Most recent update, 8:20 p.m. ET: Oscar Pistorius, the double amputee who ran on prosthetic legs — certainly a heartwarming story.
Fireworks go off inside the stadium Sunday during the Closing Ceremony for the London 2012 Olympic Games.
Then there's Usain Bolt, the fastest man on the planet and the winner of three gold medals. If you've followed the London Games at all, you can guess who NBC will show in replays. Which is fair enough.
Because in a couple days, all these names will still be around — but will disappear from mass media outlets such as NBC, except for the odd story about some local homecoming or some ad deal.
Says NBC's Al Michaels on Bolt: "I can't get it out of my mind. How great would it be to see him one time in an NFL training camp?"
Says Costas, noting that Bolt already makes what amounts to NFL quarterback-type annual earning: "The man doesn't need to be hit."
The hit parade continues. Gabby Douglas in gymnastics. Will she really win the gold? You know, this isn't that different from watching NBC's coverage of the London Games in prime time. It's like NBC's mini-documentary, that aired in Saturday prime time, on Nazi Germany bombing England during World War II: Yes, you already know the result, but it's still good video footage.
U.S. women's gymnastics, edited down to the second for maximum emotional impact. All these athletes drew great ratings the first time and are likely drawing great ratings now, so maybe last-place network NBC should consider just showing the U.S. Olympic wins some more. Like in this fall's prime time. Kidding. Sort of.
7:50 p.m. ET: NBC looks back on U.S. swimming highlights, with interspersed bits from the most-charming Olympic promo ever: The U.S. team's Call Me Maybe video, which drew 6.2 million hits on YouTube, was just handed to NBC.
NBC is logically focusing on young U.S. medalists, led by Missy Franklin. With the Olympics, you can promote athletes season by season. But no question, there are so few Olympians who mass audiences know about going into any Games, so it helps NBC to have anybody returning with name recognition. Michael Phelps, to give an extreme example, was a big ratings draw at the 2004 Athens Summer Games, a bigger attraction at Beijing in 2008 and then even bigger in London. But he says he is retiring from Olympic competition.
Bet the ranch on this: You'll see Missy Franklin in the future on NBC's Today show.
And in case anybody somehow missed the point, Ryan Seacrest wraps up the replay package on young U.S. swimmers - and NBC focused on the young swimmers, not Phelps - by saying, "You can expect lots more from them at Rio, 2016."
Gee, do you think?
7:30 p.m. ET: You better have brought your 'A' game.
It's so easy to be psyched for an Olympic Opening Ceremony, when the idea of a really long - and foreign - Super Bowl halftime-like show seems so novel and all those sports you otherwise never watch seem so enticingly off-beat.
But a closing ceremony? That's when you find out how big a role the Olympics really play in your life.
So far, NBC is giving us highlights on steroids. Given its prime-time coverage already consists of fast-paced storytelling and slickly edited highlights, you can imagine how NBC does in a wrap-up night where, logically, it's supposed to show, oh, fast-paced storytelling and slickly edited highlights.
Don't blink. You'll miss whatever moment NBC is reliving.
But that's not the point. The point is that the Spice Girls are reuniting in the closer. Don't know if they're doing it for the kids, for themselves or maybe just for the sake of art itself. NBC will probably tell us.
But it doesn't really matter: NBC is selling you these Games down to the second the cauldron is extinguished - and probably beyond - and you're either buying or you're not.
Just sayin'.
John David Mercer, USA TODAY Sports
Fireworks go off inside the stadium Sunday during the Closing Ceremony for the London 2012 Olympic Games.
Fireworks go off inside the stadium Sunday during the Closing Ceremony for the London 2012 Olympic Games.
Then there's Usain Bolt, the fastest man on the planet and the winner of three gold medals. If you've followed the London Games at all, you can guess who NBC will show in replays. Which is fair enough.
Because in a couple days, all these names will still be around — but will disappear from mass media outlets such as NBC, except for the odd story about some local homecoming or some ad deal.
Says NBC's Al Michaels on Bolt: "I can't get it out of my mind. How great would it be to see him one time in an NFL training camp?"
Says Costas, noting that Bolt already makes what amounts to NFL quarterback-type annual earning: "The man doesn't need to be hit."
The hit parade continues. Gabby Douglas in gymnastics. Will she really win the gold? You know, this isn't that different from watching NBC's coverage of the London Games in prime time. It's like NBC's mini-documentary, that aired in Saturday prime time, on Nazi Germany bombing England during World War II: Yes, you already know the result, but it's still good video footage.
U.S. women's gymnastics, edited down to the second for maximum emotional impact. All these athletes drew great ratings the first time and are likely drawing great ratings now, so maybe last-place network NBC should consider just showing the U.S. Olympic wins some more. Like in this fall's prime time. Kidding. Sort of.
7:50 p.m. ET: NBC looks back on U.S. swimming highlights, with interspersed bits from the most-charming Olympic promo ever: The U.S. team's Call Me Maybe video, which drew 6.2 million hits on YouTube, was just handed to NBC.
NBC is logically focusing on young U.S. medalists, led by Missy Franklin. With the Olympics, you can promote athletes season by season. But no question, there are so few Olympians who mass audiences know about going into any Games, so it helps NBC to have anybody returning with name recognition. Michael Phelps, to give an extreme example, was a big ratings draw at the 2004 Athens Summer Games, a bigger attraction at Beijing in 2008 and then even bigger in London. But he says he is retiring from Olympic competition.
Bet the ranch on this: You'll see Missy Franklin in the future on NBC's Today show.
And in case anybody somehow missed the point, Ryan Seacrest wraps up the replay package on young U.S. swimmers - and NBC focused on the young swimmers, not Phelps - by saying, "You can expect lots more from them at Rio, 2016."
Gee, do you think?
7:30 p.m. ET: You better have brought your 'A' game.
It's so easy to be psyched for an Olympic Opening Ceremony, when the idea of a really long - and foreign - Super Bowl halftime-like show seems so novel and all those sports you otherwise never watch seem so enticingly off-beat.
But a closing ceremony? That's when you find out how big a role the Olympics really play in your life.
So far, NBC is giving us highlights on steroids. Given its prime-time coverage already consists of fast-paced storytelling and slickly edited highlights, you can imagine how NBC does in a wrap-up night where, logically, it's supposed to show, oh, fast-paced storytelling and slickly edited highlights.
Don't blink. You'll miss whatever moment NBC is reliving.
But that's not the point. The point is that the Spice Girls are reuniting in the closer. Don't know if they're doing it for the kids, for themselves or maybe just for the sake of art itself. NBC will probably tell us.
But it doesn't really matter: NBC is selling you these Games down to the second the cauldron is extinguished - and probably beyond - and you're either buying or you're not.
Just sayin'.