Figure Skating TV Commentators thread

[puglover]

Tracy Wilson on CTV/TSN - hard to beat IMO. She is positive with all of the skaters but she knows dance, which is crucial.

 

[Ka3sha]

I usually watch Russian streams but if I want to re-watch few programs I always choose BESP videos on YouTube. They are knowledgeable, nice to all skaters but also honest in case they don't like something.

TAT is just TAT
Sometimes she speaks too much, sometimes she praises her favorites (Stepanova/Bukin or Kovtun) too much, she can be harsh but you can't deny that she LOVES figure skating, appreciates real talents and well knows some things about it

Lipnitskaya has just started commentating but she is already good at it. She doesn't talk during the skates, supports each skater, tells about underrotations or mistakes on the spins and the they she corrects her co-commentator is just

 

[4rkidz]

Tracy Wilson hands down best commentator as she combines it with her own knowledge and experience, plus helps she is still involved so aware of the changes an rules etc

 

[double runner]

I'm really enjoying Ben's work behind the mic. He is obviously very knowledgeable and shares insights without sounding condescending. There's something about his voice that is soothing.

Tracy is wonderful and very complementary about every skater.

 

[DDNatalia]

I'm really enjoying Ben's work behind the mic. He is obviously very knowledgeable and shares insights without sounding condescending. There's something about his voice that is soothing.

Tracy is wonderful and very complementary about every skater.

Agree on Tracy. Plus she is attentive to who her primary audience is and has admitted as much in the past e.g., talking about how she thinks about how 'color' that she provides would be different for a Canadian nationals event vs. say Worlds.

Ben is very positive but his constant chitter chattering an effusing about almost every element (literally) is actually really irritating. He seems absolutely lovely as a person, but I find myself wishing he could just learn how to let the audience watch without someone talking. He's like a proud uncle at a little league game. Nice words, but seriously, less can be more.

 

[firstflight]

Agree on Tracy. Plus she is attentive to who her primary audience is and has admitted as much in the past e.g., talking about how she thinks about how 'color' that she provides would be different for a Canadian nationals event vs. say Worlds.

Ben is very positive but his constant chitter chattering an effusing about almost every element (literally) is actually really irritating. He seems absolutely lovely as a person, but I find myself wishing he could just learn how to let the audience watch without someone talking. He's like a proud uncle at a little league game. Nice words, but seriously, less can be more.

Ben has stayed almost completely silent during the top teams’ performances in the GP series this season so far. He only starts describing details during the slo-mo replays. For the earlier teams, he’ll be much more technical during the performance, but I find that very helpful in terms of audience education.

Are you sure you’re not just watching the 2nd showing clips? That’s when he’s asked to super-analyze entire programs from start to finish at the end portion of a broadcast, after everyone has skated and they’re now replaying the top performances.

He’s my hero in the broadcasting world, but I did find one point where I completely disagree with him. That’s in the Latin rhythm SD’s. He’s very adamant that if the SD is prescribed to be Latin rhythms, it has to be like Latin Ballroom, with the over-the-top energy and facial projection. I disagree given the range of music allowed by the ISU. And, I most disagree with his negativity towards Smart/Diaz’s lack of projection in the SD. I’ve seen so much “real” dancing to Latin rhythms in the smoldering, sexy, eye-f*** manner to recognize that perhaps a Spaniard can still be authentically dancing a Latin rhythm without doing the cartoon Latin Ballroom thing.

 

[tony]

I think Ben is fantastic. He is essentially a 4th member of the technical panel, always being able to spot little issues in real-time and explaining in very common, quick terms why the level is going to drop or why the GOE won't be as good. I never find him talking too much. Even with his technical eye, he's always pretty positive.

I think Ryan Bradley would be better off not announcing every single jumping element for every skater and then drawing out every single exclamation he has about said elements ('and she laa-handdds it!' 'that was we-hellll doneeee). He also has a thing for saying 'to the outside' every single time a jump isn't positioned correctly and 'lull' when describing the resting point of the program. I never really had much opinion about any of the commentators (even growing up listening to Dick/Peggy and Scott/Sandra), but with Ryan I do constantly think to myself that he says way too much and it comes out way too slow.

