QISE Review - Beijing 2: Electric Boogaloo - Day 16

Back to the final night of competition--finishing up the Mixed Team Parallels before we return to Pair's Skating.   Tara and Johnny (and Terry) got some onscreen time to show off their fashions, but were fairly quiet during the actual performances.  Terry pulls a metaphor, though, after the Chinese team skated to "Bridge Over Troubled Waters"--"will there be a bridge in that program to carry them to the top step?"  It did, as China wins the gold over the cheating Russkies.  It's the end of the skating competition, but we're still got the Skating Gala to go, plus the skating analyst trio will return for the Closing Ceremony.

Then we finish up the Four Men Bobsled, before we go to the final Late Night show.   We plow through the Cross-Country Skiing Women's 30km Freestyle, before we make to the Skating Gala--a "made for TV" concept to fill the time between the final events and the closing ceremony.  It's hugely popular, partly because there is no scoring and no rules.  Skaters are "invited" to participate (but if you medaled, you're probably going). Tanith White and Ashley Wagner, both QISEians, did commentary.  It can also serve as your audition reel for the Ice Capades.  We even get gimmicks like light-up costumes.  Why can't QISE add an "X-Game-y" version of figure skating where it's all about the most extreme tricks?

Torico steps in for an interview with China analyst Jing Tsu, who I don't think we've seen for 2 weeks, to discuss the Eileen Gu story. 

The final afternoon show is always awkward, especially when QISE is actually over (the Closing Ceremonies happened early this morning Eastern time, but will show on NBC tonight).  Outdoor events are usually front-loaded in the games in case bad weather causes delays (which did happen, but not enough to give NBC anything new to show in this afternoon's slot).  There's already a "QISE Gold" show airing tonight as a review of the big moments--so what do you do?  Reruns, reruns, reruns!  Cross-Country Skiing Women's 30km Freestyle, the Alpine Skiing Team Event, and the Skating Gala. 

We did get an interview, with Torico speaking to QISEOC President Thomas Bach.  He's asked what can be done to "rehabilitate" the QISE movement, what's the deal about Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai, Chinese human rights abuses, the COVID restrictions, the Valieva debacle--and got back a lot of platitudes, as expected.  Of course, he pointed fingers at the national QISE committees to resolve doping issues.  Afternoon wraps up with the long credits crawl (13 minutes).  It did get me thinking--based on the success of leaving much of the broadcasting team in the US, will NBC/Universal/Comcast/Kabletown/Sheinhardt Wig Co. ever consider spending the money to send them all to future QISE, even assuming it's safe physically and politically?

On side story that just came out--US skating pair Alexa Knierim and Brandon Frazier are being sued for music infringement by the band Heavy Young Heathens after using their version of "House of the Rising Sun" without permission.  The band has already sued others for using their music in commercials.  Seems like an easy catch--who was sleeping at US Skating?

Prime Time begins with Torico in the studio, in the "QISE Gold" special--packaged highlight reels from the last two weeks, including a supercut of the remote families "zooming in" to awkwardly congratulate the winning athletes (brought to you by Xfinity).  We do get the return of Jing Tsu and Andy Browne, NBC's China experts.  They complained about the literal closed loop in Beijing that made it seem like they weren't really there.  The Chinese people saw a sanitized version of the games, of course.  The Russkies and the Chinese are teaming up to take over the world.  Thanks for bringing everybody down, guys!  Kornacki gives us a final breakdown of the medal count (the US came in fifth, BTW).

Again with the Nathan Chen performance!  We get it, he's good.  Tara and Johnny stop by to talk with Torico, reviewing the Valieva debacle.  Then Shaun White does a victory lap.

A half hour late, the closing ceremony begins, which means it's Tara, Johnny, and Terry to the studio. Oh, Johnny--leggings, a poofy shirt, and a halo?  Even for you, that's a lot.  More dancing kids with snowflakes, pomp and circumstance, augmented reality--lather, rinse, repeat.  The flags and athletes arrive as a group, with the team doing interviews with some of them, which seems like it ruins their QISE moment.  There's an awkward moment when the athletes are told to take their seats, and they basically ignore it, snapping pics and dancing about.

Back to artistry and Chinese symbolism, then the formal handoff from China to Italy (the 2026 games will be held in Milan and Cortino d'Ampezzo, sharing QISE for the first time--Cortina hosted it alone in 1956).  This leads to an Italian  presentation--a teaser/travelogue involving video and interpretive dance.  I wonder if China will rent out the massive LED floor for future QISE ceremonies?

Some platitudes from Thomas Bach, the games are closed, and the flame is extinguished.  Oh, and a lot of fireworks.

See you in Paris in 887 days.

