Ryan Seacrest gets thumbs up for Olympics coverage; ‘The Voice’ changes
CREDIT: Ryan Seacrest's website
Apparently, Ryan Seacrest’s presence at the Olympics was a big enough deal to merit a poll.
The Hollywood Reporter commissioned it and 78 percent of respondents found his performance at least “satisfactory.” That’s a positive job rating a U.S. president would beg for. Then again, Seacrest isn’t tackling the economy. He interviewed the Gold Medal-winning gymnastics team and introduced the Spice Girls during NBC’s coverage. Sure, he isn’t a sports guy and sports fans mocked his E!-style questions. But he did what NBC wanted him to do: appeal to the pop culture fans, not the hard-core track-and-field aficionados.
Then again, actual sports hosts Dan Patrick got a 94 percent approval rating and Bob Costas, 78 percent.
- “The Voice” changes include the ability of judges to “steal” eliminated contestants during the Battle Round. Then there will be a knockout round that cuts each team’s numbers from 10 to 5.
- And proof that Kelly Clarkson can sing anything. Here she is in Michigan covering Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” with a hoodie!
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By Rodney Ho, Radio & TV Talk
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114 comments Add your comment
Deirdre
August 13th, 2012
7:58 am
I hate it when comments disappear into the blogosphere!
I thought Ryan did ok. His best moments were last night during the closing ceremony when he seemed to understand that he needed to announce and then let the performers do the talking. He has a style of interviewing that makes a person relax so I think we get to see a different side of an interviewee. He’s not “hard-hitting” but more of a home-spun kind of interviewer.
Deirdre
August 13th, 2012
8:00 am
Re The Voice changes. I like that a judge can steal someone who has been eliminated, especially if the elimination comes from another judge. A couple of the choices for elimination last year were just plain stupid.
Sam-A
August 13th, 2012
8:06 am
Are we moving here now? Got to catch up with the weekend stuff.D, can you believe next week is season ender for “Falling Skies”? Seems like it just started! Hope “Walking Dead” is cranking up soon. Losing “Closer” tonight – too much for e!
Deirdre
August 13th, 2012
8:08 am
If I was to pick one thing that really annoyed me about prime time Olympics, it would be the incredible amount of time spent on things other than the current Olympics. For example, 1 full hour of mumble-mouth Tom Brokow talking about the Blitz. Don’t get me wrong, it was a good history lesson. Having been to Coventry and having a mom who actually lived through the Blitz, I appreciate the effort and was deeply moved by the story of a man who, as a child, watched his mom die after their bomb shelter took a direct hit BUT…..most of us have tuned in to se the EVENTS.
The daytime events were so much better. The focus was on the athletes not on the drama behind the event.
Deirdre
August 13th, 2012
8:31 am
Sam, I haven’t seen Falling Skies or True Blood yet. I’ll probably watch them both tomorrow.
Hubby and I saw Hope Springs yesterday. Or as my son calls it “the Boomer film”. Enjoyed it. It is not a comedy although it can be very funny. Tommy Lee Jones starts out very Tommy Lee then actually becomes vulnerable. One of his best performances. It feels very real and, because of that, has some uncomfortable moments such as Meryl Streep trying to…how can I put this…..stimulate her husband in a movie theater. The season is hilarious, embarrassing and heartbreaking all at the same time.
ww
August 13th, 2012
8:39 am
Seacrest was fine, but should have done Al Michael’s job. Yesterday, Michaels stated that swimming became popular in the 1970s. Swimming was part of the first modern Olympic games in 1896 in Athens, and breaststroke dates back to the Stone Age. At least Seacrest swam for Dunwoody High School, so everything would not have been a tie back to the NFL.
Stewie
August 13th, 2012
8:49 am
In my opinion, he brought nothing to the table and was clearly out of his element. Just a bad fit…let him stick to what he does well, the entertainment programming. Think about it…did you ever see (or want to see) Dick Clark reporting or conducting interviews at the Olympics?
What really appealed to the younger set, imho, was being able to access content online through multiple devices (despite bandwidth issues that frequently caused skips and pauses).
Atticus Joad
August 13th, 2012
8:56 am
ww, he meant popular for spectators. Nobody in America gave a crap till Mark Spitz.
Quest
August 13th, 2012
8:58 am
Why was Seacrest even at the Olympics? Why is he on TV period? He’s got no personality, no edge, and no discernable talent. Americans have such low standards: they’ll like anything or anyone they’re told to like.
charitoo
August 13th, 2012
9:08 am
Quest, I’m with you. Whenever Ryan Seacrest pops up on the t.v. I change the channel. I’m still trying to figure out why is he on t.v. and what is it he’s supposed to bring to the table. He has a darn good agent and publicity machine that takes advantage of the fact that we aren’t requiring more when it comes to entertainment. But I could and can say that about a lot of the folks in today’s entertainment industry.