Tanith is also great. She's always so reserved and complimentary but really went in on Tarasova/Morozov's 'Music' free skate music and program construction last year, saying something to the extent of 'If you aren't the best at selling the program, why would you ever choose 80's montage music that doesn't even have one ounce of feeling until an isolated choreographic moment late in the program?' Not the exact words at all, but most of it is pretty close.

 

[luckiest1]

For Canadian networks, I prefer Kurt Browning and David Pelletier. I also like Tracy Wilson and Debbie Wilkes. I'm not a fan of Carol Lane and I absolutely cannot stand Rod Black. It's time he retired already.

 

[Miloune]

I hate Nathalie PECHALAT commenting. She's getting better, but I don't enjoy it one bit. Alban PREAUBERT is getting better, but neither will ever be able to compensate for the loss of Pélissier. Boo.

Both have weird tastes lol. And I think Péchalat doesn't give enough technical comments whereas as a former ice dancer it could be interesting. Most often she'll just comment on the choice of music, the lifts, the modernity of the program. Some comments are relevant but it's not what it could be.

Edit : although I remember she did comment the technik of the SD at skate canada, that was interesting (I didn't watch for coc)

 

[Foolhardy Ham Lint]

I also usually like Judy Blumberg as well. Has she done any commentary after the 1990s?

I liked Judy as a skater with Michael Seibert, but as a commentator, she really used to grind my gears with the most obvious and unimportant prattle. I had to dispose of my VHS tapes from the Grand Slam Series in the late 1990s, mostly because of Judy's awful commentary.

There is also a YouTube clip from the 1988 World Championships, where Judy talks about how Debi Thomas seemed distracted during the Olympic Games. Yet, she proceeds to interrupt Debi and her coach during the final six minute long program warm - up to investigate that point.

Agree with most posters about Ted Barton and the British Eurosport Team. Debbie Wilkes was another favourite.

SBS TV Australia has a very good male commentator who is hosting the Grand Prix Series. His name escapes me for the time being.

Australian commentators from the past were pretty dreadful, with the hosts behaving like lecherous perverts or raving homophobes, who drew the short straw and would rather be anywhere else.

 

[clairecloutier]

For Canadian networks, I prefer Kurt Browning and David Pelletier. I also like Tracy Wilson and Debbie Wilkes. I'm not a fan of Carol Lane and I absolutely cannot stand Rod Black. It's time he retired already.

Someone mentioned that David commentated the CoC pairs event on CBC, so I sought out some of the videos. Some great insights from him. Enjoyed listening.

Kurt is up-and-down for me--some great technical comments, but also some comments/opinions that are just at times.

BTW, some CBC videos of the CoC pairs event can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOyQtuMFNZ2GR4CyIWMn7iw

 

[mattiecat13]

I like Ben but he's so positive about each team I don't learn anything from him. Tell me why Papa/Ciz or Virtue/Moir (and the other top teams) are better (or worse) than another one or what they need to improve.

I used to love Susie Wynne's commentary - I thought she did a great job with dance.

 

[Foolhardy Ham Lint]

Being the Olympic Champion, back in the day I think CBS were grooming Yamaguchi into a co-commentary role with Tracy Wilson.

Sadly, the difference between them is night and day in this clip.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLZU-jV-JEs

 

[mattiecat13]

I watched the women's gymnastics Olympic coverage from Seoul to Rio on the Olympic Channel. The commentators in Seoul were Bart Connor, Mary Lou Retton and Dick Enberg. Mary Lou managed about one sentence for each apparatus with Bart doing the rest of the talking. She was replaced in 1992 with Elfi Schlegel.

