Which of These American TV Commentators Do You Like?

[missing]

American modifies TV, which is why Sandra Bezic and Tracy Wilson are on the list. TV modifies commentators, which is why Tonia Kwiatkowski, Nancy Kerrigan and Mr. Nancy are not.

11 seemed like a more than adequate number, so I left off Paul Wylie (who was quite obsessed with the 10% bonus) and Christopher Bowman (who I vaguely remember really liking as a commentator). Verne Lundquist didn't make the list because the poll seemed to want to stop at 11 and I listed them alphabetically by first name. Apologies if he's your favorite.

Vote for as few or as many of them as you'd like.

ETA: I don't seem to be able to edit the actual poll and I left off Johnny Weir. My truly sincere apologies to him and his fans.

 

[VGThuy]

It's funny how I voted for all of them except for three. Maybe I shouldn't have voted for Peggy, but I did for nostalgia reasons and I find I appreciate her professional broadcast sounding voice in retrospect given what we have today even though she's said some stuff in the past that were a bit off.

It's also interesting you left off Johnny Weir (even though you wanted to add him back on later) and Tom Hammond, but I wouldn't have voted for them anyway, so no big deal.

 

[cheremary]

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[cheremary]

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[DreamSkates]

I REALLY like any commentator who can say NOTHING from the time the music comes on, to the last pose. Talk all you want before and after. Skating is done to music which is hard to hear if someone is going on and on about whatever.

 

[casken]

Dick Button (half of the magic of Galindo's 96 performance was Dick losing his sh*t during it), and... Terry for being the one non-obnoxious "middle man" in skating commentary.

Haven't listened to enough of Agosto or Charlie White's commentary to form an opinion.

Everyone else listed talks too much and/or is too biased. Tanith is just this generation's Susie Wynne.

 

[missing]

Susie Wynne! I knew there was a woman who did ice dance commentary but I couldn't remember her name. And I admit to totally forgetting Tom Hammond.

I'm still embarrassed by my failure to put Johnny Weir on the poll. He was on the handwritten list I transcribed from, so even if I had an excuse, I have no excuse.

The one thing I realized from coming up with the people that I did was how many people have done commentary over the years. If you were to ask me without time to think about it I would have said Dick and Peggy and then maybe Terry. But there are 11 people on the list and 3 who could legitimately be there, plus various strays (my friend bookseller pointed out to me that Ashley Wagner has been doing commentary, and now that I think about it Ryan Bradley did a fair amount). Granted it's over an extensive period of time, but still that's a lot of people on a variety of networks covering something that's significant to us but not, for the most part, a mainstream sport.

Thanks to everyone who has voted.

 

[VGThuy]

I also love Judy Bloomberg’s commentary for Bourne/Kraatz’s 1998 Worlds OD. Let’s just say she didn’t buy into the whole B/K being underscored. Quite the opposite actually. For the FD, they didn’t use her but when Terry was trying to bring up the Olympics “controversy” which I think was ABC network narrative he was told to promote, Dick Button brushed it away and called Anissina/Peizerat’s Romeo and Juliet FD one of the best FDs of all time or something like that haha.

 

[Vagabond]

I'm still embarrassed by my failure to put Johnny Wi on the poll.

Don't be.

 

[TheresMaude]

I also love Judy Bloomberg’s commentary for Bourne/Kraatz’s 1998 Worlds OD. Let’s just say she didn’t buy into the whole B/K being underscored. Quite the opposite actually. For the FD, they didn’t use her but when Terry was trying to bring up the Olympics “controversy” which I think was ABC network narrative he was told to promote, Dick Button brushed it away and called Anissina/Peizerat’s Romeo and Juliet FD one of the best FDs of all time or something like that haha.

I would LOVE to see these. Anyone have links? A search of YouTube didn't come up with them.

 

[Frau Muller]

I like everyone on this list but Bezik, Hamilton & Lipinski. I also dislike Ashley Wagner (worst of all with her annoying sing-song voice) and Johnny Weir. Interesting that these last two are omitted from the poll. Tanith is the absolute best in every respect, on any discipline.

