Salute to the Golden Age of American Skating

[manhn]

The "golden age" of figure skating is in the past, and so is the "golden age" of television coverage. These days, it almost seems that TV networks and producers go out of their way to make watching their shows a baffling ordeal for the viewer.

Oh, poor Americans and their almost complete TV coverage of the Grand Prix season, US Nationals, and Worlds.

[CzakoFan]

Oh, poor Americans and their almost complete TV coverage of the Grand Prix season, US Nationals, and Worlds.

Quantity of coverage is one thing. Quality is another. And availability is yet another.

As far as the pro shows and tribute shows go, Disson and NBC have a near monopoly on TV and the quality of coverage is suffering. Some of the shows are pretty much unwatchable because of the constant camera cutaways to musicians.

In recent years when ESPN/ESPN2 televised eligible skating, they were putting their "bottom line" scoreboard ticker and crawl on the screen during the entire coverage. I was happy to see them get out of the skating business because of that. I don't get NBC Universal, so I don't know what their screen looks like.

[paskatefan]

Oh, poor Americans and their almost complete TV coverage of the Grand Prix season, US Nationals, and Worlds.

In the US people are very fortunate if they had the Universal Sports Channel. Not everyone has it.

I do miss ESPN's coverage of figure skating. The ticker tape at the bottom didn't bother me so much, as long as we got to see a decent amount of the competitions. I do miss ABC's coverage the most, though (and that includes the Olympics - always loved Jim McKay, of blessed memory). NBC doesn't always post the music selections during competitions. ABC usually did. I miss that.

I posted this suggestion in the Strictly Skating forum, but I'll post it here as well. Perhaps if skating fans who are interested in the possibilty of having a DVD of the complete show send messages en masse to Jerry Solomon @ jerry@stargamesinc.com . We can let him know that lots of us would love to have a DVD of the entire show. There's no guarantee of this, but I guess it can't hurt. I seriously hope his company considers doing this.

[smurfy]

Universal Sports, at least in the Hartford, CT area is available for 'free'.
A friend does not have any cable, just rabbit ears on her tv, and along with the local stations, gets Universal Sports, since it is connnected to NBC. I have ATT UVerse cable, so no Universal Sports. But I used software and an attena on my laptop and can watch/record to my hard drive anything on Universal Sports. I did this for skating!

[smurfy]

My reply above got me thinking as to the availability for others, and looked up at Universal Sports website:

http://www.universalsports.com/tv-li...rts_on_TV.html

lists by state and includes if 'nbc over the air' is available.

[Frau Muller]

People in Washington, DC, can see Universal Sports w/o cable...simply with 'rabbit ears' or the little analog converter box and antenna. I was bowled over when I saw that my thrifty neighbor who refuses to pay for cable was watching Univ Sports with a beautiful clear picture, while all this time I had been paying through my nose to Comcast for what I thought was the rare privilege of seeing UnivSports!

Smurfy's list (above) is an eye opener. I had assumed that only the more 'rural' or deep-south/'Bible Belt' states weren't getting it...and I see that even New England/NE Corridor states like Massachusetts, New Hampshire and New Jersey don't have it. WTF???

[RD]

In recent years when ESPN/ESPN2 televised eligible skating, they were putting their "bottom line" scoreboard ticker and crawl on the screen during the entire coverage. I was happy to see them get out of the skating business because of that. I don't get NBC Universal, so I don't know what their screen looks like.

To be fair to ESPN though, they do this for ALL their sports coverage. This is not about "slights" or "not caring" about skating.

As for ABC, I do NOT miss their extreme tape-delayed coverage (sometimes it would be 2-3 weeks before a competition would finally be shown on TV). At least NBC doesn't wait longer than a week, most of the time opting for live/same weekend coverage.

[CzakoFan]

To be fair to ESPN though, they do this for ALL their sports coverage. This is not about "slights" or "not caring" about skating.

Actually, there have been some events that ESPN respected enough to ditch the bottom-line graphics. Most recently, all their men's World Cup Soccer live matches were done without the graphics on the bottom of the screen. Plus, I've seen some major golf events on ESPN without the ticker, and some NBA and Sunday night MLB games in previous years were done without that bottom line.