JTesla
August 13th, 2012
9:25 am
I like Ryan, but someone needs to tell NBC that I don’t need to have Twitter read to me. His role was pointless. I got more from that lady who did the fluff pieces on Great Britain and certain athletes.
d
August 13th, 2012
9:30 am
I agree with Quest that Ryan Seacrest was a waste of money and tv time. I can’t watch him on anything either. He was awful on New Year’s rocking eve show also. We as a country have gotten to where we accept anything as being good because someone high up likes that person. Ryan, our music with no instruments, our singers that can’t sing and so much more.
Deirdre
August 13th, 2012
9:40 am
Bitter, bitter. It’s a tv show!!!! Bob Costas has already turned the Olympics into a soap opera.
A
August 13th, 2012
9:43 am
Not a Seacrest fan, but did appreciate NBC dusting off Mary Carillo throughout the Games, especially her profile of the success of women at the Olympics.
End of the World
August 13th, 2012
9:53 am
Given the choice of Ryan doing 5 minutes of tweets of athletes and seeing Olympic Athletes, at’d choose the athletes every time. Sure would have been nice to see athletes from other countries once and a while NBC!
Sam-A
August 13th, 2012
9:55 am
Ryan is a great “host” on Idol, and actually conducts interviews concisely and with respect for the interviewee!
Harriett
August 13th, 2012
10:05 am
I thought Ryan did a respectable job. I did not see the point of his being there, other than NBC seems to want to keep him “in the family” for some future reasons, possibly. But, once there, he did acquit himself nicely, especially, as D said, during the closing ceremony. In my opinion, he’s way too iconic for the role they gave him there. I had trouble accepting him at first.
At least The Voice producers are trying to fix a few things. I like the new idea of stealing the eliminated contestants. I hope Idol will go back to no instruments and see if they can shake things up, as far as the contestants are concerned.
JTesla
August 13th, 2012
10:38 am
With The Voice being splattered all over the Olympics I think it gives them a leg up against X-Factor. Simon better deliver the goods this season otherwise he gets to be third place in the singing reality show competitions.
Deirdre
August 13th, 2012
10:46 am
Agree, JT. No matter how gaudy and over-the-top X-Factor is, it is very difficult to compete with the Olympics. The Voice got plenty of buzz.
DanJ
August 13th, 2012
10:55 am
I LOVE the changes The Voice made!!! Although I wished it carried through to the final 8. There’s no reason that Jesse should have been cut. It may also have kept Pip in the competition.
Vast Wastrel
August 13th, 2012
12:00 pm
You guys are probably lucky as I just had a soapbox session hit the AJC bit bucket. Synopsis boils down to Seacrest really didn’t do his brand any favors by associating himself with such a shoddy production of the Olympics. Even last night’s Closing Ceremony coverage failed on several levels including insufficient program notes to Ryan, atrocious choice to use open stadium microphones and last but not least, no extinguishing of the flame(s) for a break at 11:00 to go to the debut of a new sitcom. Ryan told us we could catch The Who in the “after party”, you know, the part the rest of the world considered the CLOSE of the closing ceremonies, “in an hour or so”. NBC is now best represented by the leavings of a peacᴼck.
JTesla
August 13th, 2012
12:12 pm
I don’t think that Vast Wastrel was 100% satisfied with NBC’s handling of the Olympics.
I actually agree. Hopefully they can do better with the Winter Games… or with Rio.
Deirdre
August 13th, 2012
12:24 pm
Wait a minute….I SAW the flame extinguished at about 10:30pm. I have it on tape. They all laid down. Flame(s) went out.
Deirdre
August 13th, 2012
12:39 pm
Don’t get me wrong…I was definitely perturbed that The Who was relegated to the after-party and we were supposed to watch some dumb-azzed sitcom before we got to see it. Just saying that extinguishing the flame signaled the end of the official ceremony and that definitely happened before the dumb-azzed sitcom came on.
Mercedes S.
August 13th, 2012
12:41 pm
But I didn’t get to see The Who. Or hear Harry speak his one line. Did I fall asleep? Unending line of commercials, and then, suddenly, some weird doctors “comedy”. Turned off and went to bed.
At least we got to see the Scottish lass perform this time, the girl whose hymn commemorating victims of terrorism at the Opening ceremonies was deemed “unsuitable for American audiences” by NBC.
