NBC spoils Missy Franklin’s gold medal race

Missy Franklin poses with her first gold medal (NBC).

Missy Franklin poses with her first gold medal (NBC).

Missy Franklin is the star of the London Olympics for the United States, so naturally NBC wanted to delay her 100-meter backstroke race for prime time Monday night.

But the network spoiled the event for millions of viewers just six minutes before the race, airing a promo for Tuesday’s “Today” show that began, “When you’re 17 years old and win your first gold medal, there’s nobody you’d rather share it with. We’re there when Missy Franklin and her parents reunite …”

And for the benefit of those who might have had their TV muted, NBC showed a full-screen photo of Franklin posing with her gold medal.

The Twitterverse wasn’t kind to the Peacock Network:

  • Emma V. Haberl‏: Dear NBC, thanks for promoting the interview with “first time olympic gold medal winner missy Franklin”…MOMENTS BEFORE AIRING THE RACE.
  • Matt Knisely‏: Biggest failure in Olympic TV History? NBC showing the promo of Missy Franklin winning Gold in the commercial break before she raced.
  • Cecil Hurt‏: NBC airs Missy Franklin gold medal promo before the Missy Franklin race. In headline style: Network Extends Middle Finger To America.

The 17-year-old Coloradan is trying to match East German swimmer Kristin Otto’s women’s Olympic record of six individual gold medals. Will NBC spoil them all?

127 comments Add your comment

Flour Child

July 31st, 2012
12:14 pm

The Olympic TV coverage has never been the same since the start of NBC coverage….ABC coveage was by far and away better than anything NBC has offered…….and Jim McKay was light years better than Bob Costas….sad.

2ruff

July 31st, 2012
12:16 pm

DID I REALLY SEE JAMVET DRINKING THE DEMOCROCK COOL-ADE AGAIN?

Roll Turd Roll

July 31st, 2012
12:25 pm

When and why did Bob Costas ever become “relevant”??? He offers nothing…!!!

OneRyder

July 31st, 2012
12:27 pm

What a bunch of whiners most posters are.

Flour Child

July 31st, 2012
12:28 pm

Maybe Fox Sports will broadcast the games in Rio in 2016…!!!

urban redneck

July 31st, 2012
12:38 pm

are they over yet? i’m missing my soaps.

Broccoliobama

July 31st, 2012
12:41 pm

OneRyder, do you want some Limburger with YOUR whine?

Juan Diego Raul Sanchez

July 31st, 2012
12:43 pm

NBC sucks….oh and arthur blank did not build HD…

Broccoliobama

July 31st, 2012
12:47 pm

Obankruptbama built NBC?

Adrienne

July 31st, 2012
12:56 pm

The best way to watch is the raw live feeds of all events with the NBC app for Android devices.

godoggo

July 31st, 2012
1:08 pm

Ryan Secrest is Everywhere…..I swear…….i almost feel like he is going to pop up out of the water with a mask and snorkle next to Phelps or Lochte? after a race and ask “how do you think you did” or….”what’s next for ya”…….just sayin.

blazer

July 31st, 2012
1:08 pm

NBC doesn’t even give good golf coverage!

Broccoliobama

July 31st, 2012
1:09 pm

…………….but good head

Jeff

July 31st, 2012
1:26 pm

Yes we all know NBC is a screw up when it comes to timing. Did anyone else notice NBC left out the poster for the 96 games in Atlanta in the opening of the Opening Ceremonies broadcast? That was the first FU NBC gave to the veiwers. I cannot believe there has not been anything said about this in print media, or on tv/radio.

gadem

July 31st, 2012
1:38 pm

I know who won the gold in women’s gymnastics

james

July 31st, 2012
1:47 pm

Costas is a midget

jak

July 31st, 2012
2:05 pm

Who watches commercials anymore??? DVR and then watch.

rob

July 31st, 2012
2:11 pm

<<<>>>>

and this proves it….LOL

Jerry

July 31st, 2012
2:16 pm

It was George W Bush’s fault…

Adrianne

July 31st, 2012
2:33 pm

What’s going on with the medal ceremonies? If the Americans won Gold, they won’t show the bronze or silver medalists. What kind of coverage is this? We’d like to see all winners, especially the Americans but the other winners are important too. The 2008 coverage was great. I don’t know what happened.

John, Ducktown

July 31st, 2012
2:41 pm

NBC, what a joke. I was watching last night and had intentionally not gotten on ESPN, etc. to find out what had gone on. Of course, they show the lead intro and then Missy wins the gold. They ruined it! What a bunch of clowns! Of course, NBC is spending more time trying to get their #1 rating back for the Today show than anything else, so any plug they think they can give for the show is “worthy”.

You do have to cut NBC slack for the fact that England is 5 hours ahead of EST, so it’s impossible to watch anything live after about 5pm EST, and hopefully most of us are working at this point. With today’s instant media it’s impossible for them to “delay anything”. It’s kind of like when you DVR a football game (or Nascar race) b/c you gotta work or have something to attend to, and you go all day hoping some clown won’t bark out who won, etc. before you see it.

NBC’s coverage is okay, but I don’t need Ryan Seacrest as a host. Bob Costas is known for the NFL and Baseball. Period. Their choice of people to cover the events and do interviews is horrible. John McEnroe? Holy cow! I think he intimidates the athletes he’s interviewing! Surely they could have found some old olympic champions to cover some of the games and conduct interviews?
They do an excellent job with the KY Derby and the other two races, they could do more in this arena for the Olympics.

gbal

July 31st, 2012
2:44 pm

I missed it… To the fridge during the commercial and thought it went fine.

Folks, they are half way around the world for gods sake… Its 7:30 PM there right now….events have been going on all day and it’s now prime time there. Can you take the day off to go sit and watch real time or would you rather sit at home this evening watching delay???

Thats what I thought, Quit whining…. its not the end of the world?

Bob

July 31st, 2012
2:44 pm

I recently retired from 30 years in the Army. I served 21 years in Germany and saw a multitude of Olympics while in Deutschland. The NBC coverage is so abysmal that it is hard to put into words. The German Networks ARD and ZDF cover every event. There are few of these fluff stories. And they televise everything live, regardless of what time differences there might be with the Middle European time. Then, in prime time they will show hi-lites.

You would have to be a hermit to avoid knowing what is going on prior to prime time coverage at night. It completely ruins the games for me. It is sad and pathetic, but it is what it is.

Bob

July 31st, 2012
2:48 pm

Hell, even WXIA screws things up. If you are avid follower of the Olympics you have a pretty good idea who is doing what. When they suddenly, without warning show the medal table you can pretty much surmise what has been going on. I mean how dumb can you be?

abc

July 31st, 2012
2:54 pm

If you can’t watch live streams and replays on demand at nbcsports.msnbc.com due to cable provider, try their iPad app, it doesn’t require that stuff.

Or, read a book. Or, have a beer.

Reg

July 31st, 2012
3:17 pm

Oh, is NBC airing the Olympics? I though it was one mega-marathon talk show.

theatlantan

August 1st, 2012
12:47 pm

Hey NBC DUUUUUUUHHH! ( I also remember when the local news did the same in 1980 before the U.S.victory over the Soviets in hockey) They actually flached the final score!