LET THE GAMES BEGIN...THAT IS, IF YOU'RE PLANNING TO TUNE IN!
Good evening. Well, the 20th Olympic Winter Games have already started in Turin, Italy, and this is probably going to be one Olympics that may be a turn-off for television viewers. Why? In the thick of February sweeps, the other shows on other networks have pulled out all the stops to make sure NBC doesn't get any ratings gold.
On ABC, you've got the Sunday night one-two punch of "Desperate Housewives" and "Grey's Anatomy", "Lost", and "Dancing with the Stars." CBS has "CSI", "Survivor: Exile Island", and "The Amazing Race." And over at Fox, there's "House", "24", and the biggest weapon of them all: "American Idol." Here in Fairbanks, with the Fox and CBS stations both run by Tanana Valley Television and based in a small building on a dirt road off Van Horn just a few miles from KTVF (the NBC station), they're pulling no punches whatsoever.
Now I may be watching little or no coverage of the games (well, except to see whether or not Michelle Kwan will finally get that gold), and for good reason: Back in 2000 on the "Allen Report" site, I've talked up a storm about how super-crappy the NBC coverage of the Sydney games were because they were all on tape due to the huge 19-hour time difference between Sydney and Alaska...and that how many, many Americans have screw all that hugely by tuning to the CBC in Canada, where most of the coverage -- including the marquee events like track and field and basketball -- were 100% LIVE!!! It has been the case for Nagano (when CBS broadcast the games in the States), Sydney, Salt Lake City, Athens, and will be again for Turin.
However, if you have a "grey market" Canadian satellite dish or live in either Seattle (where they're still healing the wounds from the Seahawks' Super Bowl loss), Detroit, or Buffalo where CBC is accessible via cable or over-the-air, you're in true luck. I'm pretty sure SOMEBODY in the Fairbanks area, maybe in North Pole or Nenana or Salcha or Delta Junction, has a Canadian satellite mounted somewhere in their home so that they would enjoy the quality, straightforward, no bullshit coverage from the CBC -- as well as "Hockey Night in Canada" and "The National" -- without suffering from Bob Costas and the gang at NBC.
I just wish someday, somehow, ABC with the support of ESPN can get the Olympics back from NBC. Sure, they may have lost Al "Do you believe in miracles? YES!!!!!!!" Michaels to NBC so he could re-team with John Madden for "Sunday Night Football", but since Jim McKay is too old, they could get Chris Berman or John Saunders to anchor for ABC. And oh yeah...we do remember the days when ABC's coverage were far more superior and less crappy than NBC, especially McKay's "They're all gone" while reporting on the horrors in Munich.
Anyway, five Alaskans are competing in these games; we'll find out if one or some or all of them will be arriving back at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport from Turin with a little gold around their necks as the ultimate souvenir.
While we wait for the first gold from Turin to be handed out, the 48th Annual Grammy Awards were on Wednesday. U2 were the big winners with five including Song and Album of the Year, bringing their overall total to 21. Green Day received Record of the Year for "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" while John Legend got New Artist. Mariah Carey's comeback did pay off with three awards, but they were all given out during the pre-telecast ceremony where Chris Rock and Senator Barack Obama (D-Illinois) got Comedy and Spoken Word Album honors for "Never Scared" and "Dreams From My Father" respectively.
Kelly Clarkson went from "American Idol" to Grammy Idol when she beat out some heavy competition (including Gwen Stefani, who left the Staples Center empty-handed) by claiming Best Pop Vocal Performance and Pop Vocal Album. By the way, "Idol" clobbered the Grammys in the ratings because of the awards' return to Wednesday; it would've been better if they followed the Golden Globes' lead by holding them on Monday.
As for the fashions on the green carpet, green because Heineken was one of the Grammys' proud sponsors? Alicia Keys in amazing Armani, pregnant Stefani, and Jennifer Love Hewitt in wonderful white hit high notes with me, while Teri Hatcher was ultimately off-key with her Jean Paul Gautier getup. I mean, you could see right through her 41-year-old legs in that one! Then again, it is the Grammys, so she was, oh, desperate to outdo her Golden Globes gown.
Lastly, there were the standout performances. Madonna as the opener showed she still has the body at 47, while Paul McCartney took the Grammy stage for the first time in his life. Mariah Carey with a choir as backup, Herbie Hancock and Christina Aguilera, the salute to Sly and Family Stone with Sly Stone's surprise appearance (and wearing a MOHAWK?!?!), Kanye West and Jamie Foxx, and the show closer with the tribute to New Orleans had everybody abuzz all over...except in Malaysia, where Madonna's peformance was edited out of the Grammy show when it was broadcast there.
Well, although they faced stiff competition from "American Idol" and "Lost", the 48th Annual Grammy Awards was not really a dissapointment, but had a share of hits and misses. And that's "The Plain Truth"...oh, sorry, this isn't the "Allen Report" anymore. Have a good weekend.