 

[Spun Silver]

I like BESP and the two Spanish ladies who do get a bit carried away when Javy is doing well but generally seem very fair and positive. Of individual commentators, Tanith and John Coughlin are my faves. And I love listening to TAT despite being clueless about what that stream of verbiage is about. I like the excitement of the Japanese commentators too - they have so many reasons to show it!

Of course Uncle DIck got it all started and will never be forgotten.

 

[sap5]

I like Ben but he's so positive about each team I don't learn anything from him. Tell me why Papa/Ciz or Virtue/Moir (and the other top teams) are better (or worse) than another one or what they need to improve.

I used to love Susie Wynne's commentary - I thought she did a great job with dance.

Have you watched the second showing comments Ben does for the Olympic channel? Those are the ones where he talks during the performance, pointing out what is good and what can be improved. In the first showing, he usually will stay silent and then just say positive things while the team is waiting for scores in the k&c.

Like here, for P/C:

First showing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYPvY5V-dbw

Second showing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKaLo-_h55U

For me, Ben is absolutely the best commentator in ice dance, and I've been watching ice dance for a very long time.

 

[aftershocks]

Are any of the commentators listening to our critiques? I haven't been watching NBC the past couple of weeks, but this call for Wakaba Higuchi at CoC seems to show Tara exercising a bit more control of her over-talkativeness. And they seemingly attempted to stay more on point with their comments. It's definitely not an easy job, particularly with 3 people covering the commentary. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_OjqmSH4es

When Tara and Johnny opine: T - "I don't know who I liked better." J - "It's hard to say." Please, we know that you like the Russian ladies, Johnny! Always. And Tara: Nope, it's not hard to say: Wakaba Higuchi deserved first place in both segments and the win over newbie Alina Zagitova with her aesthetically unbalanced free program and her overscores on PCS, not to mention Alina's error in the sp. It should be a rather easy choice when assessed objectively rather than politically. The fact that Mishin reportedly claimed that the Japanese ladies were being favored is all kinds of . With two Russian ladies on the podium no less! In fact, a case could be made that Mihara should have won bronze over hunched-shouldered Radionova with her busy arms and slow speed into her rather stiff and awkward jumps. Although it's nice for Radionova continuing to try hard and lucking into a medal. And yet, a case could also be made that Mishin's Liza Tuk should have been in third over Radionova after the sp (with Wakaba in first, and Gabby in second).

I always enjoy when some programs are posted on Youtube sans commentary. Plus, it's nice when some commentators reserve the bulk of their comments after the performance is over or near to being over. I doubt that NBC wants there to be too much on-air silence though from their commentating crew.

As usual, the camera crew/ director still do not get the fact that we need to see skaters entire bodies (please use a split screen when going to close-ups, so that one camera can maintain a full view of skaters' bodies; is that so hard to implement? ). And those panning and overhead shots are distracting and annoying every time. Such shots do not enhance our view of nor our understanding of performances.

 

[kittysk8ts]

Are any of the commentators listening to our critiques? I haven't been watching NBC the past couple of weeks, but this call for Wakaba Higuchi at CoC seems to show Tara exercising a bit more control of her over-talkativeness. And they seemingly attempted to stay more on point with their comments. It's definitely not an easy job, particularly with 3 people covering the commentary. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_OjqmSH4es

When Tara and Johnny opine: T - "I don't know who I liked better." J - "It's hard to say." Please, we know that you like the Russian ladies, Johnny! Always. And Tara: Nope, it's not hard to say: Wakaba Higuchi deserved first place in both segments and the win over newbie Alina Zagitova with her aesthetically unbalanced free program and her overscores on PCS, not to mention Alina's error in the sp. It should be a rather easy choice when assessed objectively rather than politically. The fact that Mishin reportedly claimed that the Japanese ladies were being favored is all kinds of . With two Russian ladies on the podium no less! In fact, a case could be made that Mihara should have won bronze over hunched-shouldered Radionova with her busy arms and slow speed into her rather stiff and awkward jumps. Although it's nice for Radionova continuing to try hard and lucking into a medal. And yet, a case could also be made that Mishin's Liza Tuk should have been in third over Radionova after the sp (with Wakaba in first, and Gabby in second).