Ryan Seacrest at the Olymoics was a great big MEH for me. Eternal black mark on his career: NBC choosing to air his pre-recorded interview with Michael Phelps when the rest of the world was watching the hymn mentioned above.
Vast Wastrel
August 13th, 2012
12:45 pm
OK, I stand corrected on that one then. I saw them come down but I guess the extinguishing wasn’t dramatic enough to get my attention. We had company and for once I wasn’t watching from the DVR. That still doesn’t excuse poor production values like not using the direct sound feed for a mostly musical presentation. Ryan not being prepared for certain segments that they didn’t even bother to correct with the advantage of tape delay (What did the octopus have to do with British pop?). How about editing out Ray Davies, The Kinks and most of the performance by The Who?
My main kick with NBC has already been stated but to reiterate, 95% of the air time in prime time should consist of the actual games.
Deirdre
August 13th, 2012
12:53 pm
A group called Take That(?) sang Rule the World and then the flame(s) were extinguished in a fairly dramatic fashion from the outer rings to the inner.
If you read my 8:08am post you’ll see that I agree with you. The daytime version of the games was SO much better. Actual sports commentators were used and they talked about the actual sports we were watching….no “up close and personal” crap, no soap opera drama, no going off to listen to mush-mouth Tom Brokow ramble on and on about whatever.
If NBC ran the prime time coverage the way they ran the daytime coverage, we would have seen a lot more sports and a lot less Bob Costas. Seriously, how could that be a bad thing?
Vast Wastrel
August 13th, 2012
1:04 pm
OK, I get it, in mixing a drink to tolerate the bad sound I missed part of the show, mea culpa.
My main kick with NBC has already been stated by Deirdre at 8:08 am among others, but to reiterate, 95% of the air time in prime time should consist of the actual games.
DanJ
August 13th, 2012
1:09 pm
I thought Seacrest was okay but obvious out of his element. Seacrest is the modern day Dick Clark and may want to stick to Entertainment and leave sports alone. I think NBC used him to try to draw some of his fan base but sports fans don’t watch sports to see or hear the announcers.
Deirdre
August 13th, 2012
1:11 pm
I should have mixed a drink, too. Woulda helped!
Sat. night…on whole hour on the Blitz. Friday night, more that 1/2 an hour on the dream team and Michael Jordon. Really????? Is it any wonder that all our Olympic basketball teams take some offense at the ENDLESS diety worshipping of the Dream Team?????
I don’t mind if the broadcasters occasionally mention a previous gold medal effort but could we PLEASE see the CURRENT gold medal effort without these athletes constantly being compared to who came before them.
And somebody needs to just put a gag in Usain Bolt’s mouth!
Deirdre
August 13th, 2012
1:20 pm
See. now Vast Wastrel got me started!
I really didn’t see any point to Ryan being there at all. I hope they paid him a ton of money!
I absolutely do not understand why the events couldn’t be run in real time on the weekend. I get that people work and can’t watch during the week but the vast majority of people don’t work on the weekend(my husband, who works both weekends and holidays, is laughing at that) So NBC…don’t tell me that delaying events is because you’re allowing working people to see them. Delaying events is ALL about the money. For that, I can’t blame you. You have every right to make a profit.
Deirdre
August 13th, 2012
1:23 pm
If airing the Games from whatever part of the world they happen to be wasn’t profitable then we wouldn’t be seeing them at all.
But I’ll bet there’s a much better way to do it!
Sundrop Kid
August 13th, 2012
1:49 pm
NBC has become a “scumbag” network. They are always the first to blast Romney on his “gaffes” no matter how small, while ignoring practically all of Obama’s. The funny part is that they have pulled some major gaffes during these olympics, some seemingly intentional, ignoring the viewers and basically doing what THEY wanted to do. Some boneheaded moves with no common sense and logic. They are bad from ownership right on down to the broadcast people.
JTesla
August 13th, 2012
1:50 pm
You know what is starting to get me is all the grousing people in the US do about Olympic athletes not being funded by the government like they are in other countries. Get back to me on that when we are being spanked in the medal count (even though this isn’t a competition of nations), and I don’t mean just coming in second or third I mean really down there.
On a positive note, I’m looking forward to 2016 because let’s face it, when it comes to the spectators Brazilian women are easier on the eyes than the British women are.
Mercedes S.
August 13th, 2012
1:59 pm
JT, Brazilian women also have more plastic surgery than British ones.
JTesla
August 13th, 2012
2:05 pm
But how are their teeth?