Good evening. Well, the 20th Olympic Winter Games have already started in Turin, Italy, and this is probably going to be one Olympics that may be a turn-off for television viewers. Why? In the thick of February sweeps, the other shows on other networks have pulled out all the stops to make sure NBC doesn't get any ratings gold.
On ABC, you've got the Sunday night one-two punch of "Desperate Housewives" and "Grey's Anatomy", "Lost", and "Dancing with the Stars." CBS has "CSI", "Survivor: Exile Island", and "The Amazing Race." And over at Fox, there's "House", "24", and the biggest weapon of them all: "American Idol." Here in Fairbanks, with the Fox and CBS stations both run by Tanana Valley Television and based in a small building on a dirt road off Van Horn just a few miles from KTVF (the NBC station), they're pulling no punches whatsoever.
Now I may be watching little or no coverage of the games (well, except to see whether or not Michelle Kwan will finally get that gold), and for good reason: Back in 2000 on the "Allen Report" site, I've talked up a storm about how super-crappy the NBC coverage of the Sydney games were because they were all on tape due to the huge 19-hour time difference between Sydney and Alaska...and that how many, many Americans have screw all that hugely by tuning to the CBC in Canada, where most of the coverage -- including the marquee events like track and field and basketball -- were 100% LIVE!!! It has been the case for Nagano (when CBS broadcast the games in the States), Sydney, Salt Lake City, Athens, and will be again for Turin.
However, if you have a "grey market" Canadian satellite dish or live in either Seattle (where they're still healing the wounds from the Seahawks' Super Bowl loss), Detroit, or Buffalo where CBC is accessible via cable or over-the-air, you're in true luck. I'm pretty sure SOMEBODY in the Fairbanks area, maybe in North Pole or Nenana or Salcha or Delta Junction, has a Canadian satellite mounted somewhere in their home so that they would enjoy the quality, straightforward, no bullshit coverage from the CBC -- as well as "Hockey Night in Canada" and "The National" -- without suffering from Bob Costas and the gang at NBC.
I just wish someday, somehow, ABC with the support of ESPN can get the Olympics back from NBC. Sure, they may have lost Al "Do you believe in miracles? YES!!!!!!!" Michaels to NBC so he could re-team with John Madden for "Sunday Night Football", but since Jim McKay is too old, they could get Chris Berman or John Saunders to anchor for ABC. And oh yeah...we do remember the days when ABC's coverage were far more superior and less crappy than NBC, especially McKay's "They're all gone" while reporting on the horrors in Munich.
Anyway, five Alaskans are competing in these games; we'll find out if one or some or all of them will be arriving back at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport from Turin with a little gold around their necks as the ultimate souvenir.
While we wait for the first gold from Turin to be handed out, the 48th Annual Grammy Awards were on Wednesday. U2 were the big winners with five including Song and Album of the Year, bringing their overall total to 21. Green Day received Record of the Year for "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" while John Legend got New Artist. Mariah Carey's comeback did pay off with three awards, but they were all given out during the pre-telecast ceremony where Chris Rock and Senator Barack Obama (D-Illinois) got Comedy and Spoken Word Album honors for "Never Scared" and "Dreams From My Father" respectively.
Kelly Clarkson went from "American Idol" to Grammy Idol when she beat out some heavy competition (including Gwen Stefani, who left the Staples Center empty-handed) by claiming Best Pop Vocal Performance and Pop Vocal Album. By the way, "Idol" clobbered the Grammys in the ratings because of the awards' return to Wednesday; it would've been better if they followed the Golden Globes' lead by holding them on Monday.
As for the fashions on the green carpet, green because Heineken was one of the Grammys' proud sponsors? Alicia Keys in amazing Armani, pregnant Stefani, and Jennifer Love Hewitt in wonderful white hit high notes with me, while Teri Hatcher was ultimately off-key with her Jean Paul Gautier getup. I mean, you could see right through her 41-year-old legs in that one! Then again, it is the Grammys, so she was, oh, desperate to outdo her Golden Globes gown.
Lastly, there were the standout performances. Madonna as the opener showed she still has the body at 47, while Paul McCartney took the Grammy stage for the first time in his life. Mariah Carey with a choir as backup, Herbie Hancock and Christina Aguilera, the salute to Sly and Family Stone with Sly Stone's surprise appearance (and wearing a MOHAWK?!?!), Kanye West and Jamie Foxx, and the show closer with the tribute to New Orleans had everybody abuzz all over...except in Malaysia, where Madonna's peformance was edited out of the Grammy show when it was broadcast there.
Well, although they faced stiff competition from "American Idol" and "Lost", the 48th Annual Grammy Awards was not really a dissapointment, but had a share of hits and misses. And that's "The Plain Truth"...oh, sorry, this isn't the "Allen Report" anymore. Have a good weekend.
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