I'm glad NBC is planning more coverage this GP season, but let's see how much dance they will show.
ETA: NBC is apparently not going to cover any of the pairs, and they only showed the Shibs' FD. Their coverage is fairly worthless to diehard fans who fortunately have other options to view the full event! Figure skating coverage on free tv, like that of many sports has been whittled down to practically nothing.
So far typical coverage from TT&J. Although, it does seem like they are making somewhat of an effort to tighten up their tendency for aimless rambling. There really was no need for them to beat up on Misha Ge though about him skating slow, and that he's not competitive because he isn't going to try for quads. I'm glad Misha has come back for at least one more season to go to the Olympics. He's a wonderful artist on the ice and he has a lot to offer in that capacity. At least he knows what his body is capable of doing and he's trained in order to be as fit as possible to skate to his best ability, and to skate clean! Johnny is shameless in advocating about quads, when he didn't pursue them full steam ahead when he was young and capable. Back then he pooh-poohed a lot of things he didn't like about the rules and scoring system. I guess he's changed his mind upon growing up and becoming part of the broadcast network establishment.
Johnny unsurprisingly overdoing it in supporting his fellow admirer and friend, Hanyu. Nathan does not 'struggle' with showing nuances and passion, Johnny. Nathan is maturing as a skater and he's steadily working well within his extraordinary abilities, improving every time we see him. Hanyu OTOH is struggling right now to catch up with being able to cleanly and consistently skate with at least four quads in the fp. A nice save by Hanyu on his first quad lutz, but the OTT GOE given by some judges for the wonky landing is questionable.
And Tara has the gall to say that Hanyu can make a mistake or two and Nathan cannot!! Woah! Why is that I wonder? What has Hanyu done to deserve that kind of leeway pray tell? Right now it's Nathan Chen setting the standard in terms of the sport's demand for 'must-have' quads. And Nathan is no slouch artistically. He has two great programs that are edgy and modern. Oftentimes, U.S. broadcasters bend over backward to praise the status quo favorites while overly criticizing top U.S. skaters. Johnny certainly made enough excuses for Radionova vs some of the criticism directed toward Mirai and Mariah (there was certainly room to constructively criticize all three ladies).
Hanyu exhibited flashes of technical brilliance as usual, but Hanyu is not the greatest artist on the ice, despite the numbers judges have been throwing at him on PCS for years mainly because of the technical brilliance on his quads when he's in the zone.
They are even covering all disciplines. I can't believe my eyes. It seems like Universal Sports always fell short.
