2012 Summer Olympics - London, England (1 Viewer)

[Johnny Angell]

The US has more gold and overall medals than they had at the '96 Games when they were the home team. That's pretty amazing.

The US women had a heckuva lot do do with that.
Slightly OT, but my iPad spellcheck doesn't flag heckuva as misspelled. I didn't know it was a real word.
Back to the Olympics, the announcers for the closing ceremonies are commenting on how Phelp's sport offers the opportunity to win a bunch of medals, while Bolt only had three opportunities.

 

[Ockeghem]

While I haven't followed the schedule as close as I should, I thought the men's marathon was usually on the closing day and the last athletic event. When was it? I missed both marathons and never saw NBC promote either.

Johnny,
I DVR'd the event. But I did catch the last hour this morning, as I knew it was on at that time. I have been using ESPN's Olympic schedule so that I would know the exact time most of the events were running. However, I only caught the last five miles (live) of the women's marathon last Sunday morning.

 

[Johnny Angell]

I find myself wondering how they are doing the animated light show that appears to appear in the seating area of the stadium? How do they do that without interfering with the audience's view of the show? It's happening right where they are sitting.

 

[Josh Dial]

Originally Posted by Johnny Angell /t/322614/2012-summer-olympics-london-england/180#post_3961478
I find myself wondering how they are doing the animated light show that appears to appear in the seating area of the stadium? How do they do that without interfering with the audience's view of the show? It's happening right where they are sitting.

Next to every seat was a small panel that would display a portion of the image.

 

[Walter C]

Really NBC??? I can't believe they did it again, butchering the coverage of the Closing Ceremony like that.

While I was planning to check out Animal Hospital, this was not the way I would have wanted to do.

 

[Simon Massey]

To be honest I found the closing ceremony a little disappointing - some bits were ok and the final hour or so was much better but it never reached the heights of the opening ceremony, though I suppose they never do.
Impressed that Take That managed to perform especially with the lead singer losing his newborn daughter last week. That must have been hard. Seb Coe managed another speech to make us Brits feel all emotional and patriotic again and the flame going out was a sad moment.
Now we have to wait for another four years and I selfishly hope that we may bid again in my lifetime

 

[Ockeghem]

I thought it was one of the better closing ceremonies I've seen in a long time. Four of my daughters were very excited (screaming) when One Direction performed. The neat thing is that neither I nor they had any idea that One Direction was going to perform beforehand. That was quite a nice surprise for them.
I liked the bit with John Lennon, and Stomp was interesting. All-in-all, I thought London put on a fabulous Games. I wish I could have been there for some of the events.

 

[Jay H]

Why did the Kaiser Chiefs do "Pinball Wizard". I didn't stay up to watch the whole thing but wasn't the Who already supposed to be there? I never saw them but they could of easily been on after I went to bed. I just found that odd cause I sort of like the KCs but why not have the original do the song, it's not like the KCs have nothing to play or anything...
Jay

 

[Walter C]

I enjoyed the closing ceremony. Granted, closing ceremonies are never as memorable as the opening ceremonies, but a fun time to let loose for the athletes and fans. Being a child of the 80's, I did enjoy Madness and the Pet Shop Boys.
I also liked the Rio handover ceremony, with the whole Samba theme to it. It will be interesting to see what their opening ceremony will be in 2016, as I think they could be a close second to Beijing, if not match up to it.

Have to say, seeing the Spice Girls, talking about taking me back to when they were a huge guilty pleasure of mine, as I was not quite in the age range of the fanbase.

/t/322614/2012-summer-olympics-london-england/180#post_3961363
And congratulations to Saudi Arabia's Sarah Attar. She didn't win a race, but arguably she won a victory far more important than any medal.

It is definitely worth a mention as well, as I believe this was the first Olympics where every nation has sent a female athlete.

 

[Walter C]

At first glance, it seemed like the one hour time difference between Philly and Rio would be a lot more friendly for NBC than London. But considering how NBC likes to hold viewers hostage, saving the biggies for the 10pm to midnight slot, it will be mostly delayed coverage once again, as I can't see the Rio organizers having many events start between 11pm to 1am local time.

Also, I hope they address some issues with their web site...

1. The buffering issue... I hope this is corrected when the 2014 Winter Olympics rolls around. Because it is annoying as hell, when the race is about to start, and just freezes as the runners are in their start-up position. And refreshing did not help at all.