But you're mostly right about ESPN. Their bottom-line ticker is there hour after hour, show after show (except, of course, when it's time for a commercial break). I guess the sponsors think those ugly red scoreboard graphics would be a distraction from their ads, yet ESPN doesn't believe they're a distraction from their programming. ESPN televises Wimbledon tennis and covers up the green grass with red scoreboard graphics and a crawl telling us some college has fired their basketball coach over... and over... and over again. I hope ESPN/ESPN2/ABC never get a skating contract again and never get a Winter Olympics contract.

[Garden Kitty]

As far as the pro shows and tribute shows go, Disson and NBC have a near monopoly on TV and the quality of coverage is suffering. Some of the shows are pretty much unwatchable because of the constant camera cutaways to musicians.
.

There are no "barriers to entry" which would prevent someone else from televising a show if they wanted to do so - it's just that skating isn't that popular in the US anymore and people don't want to take the risk of losing their investment. While there are a lot of things about the Disson shows I don't love, I'm glad they're on and that the skaters have another outlet to make some money as a pro and I get some chance to see the skaters that aren't competing anymore.

[mtnskater]

I am late to the party! Just watched this on my DVR today after returning from Christmas vacation. I was absolutely enthralled by every minute of this show! What a treat. All the great footage, interviews, skates by past champions we haven't seen in ages...just fabulous, I too would buy a DVD of this! It's a keeper.

There were so many highlights. These stand out in my mind:

The return of Sarah Hughes!! Wow, she looks fit, beautiful and her artistry is just breathtaking. I never considered her to be a mature artist but she really blew me away tonight. Just took me to another place. She still has lovely technique on so many moves. Very impressive.

Debi Thomas! So fun to see her get back out there and really go for it. Great job and lots of fun.

Brian Boitano. What is he ...late 40's and he's doing triples still. Absolutely amazing. Shenendoah is one of my all time favorite Boitano programs to boot.

Nancy Kerrigan! I admit I've always loved her skating, but here she just let it all out and seemed so happy. She too looks fit and beautiful. The double axels in both programs...impressive. She was always a superb athlete and still has it.

Paul Wylie!!! He has the most gorgeous technique still of all of them. I still can see he moves like no other on the ice. The pairs number with Nancy got me all choked up remembering how big of a fan of both of them I was in Albertville and reliving this moment from the exhibition.

Fabulous to see Tenley Albright get out there. Also loved the montage and interviews with Dick Button. Scott Hamilton was right...he is the greatest of all time for his skating and his overall contribution to the sport in the U.S.

Finally, loved seeing Tara on the ice. Want to see her out there more.

Can't someone somehow revive the World Professional Championhips...please!

[paskatefan]

I posted this in the Great Skate Debate Forum, but I'll post it here as well. All seven "chacked" performances are now up! Here's the link:

http://www.stargamesinc.com/exlusiveperformances.html

I still hope that Jerry Solomon's company will produce and release a DVD of the entire show. If you are very interested in this, please contact him @ jerry@stargamesinc.com Maybe, if lots of people express an interest in this, we can get the desired result? it can't hurt to try!

In the meantime, enjoy the rest of the performances.

[aliceanne]

Well if you don't get Universal Sports then you have missed seeing the original cast of the Patty Duke show sign up for Medicare more times than I can count

Seriously, it is highly addictive. I find myself watching gymnastics, alpine skiing, and the Hawaiian Ironman.

[paskatefan]

This show will be re-aired on the Hallmark Channel tonight from 6-8 PM EST. I'm wondering if it will be exactly the same broadcast as the original. I would love to see the performances that were "chacked" the first time make the broadcast (although I'm not holding my breath on the chance of that happening). Thank goodness those performances are up on the Stargames site.

[Simone411]

My reply above got me thinking as to the availability for others, and looked up at Universal Sports website:

http://www.universalsports.com/tv-li...rts_on_TV.html

lists by state and includes if 'nbc over the air' is available.

Thanks, smurfy. I'm afraid Sky Angel was the only alternative for folks in Louisiana. I'll stick with Direct TV because the package with Sky Angel that included Universal Sports only consists of 80 channels. The price was close to $25 per month.

You mentioned using software and an antenna on your laptop. Is there still a way I could get 'nbc over the air' on my laptop using software and an antenna even though it wasn't listed in my state?

[Satellitegirl]

I'm watching

[paskatefan]

This time 8 (!) performances were "chacked" (Sasha's "Mein Herr, as well as the 7 other ones that weren't shown the first time). This is why TPTB should make a DVD of the ENTIRE show.