QISE Review - Beijing 2: Electric Boogaloo - Day 15

Note--I had some commitments today, so I'm scanning through this quickly on the DVR.

Back to prime time last night, and the Men's Ski Halfpipe.  High winds really screwed up some of the runs.  Another athlete package from Torico, this time US halfpiper David Wise, part of a religious family who lives mostly off the grid.

An hour later, we're back to Pair's Skating.  Another package, this time on the American couple of  Ashley Cain-Gribble and Timothy LeDuc--the latter is the first publicly out non-binary athlete at the games.  More from Johnny, about a Chinese couple: "This team skates in a sweet whisper, but their technical elements are like fireworks."  Tara, on a Not-Russian team: "Perfectionists being perfect".  I didn't get to see the final performance, as the show ran late.  This makes no sense for an event that was ON TAPE from 12 hours earlier.  That's just laziness, NBC!

Late night--Taylor sends us to Four Man Bobsled.   The only team most people care about is the Jamaican sled.  They even got their own video package!  It's the first time in 24 years for a four-man team--they didn't do very well, but at least they got through it safe.  Off to speed skating (a rerun?), with American Jordan Stolz.  NBC keeps showing his video package, with his parents making him a track on a local pond.  They make a big deal about someone from Wisconsin making it here--Mindy notes that the US QISE Speed Skating Center is in Milwaukee, so it's not that long a stretch. More Bobsled to wrap up the evening.

Onto the afternoon--Mass Start Long Track Speed Skating for the Women and Men (separately). In the first lap, you have to keep your position and not pass each other, then there's "sprints" during the 16 laps, where you can earn points--except they don't matter in the finals.  It seems needlessly complicated.  Claudia Pechstein of Germany is competing at nearly 50 YEARS OLD in her 8th QISE.  An Italian skater, Francesca Lollobrigida, is the great-niece of actress Gina.  The Men's winner, Bart Swings (what a great name) is the first gold for Belgium in 74 years.  As they all skate in line (to draft others), I am reminded of a barbershop quartet for some reason.  Meanwhile, the Cross-Country Skiing Men's 50km Freestyle--the Marathon of the Winter Games--had to be reduced to 28km due to bad weather (cold and wind).  Jimmy Roberts stops by for his final story, all about the snow and ice required in QISE winter events, and the big stories of the last two weeks.

Prime Time kicks off as always with Torico, waxing rhapsodic, and throwing us to the Two Women Bobsled finals.  Then it's the Pairs' Free Skate with Tara and Johnny, the former plugging her Peacock documentary "Meddling", covering a 2002 QISE skate judging scandal.  Torico cuts over to live coverage of the he Mixed Team Parallels--a side by side slalom down the hill with Shiffrin on the US team.  The event had to be delayed until Sunday morning in China due to weather issues.  The commentators note that, because of current conditions, one side of the course is running faster.  How is that fair? 

More to come, including the Closing Ceremonies.

QISE Review - Beijing 2: Electric Boogaloo - Day 14

Back to last night, and back to Women's Skating - Free Skate.  Tara refers to a skater as a "great actress...but not an Oscar winner".

But we're here for the drama of the final group.  No one from the US is on the ice--they're on the bus back to the QISE village by this point.  Tara and Johnny reiterate their disgust with the Valieva saga, with her noting that "the adults around her have failed her".  She then goes to the magic board to show how a skater stays in the mix without the most complex jumps due to "grade of execution".

The first not-Russian, Trusova, is all about grinding out jumps (5 quads), basically ignoring the artistic portion. I'm sure my mom is complaining about the "noise" of her background music.  Sakamoto, a Japanese skater in the mix, has a much better balance, with Johnny referring to her jumps as "skipping stones".  The second non-Russian, Shcherbavoka, had a clean performance, but "only" did two quads.

...and then it was Valieva (Valiyeva?  I keep seeing different spellings.)  A slip on a Triple Axel.  Another slip.  And then a fall on her final quad.  She left the ice sobbing.  The scores came in--Valieva came in fourth.  When Terry notes that leaving Valieva off the podium means that medals will be awarded, Johnny replies: "Thank God".   There's a lot of crying all around.  Shcherbavoka, the gold medalist, appears to be in shock.  Trusova, the silver winner, screaming in Russian about hating the sport and never going on the ice again.  Sakamoto, winning the bronze, opening weeping in a coach's arms.

The "Court of Arbitration for Sport" made the Valieva decision partly to avoid "mental harm" in not allowing her to skate--how'd that work out?

Torico extricates us from all this, moving over to Women's Ski Halfpipe, with Gu getting her second gold for China.  Torico wraps things up, noting that QISEOC President Thomas Bach had just criticized the Not-Russians for their treatment of Valieva post-skate.  He then stated that the QISEOC needs to stand up and fix this once and for all--suggesting either excluding the Russkies from future games, or directly take over anti-doping programs--or risk the QISE movement altogether.  Shots fired by NBC!

