liked and didn't like about previous coverage. I don't know anyone
(even my kids) who want to watch more than 20 minutes or so of
snowboarding. It's boring and it all looks like the same six tricks or
whatever. OTOH, ski jumping from the big hill, prime time coverage of
bobsled and luge, speed skating, etc., are popular.

Goro...

i think the reason for Snowboarding (and the reason that it's in the
Olympics at all) is a desperate stab at gaining young viewers. I'm
about 50-50 on the snowboarding. They pull some cool ass tricks and
seeing some of the big air and huge turns is pretty cool, but there
really is only a fairly limited physical vocabulary there.

Of coruse the argument about "Snowboarding looks all the same so show
ski jumping instead" sounds a bit disingenuous. I mean, like Ski
jumping doesn't look EXACTLY the same? (yeah, i know, but stil, you
get my point...)

Also, they should have realized that people want to know what's going
on outside the competition - who are the stars who are performing every
night? I didn't know until today that Kelly Clarkson was even in
Italy, let alone performing after opening ceremonies. I want more on
the Italian culture, countryside, pasttimes and late-night in Turin.
I'm sure there are some fabulous street entertainers and other
activities going on that would be interesting for the viewer. What NBC

Goro...

This is actually exactly what i don't want to see.

is giving us is pretty boring - no medal ceremonies, except if you stay
up really late; no extended coverage in any sport, of non-U.S.
competitors, etc. What makes the NBC guys so sure we don't want to see
non-U.S. competition???

Goro...

THis is my biggest peeve (well, that and the awful up-close and
personals, but it seems liek they've eased up on that some this year as
opposed to years prior. Or is that b/c i'm just watching less of the
Olypmics now?). THe US is basically a country full of immigrants, with
everyone tracing heritage back to another country. Of course everyone
wants to see some of the competitors from the other countries. But now
we only get them if they are in Gold Medal Contention.