NBC Skating Commentators Announced: Return of Terry Gannon

[Reuven]

Also, what happened to Peggy Flaming?

Lurves it!!
Glad to see Terry back. I remember when he started with skating. I wondered how a basketball announcer was going to work out. And we all know how that turned out. The man does his homework, learned about the sport, and became one of the best commentators skating has had. Also, his verbal elbows to Dick’s ribs were always amusing.

[barbk]

That is surprising (and very pleasant) news. Did he jump networks entirely? Is he still working for ESPN?

I hope this morphs into something regular for him that would end up with him playing a role in the Olympic coverage.
Next: Can they bring some of the great ABC camera crew on-board so that we get better shots of the whole skater, and not so many shots that fail to show the skates?

[AJ Skatefan]

That is surprising (and very pleasant) news. Did he jump networks entirely? Is he still working for ESPN?

As of a month ago Terry Gannon was still on ESPN. He did commentary for the WNBA playoffs.

[kwanette]

Thrilled to pieces over Terry Gannon. I think that Mike will do a good job.

[Lacey]

Love Scott as a human, but thrilled to get Terry back, even Tara will be a refreshing change from Sandra. I still miss Susie and Paul, guess they were only ESPN products, not NBC?

[WayCon]

I know I'm late to this tread, but when I click on the opening url ( www.nbcumv.com ), I don't get anything. Is NBC going to show all the Grand Prix events for 2010? TV? HD? Online?

I update my own posting. This morning I found, on the Universalsports site, that between Universal and NBC there will be coverage of all the GP events.

[HisWeirness]

Information about TV/Online coverage in the US can be found in this thread:

http://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/show...2&postcount=57

and in the schedule linked to in my signature below.

[TanithandBenFan]

Tanith tweeted this:

One trip to L.A.down!Heading home for a day then back to cover NHK for @universalsports! So excited to kick off the season.Tune in

that the channel still isn't available on Cox Cable here.

[HisWeirness]

Glad to see that Tanith will be back commentating. I enjoyed her dance commentary at Worlds.

[LadyNit]

Yay for Tanith doing commentary.

[A.H.Black]

Happy to hear about Terry. He and Verne Lundquist are the only two announcers that have had any respect for skating and skaters - and it shows.

I think we are in a transition period as far as commentators goes. Dick will be 81 years-old this year. His age and his brain injury are finally starting to have their affect. I think he is happy to be a "guest star" on broadcasts at this point. It is truly the twilight of an era as I firmly believe that most of what US residents know about about figure skating, they learned from Dick Button.

I would love to hear from Paul Wylie, but I understand he is the head of Nationals organizing committee this year. I'm guessing we won't hear much from him this year. I reserve my opinion of Micheal Weiss. We'll see how much actual knowledge he can convey in a succinct manner and how often he repeats himself.

I have yet to hear or see a commentator on ladies skating that I actually support. I haven't truly enjoyed any of them - including Peggy and Tara. I don't hate Sandra, given the comparison to the others.

I find it fascinating that dance as produced the best commentators. I like Susie and Tracy. I think Tanith will be fine as well.

It will be interesting to see who ends up being the commentator of the future. Having heard the judging audio from Nationals last year, I would just love to have an actual judge or technical caller as a commentator. I'm all for details and real information.

[museksk8r]

Having heard the judging audio from Nationals last year, I would just love to have an actual judge or technical caller as a commentator. I'm all for details and real information.

ITA with this. I also think it would help skating earn some much needed respect. For so long, we've heard commentators either speak flowery, poetic fluff that ultimately is meaningless or make obnoxious noises and squeals that distract from the viewing experience while ignoring technical details and intricacies of the actual skating and programs. No wonder public misperception exists about the difficulty of skating because the commentating often fails to discuss and analyze just how difficult it really is. The only way for viewers to discover how a skater earns a level 4 on an element is to search online for skating fan forums or for the ISU rule book because US broadcasts don't explain such things. All we hear about is how unfair it is that the US ladies get downgraded for UR jumps and how no one in the world works harder than Evan Lysacek.

[Allskate]

Yay for Terry! I liked Tara's commentary last season. I also like Tracy. I'm meh on Weiss and I sometimes want to tell Scott to just shut up. I'd definitely prefer Paul Wylie's informative commentary. But, overall, this isn't a bad lineup.

[Rex]

Whither Peggy and Dick?

[orbitz]

Just be thankful that neither John Tesh nor Pat O'Brian is commentating anymore. Each one was a chatterbox X 2; Non-stop talking over the skating .

[RD]

ITA with this. I also think it would help skating earn some much needed respect. For so long, we've heard commentators either speak flowery, poetic fluff that ultimately is meaningless or make obnoxious noises and squeals that distract from the viewing experience while ignoring technical details and intricacies of the actual skating and programs. No wonder public misperception exists about the difficulty of skating because the commentating often fails to discuss and analyze just how difficult it really is. The only way for viewers to discover how a skater earns a level 4 on an element is to search online for skating fan forums or for the ISU rule book because US broadcasts don't explain such things. All we hear about is how unfair it is that the US ladies get downgraded for UR jumps and how no one in the world works harder than Evan Lysacek.

we're still using 6.0 commentators in a Cop world.

[A.H.Black]

we're still using 6.0 commentators in a Cop world.

Nice analogy. I think of it as underestimating the audience. Football and baseball, especially, break down plays and use statistics to the enth degree these days. They try to keep the audience interested by adding more and more information. With skating, it seems like the broadcasters assume that the audience is too dumb or not interested enough to understand the scoring system. I'm tired of that attitude.

[John 3 17]

Just be thankful that neither John Tesh nor Pat O'Brian is commentating anymore. Each one was a chatterbox X 2; Non-stop talking over the skating .

Don't forget Al Traut-twit, whom we still have to put up with in gymnastics

Verne and Terry are the best and Moran from ABC in the early '90s was okay, too. Otherwise it's or

-Bridget

[Dilng]

YIPPEE!! I'm so happy that Tara is doing commentary. Thank God I've been hoping that Tara would be a commentator for a long time now. She is very good so much better then extremely annoying Peggy and Sandra!!! Now if they just get rid of squeaky, unbelievably annoying Scott and have Tara commentate everything on NBC I will be thrilled!!

[Theatregirl1122]

Okay, the commercial NBC is using to advertise figure skating is so weird. "Any competition could be the last". Are we supposed to believe that someone is going to drop dead in the middle?