I always enjoy when some programs are posted on Youtube sans commentary. Plus, it's nice when some commentators reserve the bulk of their comments after the performance is over or near to being over. I doubt that NBC wants there to be too much on-air silence though from their commentating crew.

As usual, the camera crew/ director still do not get the fact that we need to see skaters entire bodies (please use a split screen when going to close-ups, so that one camera can maintain a full view of skaters' bodies; is that so hard to implement? ). And those panning and overhead shots are distracting and annoying every time. Such shots do not enhance our view of nor our understanding of performances.

Agree with this entire post.

Pelletier, Browning and Wilson were pretty vocal about Zagitova at CoC. I was actually cringing a little bit. Yikes.

Edited to clarify: Not Zagitova herself, but program construction and URs

 

[kittysk8ts]

I absolutely cannot stand Rod Black.

OMG, I know, poor Rod. #overkill

 

[Picton]

Here's another vote for Ted Barton. He is silent during the skate, then gives knowledgeable commentary during the replays.

 

[FSfan107]

Dick Button will always be my all-time favorite. I miss him but he probably can't get away with some of the stuff he used to say, so maybe it's for the best.

I love listening to the British Eurosport guys. They are my current favorites. Kurt and David Pelletier on CBC seem good too from what I have listened to. I can listen to Pelletier talk all day with that accent.

I find Tara and Johnny alright.

Oh and Scott Hamilton was a lot better IMO when he was on CBS with Verne.

 

[barbarafan]

Agree with this entire post.

Pelletier, Browning and Wilson were pretty vocal about Zagitova at CoC. I was actually cringing a little bit. Yikes.

Edited to clarify: Not Zagitova herself, but program construction and URs

That is not Wilson. She does not do CBC. It is an announcer that does lots of sports. Not sure of the name offhand.

 

[Willin]

I hated Scott Hamilton's commentary. I felt it was 10% useful, 20% useless, and 70% incomprehensible groaning noises.
Tara and Johnny were great in Sochi - they provided great technical explanations of things. In the years between Sochi and now, the amount of technical knowledge being shared decreased to pretty much zero, but I noticed they started bringing a lot of that back for their CoC coverage. I'm hopeful they'll stick to that technical commentary for this season through the Olympics (preferably in perpetuity, but that may be too much to hope).
I don't mind Charlie White, but he can go on tangents. I also don't mind Ryan Bradley nearly as much as many people on this forum.

Florent Amodio sometimes livestreams bits of competitions on his Instagram, and his commentary is often hilarious - snarky about music & costumes without ever being mean, and a nice mix of appreciating technical quality and also choreo/interpretation. I know he mentioned when he retired that he was going to start training to become a journalist, so it would be good to see him commentating in a more professional capacity.

Ooohhh I wish I'd catch this. Is it in French or English? Either way, it sounds great.

TAT is just TAT
Sometimes she speaks too much, sometimes she praises her favorites (Stepanova/Bukin or Kovtun) too much, she can be harsh but you can't deny that she LOVES figure skating, appreciates real talents and well knows some things about it

I wish I could speak Russian or that someone who does can summarize her thoughts on all the skaters.
I love listening to commentaries from around the world so I can see what the people from each country are saying. My favorite are the BESP guys, but I also really appreciate the rare CBC video.

Although I can only understand a bit of the Japanese commentators, I always find it funny that they spend a lot of time saying jump names. They also tend to be really over-excited or impressed with everything except falls. It's kinda cute and friendly to watch. The Chinese commentators are similar in that they name every element as it happens, but get much less excited about things. I understand more of the Chinese commentators - it's very interesting to see how they go through each element individually after the program and say their impression of it before they show the clips. (ie. the 3T was very good. The 3A was extremely good. The footwork was very beautiful.) On a side note, since my Chinese is very out of practice, it's nice that the male commentator speaks rather slowly!

