NBC's coverage of the Salt Lake Games is on the razor's edge right now. And it could go either way.
The network was handed a huge promotional opportunity — the controversy that erupted over the judging in the pair figure skating competition. It created the sort of buzz about the Games that no network could manufacture with even the most extensive advertising campaign.
But there's a fine line between taking advantage of the opportunity and exploiting it. And, particularly now that the story has been resolved — at least for the moment — beating this drum too much could drive viewers away.
For example, during Friday's coverage of the ice dancing competition, NBC's Tom Hammond made so many references to the scandal that it became tiresome. And he was stretching for some of them.
NBC analyst Scott Hamilton said on Thursday, "The pair event is finally over." After the Canadians receive their medals tonight, it will be.
It will be interesting to see whether the folks at NBC can keep all this in perspective and realize that, no matter how big the story, if you overplay it you're going to make viewers sick of it. And you.
BALONEY: There are some who are suggesting that NBC has somehow vilified the Russian skaters in the whole skate-gate scandal. That's not only unfair, it's nonsense.
From the beginning, NBC hosts and analysts have gone out of their way to make it clear that the skaters themselves are not at fault.
DELUSIONS OF ATHLETICISM: Sean Hannity, in town to do his syndicated radio and Fox News TV show ("Hannity & Colmes"), was very upbeat about the Games while introducing SLOC president Mitt Romney. But to hear him talk you'd think he was an athlete, not a commentator.
"I was in the Olympics in Atlanta, and I've been in the Olympics here now, you really did a terrific job so I applaud you," Hannity said.
Really. He said he was in the Olympics. Twice.
I'm wondering — luge? Ice dancing? Moguls? All scary thoughts.
Hannity being Hannity, of course, he couldn't keep politics out of his interview with Romney, who once ran for the U.S. Senate in Massachusetts.
"Anybody who runs against Ted Kennedy is on my side," he said. "So I have a fondness for you as we get going on the thing."
"On the thing"? Boy, he's glib, isn't he?
Hannity's partner, Alan Colmes, joined the political line, saying, "You got 40 percent against Ted Kennedy. To a liberal like me, that's very scary."
And Romney played politician himself, dodging the question of whether he would run for office in Utah after the Games conclude.
LATE-NIGHT HUMOR: Jon Stewart, host of Comedy Central's "Daily Show," had this to say as he was "reporting" on the Games. "But good may yet come of this. There is now hope that the figure-skating scandal will result in some changes. Indeed, it has led many to imagine a future in which figure skaters will have the right to be judged, not by some faceless tribunal, but by a jury of their skating peers" — followed immediately by a photo of a judges' table occupied by Tonya Harding, Mickey Mouse, Jessie (from "Toy Story"), Scooby Doo and Big Bird.
• David Letterman: "How 'bout those Winter Olympics? Are they something or what? This weekend, they have so many events scheduled they had to hire five additional crooked judges.
"I guess I'm getting sentimental or something, but I miss the old days in figure skating. Remember the old days when the competitors just just whacked each other with pipes."
THE RATING GAME: NBC's prime-time ratings continued their downward slide on Friday — the 15.8 rating and 27 share was the lowest-rated night to date. (Ice dancing, apparently, doesn't do it for most American viewers.)
But, to once again put this in perspective, those numbers were 7 percent higher than what CBS got in Nagano four years ago; they were 8 percent higher than what ABC, CBS and Fox combined did on Friday night; and they were 80 percent higher than what NBC has averaged on Friday nights this season. After eight nights, Salt Lake's Games are 13 percent ahead of Nagano at the same point.
The Salt Lake TV market continued to lead the way, albeit with our lowest numbers to date — a 29/50.
E-mail: pierce@desnews.com
