Why Watching the Opening Ceremony was an Olympic Effort
I struggle with TV in America at the best of times. Although traditionally all my favourite shows are made here, somehow now I'm living on this side of the Atlantic, all I can find to watch is CSI Everywhere and the Tonight Show.
Anyhow, last night I settled down to watch something really special. NBC had a special four and a half hour presentation of commercials! I had eagerly awaited the event all day. There were no sneak previews anywhere, and I was aware the rest of the world would be watching live. Left to the mercy of NBC, we had to wait until 6.30 p.m. before we could catch up.
The commercials are often the best thing on TV here. So you can imagine my frustration when every five minutes they were intercepted with the Opening Ceremony of the 2008 Olympics! How could I marvel at those witty ATandT ads when they kept breaking in to show displays of automaton like drummers? How could enjoy the wonderful Gershwin music United Airlines is currently using, when I had to stop and watch thousands of dancers elegantly swaying around in fluorescent green costumes smothered in tiny light bulbs?
Occasionally the ads were stopped to show President Bush watching the festivities. He must have lost his usherette because I swear I saw Mrs Bush showing him to his seat. He looked a little anxious, but it was probably because he had never before been to a sporting event without hoards of hot dogs and popcorn sellers in attendance. (Tip for next time, Mr Bush: carry them in a back pack).
Back to the ads. Lots of new ones tonight, probably because of the Olympics. Coke cans are certainly looking pretty these days. Rats. Back to the show. Luckily we only saw a few seconds of parading countries before we were back to another all important commercial. I may have spotted Great Britain in there somewhere, but before I had time to think about it, it was back to Nissan.
As the clock approached 11 p.m. our time (by which time the closing ceremony was probably starting in Beijing) we saw the piece de resistance. A really colourful ad for Chevy. Unfortunately it too was cut off in its prime so we could see a Chinese Olympian fly around the top of the stadium to light the Olympic flame with his torch. It was truly astonishing. Almost made me consider choosing a Chevy for my next car....
Anyhow, last night I settled down to watch something really special. NBC had a special four and a half hour presentation of commercials! I had eagerly awaited the event all day. There were no sneak previews anywhere, and I was aware the rest of the world would be watching live. Left to the mercy of NBC, we had to wait until 6.30 p.m. before we could catch up.
The commercials are often the best thing on TV here. So you can imagine my frustration when every five minutes they were intercepted with the Opening Ceremony of the 2008 Olympics! How could I marvel at those witty ATandT ads when they kept breaking in to show displays of automaton like drummers? How could enjoy the wonderful Gershwin music United Airlines is currently using, when I had to stop and watch thousands of dancers elegantly swaying around in fluorescent green costumes smothered in tiny light bulbs?
Occasionally the ads were stopped to show President Bush watching the festivities. He must have lost his usherette because I swear I saw Mrs Bush showing him to his seat. He looked a little anxious, but it was probably because he had never before been to a sporting event without hoards of hot dogs and popcorn sellers in attendance. (Tip for next time, Mr Bush: carry them in a back pack).
Back to the ads. Lots of new ones tonight, probably because of the Olympics. Coke cans are certainly looking pretty these days. Rats. Back to the show. Luckily we only saw a few seconds of parading countries before we were back to another all important commercial. I may have spotted Great Britain in there somewhere, but before I had time to think about it, it was back to Nissan.
As the clock approached 11 p.m. our time (by which time the closing ceremony was probably starting in Beijing) we saw the piece de resistance. A really colourful ad for Chevy. Unfortunately it too was cut off in its prime so we could see a Chinese Olympian fly around the top of the stadium to light the Olympic flame with his torch. It was truly astonishing. Almost made me consider choosing a Chevy for my next car....
posted by Hilary at
11:25 AM
1 Comments:
Just think - we had to watch the whole thing from start to finish without a single interruption. You can imagine how jealous we are, especially as we only saw one glimpse of dubya.
By
Adele, at 4:11 PM
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