NBC's Closing Ceremony Cuts Cause Outrage
This report is all over the web, as so many were angry.
Viewers were left wondering what happened after NBC cut some iconic British performances out of the Olympic Closing Ceremony.
Fans looking forward to hearing the Who, Muse , and Ray Davies from the Kinks instead got a commercial-free airing of the new NBC comedy, “Animal Practice.”
Cue outrage. At the handle #NBCfail, complaints rolled in. Wrote @ninatypewriter, “I think NBC has managed to become even less popular than Congress.”
Or as @ BookSavvy put it, “‘Gee, I can’t wait for the #ClosingCeremonies to be over so I can watch Animal Practice’ – No WAY Ever.”
The network did air the Who after “Animal Practice” and the local news, around midnight. But this didn’t seem to satisfy some fans who couldn’t believe the oversight of dumping Muse, whose contribution was particularly important to the summer Olympics.
As @ alexheberling posted, “Did they not know that Muse did the OFFICIAL SONG OF THE LONDON 2012 GAMES? UGH.
Others were annoyed that the Who aired so late on a Sunday night as a tape delay when the network failed to air the event live on a Sunday afternoon. Mia Farrow (yes, that Mia Farrow) tweeted, “Hey @nbc it’s SUNDAY! Many of us would LOVE to be watching Olympic closing ceremonies right now.”
NBC’s Twitter feed appeared to warn viewers the ceremony was about to come to an end before the actual end.
@Nbcolympics tweeted, “And that’s a wrap! Thanks for enjoying the 2012 #Olympics with us! RT if you CAN’T WAIT for #Sochi2014!” Another post added, “And stayed tuned for #TheWho after @AnimalPractice
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The network sparked venomous Twitter feedback over the two week period for its tape-delay coverage of the sporting events and only allowing NBC cable subscribers to view the games live stream on the Web.
Despite the complaints about the defects of the closing ceremony, the ratings were through the roof. NBC reported that 21.8 million viewers tuned in. The London Games also had a record number of viewers, on average 31.1 million viewers in prime time, the most-watched non-U.S. summer games since Montreal in 1976, according to Forbes.
A request to NBC for a comment on the coverage has not yet been returned.
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Yes I have to agree, & each section of coverage was about 6 minutes of coverage then 5-6 mins of ads. They also constantly cut into the ceremony to go back to their studio and listen to all their "experts" some of which you couldnt tell if they were a men or women.
What annoyed me the most was that their coverage was all about the US athletes and the events they were in, and hardly any coverage at all of all the other great atheletes from around the world.
Typical greedy corporate US attitude, 'lets make some money out of this and stuff the principles of what the Olympic Games are all about' 