Skate America--ABC Coverage

[Alexa]

I don't think I have seen a thread started for those of us that saw the TV coverage yet.

Ladies--thrilled for Angela. I was impressed that she is trying to make a comeback, and also that she handled the win well. She was happy to win, but also knew she did not do her best and that in future competitions she will need to do better.

Men--

Michael Weiss--I am not a fan, but I do like this program much better than some of his previous programs. I do wish he would not have stripped down to his skating shirt in the interview with Peter. We all saw the costume while he was skating, and did not need another reveal.

Ryan--I was happy about his placement. I like that the COP brings us some surprises.

Brian--still hate the program. I have probably never disliked a program so much. When he gets into that techno footwork section, all I can think about is how cheesy it is, and how he is trying too hard to channel Yagudin.

Dick Button comments--loved the comment about Brian's costume, and how if Columbus would have had more rope he could have made it around the world and not just to America (or something like that)

[Rogue]

I want to know why Poykio, who actually won the ladies' free skate, was not shown.

[MissJ]

Probably because they dropped the ball again. I have read that the commentatore were not even watching at the time. They may not have even taped it. They are so used to those not in the top flight being out of contention that unless they are a fan fav or from the US, it isn't even a part of what they plan to broadcast. With the COP they are going to have to prepare for more surprises. They need to at least have the whole comp on camera so that if a surpise happens, they can go back and commentate over the top and include it in the broadcast. It isn't like they ever do any of this live unless it is the last flight or US, Worlds or Olympics. What harm could it do to have the whole comp at least filmed for highlights or surprises?

For all the commenting over the years about no movement in the field and "controlling your own destiny" ABC sure prefers if the competition is "scripted" to fit their marketing vs. covering the whole comp to see what happens. It gets old. Imagine if they decided to only show the 4th quarter of a football game or only the last pairing of a golf tournament simply because it will give a summary of the competition and show us who one. It would be nice if those covering the sport would show it as a sport and not a show. Hopefully with ESPN carrying most of the comps we will get to see less pre-packaged stuff and more competition. I got cable this summer just for the Olympics and the Figure Skating season. I'll be dropping it if the coverage stinks. I get enough channels without cable that I don't need it.

[MQSeries]

I was happy for Angela also, but she looked totallly breathless after the last triple of her program. I would love to see her at another GP later in the season to see if her conditions has improved any, otherwise she's going to be 5th or lower when Nationals roll around. Suprised to hear she said that she had been training hard all summer, because it didn't look like it. Maybe she didn't do full runthroughs of the program. If I was training with MK everyday and see how hard MK works, I'd be working my tail off, but it didn't seem like that was the case with Angela. I'm also wasn't too crazy with the Morozov's choreographed "Romeo&Juliet". I know she's on the "comeback" trail. I just hope that she really can improve on this performance later in the season.

Ota moved beautifully over the ice. Unfortunately without the jump she will never make the world team :(

Cziney's superb layback reminds me of NNN's.

I love Ryan Janke's choreography and choice of music this year. Seems like Tom Dickson and Ryan are a perfect team. But Ryan seriously need to land the 3axels; otherwise, he be off the podium at Nationals again. Since Ryan did so well at SA, I'm expecting Matt Savoie to also do well in his GP.

Weiss's program was an improvement over last year's. The straight line footwork didn't work for me; Neither did coming up on his heels. Does he even get bonus points for doing those? They looked silly to me and didn't add anything to the program. The pant either needs a belt or should be one-piece with the shirt; right now it's distracting, like they could come down at any moment.

Someone from Joubert's team need to seriously be honest with him. The footwork and the outfit are atrocious. (actually the French do like Jerry Lewis, so maybe they do think Brian's choreography is brilliant :) ). The toe-picky things that worked so well last year for his "Time" short program footwork looked out of place in this program. "Tipsy" was how Dick Button described it. And what was up with that mini dance thing that Joubert did before starting the ending SLF? He looked totally ridiculous doing them. Why can't anybody on the Joubert's team sees this? Why can't Yagudin and Tarasova see this and change it? Why can't Ms. France sees this and tell him to change it? Brian will definitely not win the world title this year with this program.

[Peter_K]

Sort of brings back memories from last year when CTV didn't show Kevin Van Der Perren's Skate Canada Short Program.

