NBC has lost it's mind!!

As a lover of all things British from their books, tv shows and music I was very excited to see the art that was the Opening Ceremony for the London 2012 Olympics...that is until NBC got a hold of it. It was horrible. I copied this from the NBC Olympic wall:


Sarah Khan NBc's butchering of the London Olympics Opening Ceremony
10. Repeated derision and backhand compliments of any country not named the United States
9. The repeated reliance on mentioning how war-torn various nations are or have been instead of mentioning their athletes
8. Commenting on North Korea by mocking Kim Jong-Il's alleged 11-holes-in-one golf game after they have already caused a delay in competition after perceived political slights
7. Four-hour tape delay in the social-media era
6. Spoiling the cauldron lighting
5. Inserting Idi Amin into conversation as Uganda was marching
4. Speculating that the Maldives can fight rising sea levels by winning medals
3. Giving zero camera time to Barbados and Ukraine
2. Cutting of the athletes', coaches' and judges' oaths
1. Cutting of the London bombing memorial segment for a Michael Phelps interview

Dishonorable mentions:
* Referring to San Marino as "sort of an island"
* Going to commercial in the middle of a segment
* Insisting on mentioning the deceased Omar Bongo as Gabon marched, over the 1-1 draw with Switzerland their men's soccer team had already achieved
*Stated speculation that Greece will never host the Olympics again
*Referring to Borat as Kazakhstan marched
*Making the Djibouti joke during a major world cultural event
*Spoiling the industrial-era and National Health Service segments right as they were beginning
*Making a big deal over the lack of a minute of silence for the victims of Munich
*Repeated mangling of countries' names
*Making reference to the Falklands War as Argentina marched
*24 commercial breaks

I so agree with everything in this statement.  The NBC coverage was achingly bad. The commentary provided by Matt Lauer, Meredith Vieira and Bob Costas was worthless and many times bordered  on racist. It was like going all the way to Broadway to see a show only to have the guy next to you talk the entire time. I could understand the need for a play by play if we didn't share a common language with the British but we do so their constant need to repeat what we could already hear was pointless. Another thing unless you've been living under a rock or have never cracked open a book in your life you pretty much understood most of the larger culture references from the ceremony which were the only one's they were explaining to you anyway.

Another issue I have with the coverage is there were whole segments of the show cut out. For the life of me I can't understand why as it was taped and rebroadcast. Did your editor not know how to pick up in the same spot as he left off? It's kinda like seeing a movie for the first time after only watching it on tv. You realize that the plot makes much more sense now that you're seeing the film as it was originally shot and not "edited for time". I don't even care that it wasn't live, but why was it edited?

I feel like someone stole the dignity, honor and well ceremony from the Opening Ceremony. Oh and NBC I'll be steaming the closing ceremony live so you can go take a hike.