History of Mens Skating?

[skateflo]

Several years ago HBO did a great special on the history of Ladies FS.
At the time they said one for mens would be done in the future - and it never was. There is archival footage available from various souces.

Some say that fans/skaters are only interested in the females.
Do you think one about men would be successful?
Would you be interested in seeing men from the very early times as well as those in the last 20 years?
Should it start with the 1961 Worlds airplane crash/loss of American team?
Should it include all men or just North American?
Who do you think should narrate it?
Would you like to see it as a TV special?
Would you purchase it if it was only available on DVD/VHS (meaning it never was shown on TV?)

Please share your thoughts!

[skatepixie]

I just wanna see USA skaters, with little bits about the rest. I would really mostly focus on americans. I think I would start with the early beginnings of the sport and got through right now.

[icenut84]

I'm not American, but I'd be interested in seeing a documentary like this too, if it was thorough and didn't have errors.

Do you think one about men would be successful?

Why not? If you're targeting only an American audience, then I can understand that ladies would be the most popular choice, but assuming that the majority of viewers are *skating* fans, they'd probably watch one on the men.

Would you be interested in seeing men from the very early times as well as those in the last 20 years?

Yes.

Should it start with the 1961 Worlds airplane crash/loss of American team?

No - if it's a proper look back, why not start before that? Dick Button, Ulrich Salchow, Gillis Grafstrom etc.

Should it include all men or just North American?

That depends on whether it's a look back at mens skating, or American mens skating. If it's a look back at mens skating, then why not include non-NAs? After all, it's not like North Americans are the only skaters who've made any impact.

[flippet]

I'd love to see something like this. If you're going to do it, then do it right--start at the beginning, and include the greats from any country. I get really tired of seeing things that are too American-centric--it smacks of snobbery to me (and I'm American). If a skater is important to the history of a world-wide sport, then it shouldn't matter what part of the planet they call home. In fact, if you take all but the Americans out of the history of skating, you'd barely have a history to talk about. I'm interested in all of it, and I'd be less interested or inclined to buy if it only covered the Americans.

A TV special would be great--it would be nicer if it were done by one of the quality, specialty channels, such as A&E, or The History Channel...a true documentary, and not just a desperate grab for sponsorship dollars. If there's a narrator, I think it should be someone neutral...not necessarily someone connected to skating. Should definitely have a voice with good tonal qualities...easy to listen to. I love lots of people connected to skating, but to be brutally honest, they don't all have very 'listenable' voices, especially for something like this.

[Artemis]

Count me in as one fan who really doesn't get too excited about women's skating ... but would love something like this about men's skating.

If there's a narrator, I think it should be someone neutral...not necessarily someone connected to skating. Should definitely have a voice with good tonal qualities...easy to listen to. I love lots of people connected to skating, but to be brutally honest, they don't all have very 'listenable' voices, especially for something like this.

I agree that it should be someone who can actually speak well ;), but I also think it should be someone who is knowledgable about skating, even if they're only reading a script. Not necessarily a famous skater, but someone with some credibility about the sport. (Anyone but Dick! ;) ) Just so long as they don't do any self-promotional nonesense (like Scott in the "history of SOI").

BTW, there was a special on men's skating done here in 2002 in the run-up to SLC, called "The Olympians." I remember Kurt hosted/narrated it. What I can't remember is whether it focussed primarily on Canadian men (I think it might have), or whether it was a more global approach.

Another special that ran a few years before that, called "That's Skating" (IIRC), followed the format of the "That's Entertainment" programs about the movie industry. There were different former skater hosts for each segment, but none of the hosts were blowing their own horn, they were all speaking about a segment of skating that didn't directly relate to them.

[jcspkbfan]

BTW, there was a special on men's skating done here in 2002 in the run-up to SLC, called "The Olympians." I remember Kurt hosted/narrated it. What I can't remember is whether it focussed primarily on Canadian men (I think it might have), or whether it was a more global approach.

Those were actually two separate specials. "The Olympians" special featured great Canadian skating moments from all four disciplines at the Olympics. Kurt made a couple of brief appearances during this special, but he didn't narrate it.

Kurt narrated another special called "Ice Champions" which was also originally broadcast just before the SLC Olympics. This special did focus exclusively on the history of Canadian men's skating, beginning with profiles on the earliest champions of the 20th century and continuing on through the years (Donald Jackson, Toller Cranston and Brian Orser). Highlights included clips from the 1999 "Tribute to Canadian Skating" show which was never broadcast anywhere else, a very emotional interview with Brian Orser (shortly after he won 2001 Canadian Open) and Kurt and Sonia visiting Toller's Mexican home.

All and all, I thought this special was very enjoyable and well-put together, and Kurt did a good job as narrator. My only complaint was I wished it was about 30 minutes longer since there wasn't enough time to give Kurt and Elvis their own segments (Brian Orser was the most "recent" champion with his own segment on this show).

There were rumours about more "Ice Champions" specials being developed in the future (possibly about the other three skating disciplines?), but nothing seems to have developed from that. :(

I don't think I ever saw the HBO ladies' skating special, but I thought the "Fire on Ice" special A&E broadcast a few years ago was also, for the most part, very well-done. I'd definitely love to see a similar special about men's skating (or pairs or ice dance, for that matter) someday. :)

[Artemis]

^ Thanks for the clarification, jcspkbfan.