G
August 13th, 2012
2:11 pm
JT wrote: On a positive note, I’m looking forward to 2016 because let’s face it, when it comes to the spectators Brazilian women are easier on the eyes than the British women are.
YES INDEED BUDDY!!!!!
Seacrest was definitely out of his element. He wasn’t horrible, but he didn’t add anything to the quality or enjoyment of the event either.
SN: U.S. should invest more into male soccer. There’s no reason we cannot have a dream [soccer] team.
culchiewoman
August 13th, 2012
2:14 pm
I would love to know where these polls are, and who answered them. Ryan Seacrest added nothing of value to already abysmal coverage. No one needed his ‘pop culture’ observations or interviews, and he certainly know nothing about music. NBC failed epically, no poll needed for that. They may have captured their prime time audience, but captured would an apt description. Kind of like the fact that much as we may hate what our government does, we still have to pay taxes.
Deirdre
August 13th, 2012
2:33 pm
In Ryan’s defense, he did the job he was hired to do. NBC is the problem, not Seacrest.
My husband, who has traveled to Rio extensively, wonders how they are going to keep the gunfire coming from the “fevellas” from reaching the Olympic visitors. His hotel has already been hit a number of times.
JTesla
August 13th, 2012
2:41 pm
I agree Deirdre regarding Ryan, which I kind of said at 9:25, but thought I would repeat. However, NBC is here to stay. Don’t they have 2016 and 2020 as well as the Winter games?
Sam-A
August 13th, 2012
2:43 pm
Merccedes and Harriett, discussion getting a bit tedious.
Personally, I much preferred Tom Brokaw’s very touching piece on London and the Great War over the endless, hanging-butt-cheek beach volleyball and other boring junk they show, incl, as stated above, the blah blah blah of that pompous Jamaican runner – he did good, he won, we all saw the results – shut up! Been to Jamaica – worst place with some of the scariest, snarkiest people I’ve ever seen. Scary place to be – 2 tourists killed the week I was there. My purse stolen. And two people I used to work with, and advised NOT to go there did, and both had money stolen from their rooms.
Sam-A
August 13th, 2012
2:46 pm
Oh, Mercedes: Saw “Bourne” and liked it ok – a fun way to spend a hot afternoon in air conditioning. Jeremy Renner and Rachel Weitz both great. And I love Edward Norton and David Straithhern.
JTesla
August 13th, 2012
2:55 pm
Tedious?
Deirdre
August 13th, 2012
3:15 pm
Love the beach volleyball and had no objection to the bikini bottoms(the tops were not bikinis). Beach volleyball began as just that, a sport for the beach.
I would have had no objection to mush-mouth’s story about the Blitz either if he had told it on Nightline or some other news program. People tune into the Olympics to watch the events, not to get a history lesson. Yes, history lessons are good but not when you expect to be watching gymnastics!
Deirdre
August 13th, 2012
3:16 pm
One of my good friends was held with a knife to her throat in Jamaica until her husband gave up all his money and his watch. Nope, I won’t be visiting Jamaica anytime soon, either.
DanJ
August 13th, 2012
3:21 pm
I thought for the most part the sportscasters did an excellent job. Bob Costas, Dan Patrick and Al Michaels. I also admit I read the spoilers. While NBC may be a liberal network I don’t think it has any relevance in how they handle sports coverage. It may play a role in their network shows and certainly their news coverage. But I use the remote to censor what I deem as political BS. They goes both ways for the record.
As far as supporting our athletes like other countries I think we should. I mean we borrows billions from China then turn around and give them millions in foreign aid.If fact we spends billions on foreign aid that we don’t have.I’d just as soon support our athletes until we go belly up!
Harriett
August 13th, 2012
3:54 pm
I had a problem the whole two weeks with all of the filler stuff too. You’d tune in at 8, expecting to see sporting events, only to find a feature story. And, last night I missed 60 Minutes for that crap? I would have been much better served to have peeked in, seen what was going on, then turning to 60 Minutes, even though they are re-runs right now.
skeeter
August 13th, 2012
3:57 pm
The students around GT are robbed, mugged all the time and that’s in the heart of ATL. Don’t be naive, crime can occur anywhere.
The only problem I had in Jamaica is being aproached by all the weed peddlers.
Seth T
August 13th, 2012
3:58 pm
For those who might like R&B, this is the young lady that won the R&B singing contest last year – she has connections to Atlanta and Charlotte. Her label does mostly R&B and Gospel.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vk98UnVvco
Harriett
August 13th, 2012
4:05 pm
Good song, Seth! Thanks for posting.