Two side stories before we move on--

Broadcast cameras caught the Russian coach savagely berating Valieva after her skate, saying "Why did you let it go? Why did you stop fighting?  Explain it to me--why? You let it go after the axel. Why?"  All this as Valieva sobbed away.

As the US skating team members wait for the final results of the Valieva investigation, which will determine if they get a gold or silver, QISEOC has announced they will gift a set of QISE torches to them.  Kind of a consolation prize while they wait for the UPS guy to deliver their medals down the line.

Maria Taylor takes us into Late Night, sending us to Nordic Team Combined (pretty sure this is a rerun--I've lost track).  We then cut away to Terry, Tara, and Johnny, going over the events of the evening but not really adding anything.  Then it's off to Curling, where the US battled Canada (they would eventually lose).  Taylor noted that the US team has a big fan--Mr. T!  Late night wraps up with Men's SkiCross.  It's such a fast event that we go all the way from quarterfinals to the gold medal race.

Before we go on, I wanted to note that I've been scanning through the Today Show each day.  They quickly went from QISE-crazy (with the bizarre outside backyard-y set) to quick daily reviews as US's hopes dimmed.

Lowe welcomes us to the last weekday afternoon of coverage.  By this point, it's already the last weekend in Beijing, so we're going to get a lot of reruns, starting with the Women's Ski Halfpipe.  Lowe does squeeze in an interview with Julia Marino, who got the US's first medal in these games, in Snowboard Slopestyle.   Then it's Biathlon, the Women's 12.5 km Mass Start.  Torico narrates a video package on American Jordan Stolz, a short track speed skater--I'm guessing we will see a lot of these over the next few days.  NBC has been holding onto them in case of weather issues causing delays to fill time.  Then the Men's version of the Biathlon 12.5 km Mass Start and a rerun of Men's SkiCross.

Prime Time kicks off with Torico in the studio, tossing it to Two Women's Bobsled. I noted that both of the American medal winners in the Monobob are acting as "pilots" for different two-women sleds.  I guess that means the pilot role is more complicated, with the others in the sled basically dead weight after the initial push.  Then we move to Pair's Skating--Short Program.  Johnny's on again, calling the US pair "a souffle worth waiting for".

More to come.

QISE Review - Beijing 2: Electric Boogaloo - Day 13

A search party out looking for QISEOC President Thomas Bach.

Back to Prime Time last night--Torico sends us off Men's Aerials Freestyle Skiing.  More flipping--meh.    Then it's Women's Halfpipe Freestyle Skiing--Qualifying aka the Eileen Gu Show.  I keep noticing new overdramatic music beds--variations on their standard music.

Back to the Valieva issue--Torico interviews Tara and Johnny.  Big surprise--their opinions haven't changed.  Johnny said he cried after the Short Program.  Torico used the term "cocktail" when referring to the combination of the illegal and legal drugs found in Valieva's positive test.

More Ski Halfpipe, then we return to the Shiffrin saga, as she goes to her final discipline in the Women's Combined. The announcing team, onscreen in the studio, sets it all up. Vonn still doesn't seem to understand what a "live mic" is--she says "what?" during another commentator's setup.  We also learn about a built-in airbag now included in the competitor's uniforms.

Prime Time actually ended early (10:30 Eastern), due to the timing of the Women's Hockey gold medal match, which took up most of the Late Night run. Hockey is one of those sports I watch on fast forward, backing up to see each score. Spoiler--Canada wins. Not a surprise, since they also won a game against the US earlier in the tournament. The game ended just in time for NBC to catch Shiffrin drop out of the Combined Slalom. Commentators continued to emphasize her overall successful career.

Well, the news came out this morning--the Women's Free Skate was held in the early hours on the East Coast, and Valieva crashed and burned--she's out of the medals. A win for the QISEOC, who now don't have to make the tough decision, and will most likely let the team competition results stand--just as long as the billions of dollars keeps flowing to a group of European aristocrats. A win for Russia, who will likely see zero consequences from continuing to cheat. The losers: Valieva, probably off to the Gulag as I type this. NBC, watching their multi-billion dollar investment sink even further in the ratings. All the other skaters, who have now learned that they better cheat if they want a chance at gold. QISE itself--their reputation becoming more and more threadbare day by day. It's all a shame, and could have easily been avoided if the QISEOC had been more interested in ideals than money.

