Let’s jump into last night’s Prime Time, with Torico sending us straight to Cross Country Sprint. Klaebo is back! And the US qualified for the final--Klaebo takes it, with the US’s Ogden winning his second silver.
Two “Events of the Night”?? Come on Mike, pick a lane!
Over to the Slopestyle rerun and the prerequisite weird trick names. “He nailed the 3450 Greasy Ollie Switch with Extra Butter!”
Onto Women's Team Combined Alpine Skiing with Breezy and Shiffrin (and their own video package). One skier does the downhill, the other the slalom. This means if the downhiller screws up, the slalomer doesn't even compete.
Uh-Oh, looks like NBC is bleeding viewers. They just put up a “Figure Skating in 16 minutes!” graphic. Speaking of--it’s the Men’s Short Program rerun. They did add a segment about Max Naumov (his second), whose skating champion parents died in a plane crash a year ago.
Tucci is back, doing some fish shopping. Later, NBC News cuts in with a report on the Savannah Guthrie case. I did note that they “cut in” after a set of commercials. It ran for nearly ten minutes. Then it’s off to the “Event of the Night #1”--the Quad God and his main competitors. He’s five points ahead going into the Free Skate.
Back to the slopes for the back end of Women's Team Combined Alpine Skiing and Shiffrin, aka “Event of the Night #2”. Mikaeka gets her own video package before coming in fourth. An unheralded US pair got the bronze.
A quick drop to Mixed Relay in Speed Skating. The US crashed three times in the earlier rounds and didn’t qualify for the finals. With the US out, NBC buried this at the end of the night. There’s some controversy, with complaints that the ice was set up for figure skating, not speed skating. Italy takes the gold. Snoop dropped by to wrap it up.
Maria Taylor steps in for Late Night, from the Duomo. Over to the final runs of Women’s Singles Luge. The US’s Ashley Farquarson wins the bronze. Over to Women’s Moguls - Qualifying. You can throw out your back just watching this. Then it’s back to a Klaebo rerun, followed by Taylor interviewing Michael Schofield (Superb Owl winner), husband of Kendall, US Women’s Hockey player. Their kid caught a puck at the game.
Several hours later, it’s the Today show. Forty minutes in, Peter Alexander (in baby blue) provides the daily review. Scott Hamilton (matching with Peter) digs into Figure Skating. Molly Hunter reports on Curling from Cortina, with the NY team interviewing the silver-winning “Two Coreys” duo. Another Hockey player, Haley Winn, plays second banana to her goofy influencer brothers in an interview. Snoop drops by (again?), and Giada goes to pasta class.
Now that I’m caught up, let’s check out Peacock’s Gold Zone. We jump from Women’s Half Pipe (and Chloe Kim) to Men’s Hockey. Then there’s a side-by-side view of Hockey, Figure Skating practice, and Men’s Doubles Luge, but regardless of running it on my Roku, on the web, or on mobile, there doesn’t seem to be a way to switch over the audio--the network controls it. I had to drop out and change the event I was watching--so it’s more like an old-style program guide than anything.
Now I’m running three screens, with Lowe and ex-skater Adam Rippon checking in at the Duomo. I’d like to see Rippon and Weir in a snarky cage match. More Moguls while I wait for Luge to return on Peacock. Speaking of, the Peacock app on Roku is CLUNKY. As in, I’ve typed these two sentences, and still waiting for the menu to populate. Back to the DVR for Men’s1000m Speed Skating (meanwhile, Italy won the Women’s Double Luge). The US has nearly caught up to Italy in the Medal Count--they are at #2 and #3.
Moving over to Ice Dance--Free Skate. Analyst Tracy Wilson is the opposite of Johnny Weir--rather like an elementary school teacher. There’s a drop in to half-pipe, so I checked out the “Rink Side” option in Peacock, which shows multiple views--the rink, an aerial view, the training room, etc. This time, you can actually change the view yourself. Of course, when the commercial comes on, you can’t opt out of viewing it full screen.
Tirico steps in (not sure why he did so in Daytime) during a Zamboni break to take us around the games. Ryan Cochran-Siegle gets the silver in Men’s Super-G. The US goes one-two on Women’s Mogul. Jordan Stolz won 1000m Speed Skating. Yesterday, 5 US athletes won a medal, and today it’s four already. Tirico and Hamilton take us back to Ice Dance. Tirico stumbles on a Russian name--”Come on Mike, get it together!”
It’s so-so silver for Chock and Bates, while France takes the gold.
Enough for one day--more tomorrow.
#Its_a_me_QISE