NBC, You Let Me Down

I have to say I'm very disappointed in NBC last night. They completely abandoned the men's gymnastics coverage without any mention of it until the very end.

All day it was advertised as one of the events that would be covered in primetime, including the program guide. Then it was not mentioned in the opening or at any point throughout the night. Immediately, I knew the outcome had not been good for the U.S. without watching a single routine. I understand not saturating the primetime slot with an event the U.S. didn't do well in, but at least mention that it'll be coming up later or show a little bit of it and move on.

The swimming is live and with the U.S. success in the pool, you have to show that. And I want to see it. I also understand you have to show commercials. But there were several times NBC would come back from a commercial break and show swimmers in the ready room or do a little talk about what was coming up. I've watched enough Olympics to know that you could have used that time to show other events. You also could have packaged the whole Phelps/le Clos interaction into a short little 30-second piece before the race.

I'm also not convinced NBC would have shown gymnastics at all if the Walsh Jennings/Ross volleyball match hadn't been a blowout. I think that's why they dropped the advertising of gymnastics at all throughout the night.

I fell asleep right after the volleyball match ended, knowing there was about 15 minutes or so of coverage left. I hoped they'd at least mention gymnastics. Even though by this point I had finally looked up what had happened. Looking back this morning, it looks like they showed a bit and then continued it into late night coverage. It makes me sad for all those little kids staying up around the country to watch the Olympics, specifically gymnastics, and then nothing.

I know NBC will show all the women's event tonight because there's no chance the U.S. loses. But I don't look forward to being tricked like that for any coverage throughout the rest of the games.