 

[gk_891]

I liked Judy as a skater with Michael Seibert, but as a commentator, she really used to grind my gears with the most obvious and unimportant prattle. I had to dispose of my VHS tapes from the Grand Slam Series in the late 1990s, mostly because of Judy's awful commentary.

There is also a YouTube clip from the 1988 World Championships, where Judy talks about how Debi Thomas seemed distracted during the Olympic Games. Yet, she proceeds to interrupt Debi and her coach during the final six minute long program warm - up to investigate that point.

Hmm, I guess it's a good thing that I'm not familiar with this side of Judy! I don't recall her commentary outside of the late 90s.

 

[kittysk8ts]

That is not Wilson. She does not do CBC. It is an announcer that does lots of sports. Not sure of the name offhand.

Hi @barbara, yes, apologies, with Browning and Pelletier is Andi Petrillo but I saw another vid on YT with Tracy.....

 

[barbarafan]

Hi @barbara, yes, apologies, with Browning and Pelletier is Andi Petrillo but I saw another vid on YT with Tracy.....

Tracy does CTV/TSN events and the guy she commentates with isn't the sharpest as far as what he should say. They do nationals and Skate Canada and it is live. CTV/TSN do live broadcasts while CBC livestreams without commentary and Andi/Carole/Kurt &sometimes Dave Pelletier are at CBC TO and they make the comments while showing certain of the livestreams after the fact.

 

[kittysk8ts]

Tracy does CTV/TSN events and the guy she commentates with isn't the sharpest as far as what he should say. They do nationals and Skate Canada and it is live. CTV/TSN do live broadcasts while CBC livestreams without commentary and Andi/Carole/Kurt &sometimes Dave Pelletier are at CBC TO and they make the comments while showing certain of the livestreams after the fact.

That would be Rod Black. He's very excitable, haha.

 

[barbarafan]

That would be Rod Black. He's very excitable, haha.

Yeah...he is kinda nice...but sometimes makes goofus remarks...like after Kaitlyn skated the short which had her in the lead at Skate Canada he said she was on her way to the gold medal...That was only the short & we were the host country so that bugged me.Tracy prob. kicked him in the shins...nah she is too nice.

 

[Simone411]

Back in the day, there were several occasions when Jim McKay would do special commentary and documentaries about figure skaters. There were several commentaries, and one of my favorite commentaries was during the 2006 Marshalls.

Michelle Kwan Tribute by Jim McKay

A few more:

1988 U.S. Nationals Introduction - Kadavy, Thomas and Trenary

This video is of the 1984 International Professional Skating Championships. I love this especially because at the beginning both Jim McKay and Dick Buttons are discussing participants which are Toller Cranston, David Santee, Allen Schramm and Robin Cousins.

1984 International Professional Skating Championships

1984 Winter Olympics - ABC opening 2-9-84 with Jim Mckay

Battle of the Carmens - Debi Thomas and Katarina Witt. Commentary by Dick Buttons and Peggy Fleming with Jim McKay.

1962 World Championships with Jim Mckay - from the Wide World of Sports.

Dorothy Hamill & Sugar Ray Leonard talk about Jim McKay - They were on hand to discuss his life and work.

There is so much more and many finds on YouTube regarding Jim McKay. To me, he will always be a legend. His contributions to the Wide World of Sports will never be forgotten. He brought to our lives the sport of Figure Skating back when there were only three TV stations to watch it on - ABC, NBC and CBS.

So when fans of my time (back in the 60's, 70's and early 80's) had the pleasure of seeing Figure Skating on TV, we have legends like Jim McKay and the Wide World of Sports to thank for being there.

 

[kittysk8ts]

Yeah...he is kinda nice...but sometimes makes goofus remarks...like after Kaitlyn skated the short which had her in the lead at Skate Canada he said she was on her way to the gold medal...That was only the short & we were the host country so that bugged me.Tracy prob. kicked him in the shins...nah she is too nice.

I worship Tracy. Just love her. She is really approachable. Does her own hair and makeup in the public washroom at the events. She is very very beautiful in person