2. Posting of Twitter spoilers... it's hard enough to stay away from spoilers on other sites, but when NBC Olympics just blatantly posts the headlines on the same page as the video page, I mean, really? Example, was the 4x400 relay, when watching a different event on the video, I had to see a tweet directly below, saying something like "congrats to Felix, Jeter, and others for winning gold."

3. The whole sign-in process. While I do have cable, it does not seem right to shut out those who don't have it. Not to mention, it's also a pain to sign in as well.

However, if there was one thing that NBC does so well, it's the closing credits of their Olympic coverage. Here is the one for this Olympics, though the quality is not good.

 

[andrew markworthy]

The Who would not be shown until around midnight, since NBC once again, cut away from the closing ceremony, for an episode of Animal Hospital and the local news.

Sorry, dumb Brit question - what is 'Animal Hospital"? Is it an exciting must-watch thriller series? We have a programme of the same name here in the UK, but it's a bland inoffensive documentary program that airs mid-evening (i.e. not prime time) and is about cute puppies having broken paws made better by photogenic vets, that kind of thing. Its principal audience is sweet little old ladies and kids being allowed to see one last thing before being sent off to bed.
Please tell me that NBC isn't that crass.

 

[Walter C]

Please tell me that NBC isn't that crass.

It is a new comedy series, that NBC felt like it worth butchering the Closing Ceremony, to show a sneak peak off of, commercial-free.

And NBC is that crass, doing it twice now!

 

[Jay H]

I was flipping channels and missed most of Eric Idle's "Life of Brian" skit and I heard that he actually said the sh*t word as in the lyrics from the Movie. I presume NBC must of bleeped it out, no?
I definitely missed the Who's performance cause I turned it off I think slightly after the Spice Girl's reunion...
Jay

 

[Johnny Angell]

It is a new comedy series, that NBC felt like it worth butchering the Closing Ceremony, to show a sneak peak off of, commercial-free.
 
And NBC is that crass, doing it twice now!

The star of the show is a veterinarian. In the first two minutes of the show tells a pet owner that her cat tried to commit suicide because she's in heat. He then tells her to set her kitty free so that she might be grabbed by neck and made to purr so loud it will disturb her neighbors. The double entendre was that he (the vet) could do the same for her (the cat owner). So to get into her pants, he recommends she allow her cat to indiscriminately breed.
With thousands of dogs and cats being put down daily in the US, that is incredibly offensive. I believe at least half of this series is going to revolve around the vet's randiness. I have no problem with that, I loved 2 1/2 men.

 

[mattCR]

Despite all the rumors, I was a bit sad that Kate Bush didn't turn up after hiding out for the better part of a decade to perform. *shrug*

 

[DavidJ]

"I don't know what it is about the way she runs, but I love watching Jeter run."
That's about how I feel regarding Felix's form and long stride. Jeter was sooo strong in that final leg last night. She really looked like she could taste that record.

They have very different running styles. Jeter seems to have more of a piston-type motion. Felix had a fantastic Olympics.

 

[DavidJ]

To be honest I found the closing ceremony a little disappointing - some bits were ok and the final hour or so was much better but it never reached the heights of the opening ceremony, though I suppose they never do.
Impressed that Take That managed to perform especially with the lead singer losing his newborn daughter last week. That must have been hard. Seb Coe managed another speech to make us Brits feel all emotional and patriotic again and the flame going out was a sad moment.
Now we have to wait for another four years and I selfishly hope that we may bid again in my lifetime

I missed most of the ceremony, but I did see Take That's performance. I had no idea that the lead singer suffered such a horrible tragedy.

 

[Ockeghem]

They have very different running styles. Jeter seems to have more of a piston-type motion. Felix had a fantastic Olympics.

David,
Very true. Felix runs more like a marathoner (especially regarding where she holds her arms) relative to Jeter, whom as you say, has more of a piston-type of motion, which is good for sprinters. Felix is also built more like a long-distance runner. Should she ever decide to go that route, I would be willing to bet that she would do very well.

 

[Walter C]

[SIZE= 14px]London Olympics on NBC is Most-Watched Television Event in U.S. History[/SIZE]

Enjoy it while it lasts, NBC. Because the next Olympics that they will be airing, looks like it will be a big loser in the ratings, assuming American Idol is still around at that time.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

NBC basically takes a loss on the winter games in exchange for the promotional platform of the summer games. Making a profit this time was a side benefit. It'll be interesting see how much of a bounce "Revolution", "The New Normal", "Go On" etc receive from the heavy advertising during the most watched Olympics ever.
It'll also be interesting to see in 2016 if Rio being only an hour ahead of the east coast, with far more events live in prime time, will help or hurt ratings.