Back to last night—
- We begin with an update. Adam Rippon will NOT be a Kabletown correspondent. Someone reminded him that it would invalidate his “amateur” status—he would have been kicked out of the athletes' village, and couldn’t participate in the closing ceremony. Johnny Weir breathes a sigh of relief.
- When I see the “Shib Sibs” Ice Dancing, I think it’s a bit creepy that siblings are doing that—especially a Latin dance.
- Tara and Johnny joined Mike at the Fortress to preview the top Ice Dancing teams. Johnny was wearing a kimono with hair from the Hunger Games collection. It’s clear that they are an audience draw, to the point that they had to be jammed in to the coverage.
- We’ve already had one “wardrobe malfunction” in Ice Dancing—now a second case. Gabriella Papadakis’s partner, Guillaume Cizerone, accidentally unfastened a clasp near the start of their dance, and the French pair gave the arena’s audience an upper view. The actually issue on TV was minimal—I doubt it would have been noticed if Tanith White hadn’t pointed it out. The short dance involved Latin steps, which meant skimpier outfits, which increased the likelihood of this happening.
Onto today—
- We haven’t heard much about drug testing since the Russians were (partly) kicked out—until now. A member of the “Olympic Athletes from Russia”, Alexander Krushelnitsky, failed his initial post-game testing, and now will be tested again to confirm. The drug? Meldonium, which increases blood flow and endurance. The strenuous sport involved? Curling.
- By this point in QISE, the Peacock has enough footage to create bizarre “co-branding” opportunities. I just saw an ad for the upcoming film "Ready Player One" that included audio from the movie, and switched back and forth between film and QISE visuals. It’s very confusing.
- Rebecca Lowe interviewed speed skater Maame Biney and her father this afternoon—she only decided recently to try this sport and made it to QISE. Kabletown has been pushing this story very hard.
- Primetime begins with Tirico at the Lodge, throwing us to a commercial and then Bobsled. Since the runs are almost identical each time (that’s the goal), you’re really watching for crashes like NASCAR.
- Due to previous weather delays and the threat of incoming bad weather, the women’s skiing events are being compressed, and as a result, Mikaela Shiffrin has pulled out of the Downhill. She was on the fence anyway—Women’s Combined is her best bet.
- You just can’t get away from Tara and Johnny—they are doing Google Home ads as well. Who would have thought that little boxes on our counter we would converse with would become a product category?
- The Peacock spent of lot of the early evening on Women’s Ski Halfpipe. Unfortunately, there’s not a compelling story here like Shaun White, so it’s a bit of a slog. I really wish they would show earlier rounds of Ice Dancing on the Mothership instead (it’s on NBCSN)—at least it’s pretty.
More to come.