It's the typical dilema where you simply have to work around timing constraints and hard decisions have to be made. It's easy to start throwing darts at ABC but it's something every broadcaster has to deal with.

I mean, you can expect any given broadcaster to show the medalists and skaters from the home country. (and of course, you can't leave out the fluff :roll: ) Unfortunately, that's pretty well all ABC could do given the two hour package they were dealing with.

Well, at least, as a Canadian, it was a very pleasant surprise to even be able to see Cynthia Phaneuf. (or as Terry Gannon says, "fan-oof") If it weren't for the fact she medalled, I'm sure we would never have seen her.

And alas, according to Heather's TV schedule, all we're going to see on ESPN of the GP will be the long programs, and probably not too many of those. It looks like overall skating coverage has been cut by about 60% from last year. :evil:

--Peter

[Alexa]

Someone from Joubert's team need to seriously be honest with him. The footwork and the outfit are atrocious. (actually the French do like Jerry Lewis, so maybe they do think Brian's choreography is brilliant :) ). The toe-picky things that worked so well last year for his "Time" short program footwork looked out of place in this program. "Tipsy" was how Dick Button described it. And what was up with that mini dance thing that Joubert did before starting the ending SLF? He looked totally ridiculous doing them. Why can't anybody on the Joubert's team sees this? Why can't Yagudin and Tarasova see this and change it? Why can't Ms. France sees this and tell him to change it? Brian will definitely not win the world title this year with this program.

I agree. I just don't understand how his coaches can ignore this. His program/costume/etc is holding him back.

[Peter_K]

That is true, Sunday's broadcast was actually rather "fluff free".
Truth be told, I really don't mind the fluff as long as it's brief and doesn't wind up blooming to "lifetime" sized portions. :)

--Peter

[doubletoe]

I want to know why Poykio, who actually won the ladies' free skate, was not shown.
Yes, I actually wanted to see her too. . . But Angela Nikodinov won the ladies' free skate.

[doubletoe]

Ota moved beautifully over the ice. Unfortunately without the jump she will never make the world team :(


Which jump?

[MissJ]

Angela was second in the Short & Free. She won overall with the most points.
Susanna was 8th in the short and 1st in the Free. She skated so early that ABC didn't have it in the plan to show her or the other early skaters.

[viennese]

<<For all the commenting over the years about no movement in the field and controlling your own destiny" ABC sure prefers if the competition is "scripted" to fit their marketing vs. covering the whole comp to see what happens>>

I fear you're right. I hope Poyko shines at another GP event so we can see her before Worlds.

Even if the main commentators weren't watching, the researchers or producers were, and they could have tipped Dick and Peggy off. It's not unheard of for sports commentators to sit in a studio watching a tape and add their voice over onto it.

[doubletoe]

Angela was second in the Short & Free. She won overall with the most points.
Susanna was 8th in the short and 1st in the Free. She skated so early that ABC didn't have it in the plan to show her or the other early skaters.

Thanks for pointing that out! I somehow missed that part. Now I'm really frustrated that I didn't get to see Poykio skate!

[pennybeagle]

I was out of town over the weekend, and so I just got around to seeing the tape... I am happy for Angela and her win (it must be a great confidence booster for her). I was glad to see that she went all out on most of her jumps, other than the double toe and single axel at the end when she was obviously running on fumes.

However...what did you all think about the composition and planned content of this program? Three planned double axels? Two planned triple toes? Two triple flips right after each other? No triple sal or triple loop attempted? I have to hope that she's going to be substituting other triples in for those double axels as the season progresses.

[Tamwheel]

I can't believe I missed Skate America for the first time ever! It was on early and wasn't in the TV guide!

If anyone can trade me a copy can you drop me a line??? Although it doesn't sound like I missed anything spectacular and none of the top skaters? Sasha and Michelle out? I missed Brian Joubert though.

[skateky]

Just be happy that your local ABC affiliate aired Skate America. I was so looking forward to seeing it but, on 10/24, our local ABC affiliate aired a Nickelodeon cartoon for the first 30 minutes and then announced, "we now join regularly scheduled programming already in progress." I missed all of the mens' event. The next Sunday when Skate America was to be aired (assuming pairs and dance), they totally pre-empted it with cartoons. Go figure!! Is anyone else experiencing this in their viewing area?