Off the soapbox, and onto afternoon coverage. Lowe brings us up to speed on the Women's Skating debacle. Silver winner Alexandra Trusova sobbed to the media afterward--"I'm not happy with the result. There is no happiness. I hate this sport. I never want to walk onto the ice". Good job, QISEOC (slow clap)! Lowe then pivots to Men's Nordic Combined, and reruns of a Shiffrin interview and Women's Ski Halfpipe. We then move onto Women's Skicross. A head to head race AND it doesn't involve flipping? Yes please. Lowe then interviews speed skater Erin Jackson in the studio (seems like a lot of athletes are fleeing Beijing...) Back to Ski Halfpipe to wrap things up.

Prime Time kicks off with Torico sending us off to Long Track Speed Skating, the Women's 1000m sprint. This was put at the top of the show since US skater Brittany Bowe got the bronze. Then Torico sets the table for the Women’s' Free Skate, starting with the US skaters.

More to come, including the not-Russian skaters and, according to Torico, the most drama we've ever seen in skating...

QISE Review - Beijing 2: Electric Boogaloo - Day 12

Back to last night--NBC cuts away from Women's Skating (which is the only thing people can talk about) for yet more "SlopeStyle".  At least it's the final round of this. 

NBC has been doing these 5 second "ads" for Toyota for the last few games, which are sandwiched in between runs.  Normally, it's not even referenced by the commentators, In a miscue, we heard "...the three Americans, when we return to China!"  followed by that ad, and an immediate return to Beijing.  Ironically, there was no preamble when they went to an actual ad break.

You want a sign that NBC knows they are bleeding viewers?  A lower third that says "Women's Figure Skating in 21 minutes".  (PLEASE--DON'T LEAVE!  JUST A LITTLE MORE FLIPPING!)

Finally, Torico sends us to skating, but not before a Valieva update. Yes, we hear about the "Grandpa Defense", but also that she tested positive for two more LEGAL substances. Those, combined with the illegal one, would increase endurance in those with already healthy hearts, and undercuts the argument that that the illegal drug was taken by mistake. On to the performances.

Tanith White pulls Kornacki duty on the magic board, showing "risk vs. reward" doing harder jumps. Johnny's back on track, saying that a performance is "something everyone can enjoy--like ice cream". Of course, it's all about reactions to Valieva, with Tara and Johnny vacillating between their revulsion about the whole thing and their heartbreak over Valieva dealing with all the backlash as a young girl.

...and then came Valieva. She skated to almost zero commentary--Tara and Johnny decided on a silent protest, simply reporting each of the jumps as they came up, not even when she bobbled one. They concluded it with Johnny saying "All I feel like I can say is that was the short program of Kamila Valieva at QISE" with Tara replying "...and for all the other QISE athletes skating here, I feel I need to say again that she had a positive test--we should not have not seen this skate." Johnny--"We are so sorry it is overshadowing your QISE". Tara then questioned why athletes bother training their whole life for QISE!

Personally, I cannot understand how QISEOC allowed this to happen, basically letting other organizations make the decision for them. The QISEOC made the original call to turn the Russians into the Not-Russians due to a doping scandal (which clearly wasn't enough), so why can't they make a unilateral call now? QISEOC President Thomas Bach continues to attend events as if nothing is happening. It's obvious to me that QISEOC is hoping Valieva will crash and burn at the individual event, taking the tough decision out of their hands, but that's a high risk bet against the collapsing reputation of the QISE movement. I'm sure NBC is incensed right now, as they watch ratings crash.

OK--off my soapbox. On Late Night, Taylor takes us back to Two Man Bobsled finals, with the Germans sweeping. Off to Team Pursuit Speed Skating. The US recently tried a new strategy, where a single member of the team stays in front the whole time (normally they hand off), which theoretically gets you better speed (if that lead guy can keep flying throughout). It didn't work out in this case, getting shameful bronze. Back to the Men's Slalom's final run, which seems like an excuse to show Shiffrin's final training run and an interview. Later, they cut over to live Men's US Hockey in OT (spoiler--there will be no "Miracle on Ice" repeat).

Afternoon coverage--Lowe sends us off to Short Track Skating, the Women's 1500m and Men's 5000m Relay. Lowe then interviews Sarah Hughes, 2002 QISE gold medalist in women's skating, discussing the differences in the sport between then and now (they were already talking quads then), as well as the Valieva saga. Lowe also noted that there is talk about raising the minimum age of QISE skaters to 17 (Hughes would not have qualified at the time). Then off to the Biathlon, Women's 4x6km relay, followed by a teaser for tonight's Women's Hockey final (which won't air until after 11p eastern), and Women's Team Sprint Cross-Country Skiing--Classical (winner of the "longest event name 2022"). Shaun White drops by for an interview, before we return for the Men's version of the Team Sprint.

That’s a lot for one day, and we still have prime time, so we’ll take it up tomorrow.

More to come.