Edit: I later read missing’s post about having inadvertently left Weir off the list. In addition to others mentioned, the poll omitted Chris Schenkle (ABC’ early non-specialist in the Terry Gannon role), who was a hoot, saying even more inanely idiotic things than Rod Black...ie, “Rodnina collects tea cups and doesn’t she look delicate on the ice?”

 

[VGThuy]

I would LOVE to see these. Anyone have links? A search of YouTube didn't come up with them.

Unfortunately, it was on 3axel1996's YouTube page and his page seems unavailable now but some of his videos still show up. Just not those two. I have no idea what's going on.

 

[Scrufflet]

Toller Cranston was always funny and controversial.

 

[dramagrrl]

I also love Judy Bloomberg’s commentary for Bourne/Kraatz’s 1998 Worlds OD. Let’s just say she didn’t buy into the whole B/K being underscored. Quite the opposite actually. For the FD, they didn’t use her but when Terry was trying to bring up the Olympics “controversy” which I think was ABC network narrative he was told to promote, Dick Button brushed it away and called Anissina/Peizerat’s Romeo and Juliet FD one of the best FDs of all time or something like that haha.

Actually, if you search B&K's FD at 98 Worlds with ABC commentary, Dick was quite complimentary (of their edges, their hydroblading, and the program's ability to translate Irish step dancing to the ice) and actually didn't have a single negative comment, unless it was in the preamble before their skate or well after it. I just rewatched that the other day and there was definitely nothing outwardly negative from Dick during their skate.

I haven't rewatched their 98 OD in years because it was... not good... but even as a huge B&K fan forever, I will say that even though I don't remember Blumberg's commentary, any negative commentary on that OD would be justified.

 

[VGThuy]

Actually, if you search B&K's FD at 98 Worlds with ABC commentary, Dick was quite complimentary (of their edges, their hydroblading, and the program's ability to translate Irish step dancing to the ice) and actually didn't have a single negative comment, unless it was in the preamble before their skate or well after it. I just rewatched that the other day and there was definitely nothing outwardly negative from Dick during their skate.

I haven't rewatched their 98 OD in years because it was... not good... but even as a huge B&K fan forever, I will say that even though I don't remember Blumberg's commentary, any negative commentary on that OD would be justified.

Actually, I didn’t say Dick said anything negative about B/K’s FD skate. I just said Bloomberg said negative things about their OD after Terry attempted to introduce the B/K being robbed in Nagano narrative which I felt he was probably told to do by ABC. Then for the FD, Terry tried to bring it up during Anissina/Peizerat’s FD, and Dick brushed it off and complimented A/P’s FD in a huge way near the beginning.

 

[missing]

We made it to 100 total voters! And that doesn't include me, since I never vote on my polls.
I'm very pleased I came up with a poll that people were interested in, even if I did forget about poor old Johnny Weir.

Thanks to everybody who took the time to vote. And please remember to vote in your national elections, whenever the next one in your country should be.

 

[mattiecat13]

I like Tanith but wish she would add more personality and talk more about her own experiences. You would never know she skated with Ben, is married to Charlie and won a silver medal at the Olympics. I would love to hear more about her own skating journey as I think it would be very interesting.

 

[Frau Muller]

I like Tanith but wish she would add more personality and talk more about her own experiences. You would never know she skated with Ben, is married to Charlie and won a silver medal at the Olympics. I would love to hear more about her own skating journey as I think it would be very interesting.

Which is what I love about Tanith. She’s so fair and professional...not interjecting herself into the background of every program...like Ashley blabbing on about Raf!

 

[alchemy void]

We made it to 100 total voters! And that doesn't include me, since I never vote on my polls.
I'm very pleased I came up with a poll that people were interested in, even if I did forget about poor old Johnny Weir.

Thanks to everybody who took the time to vote. And please remember to vote in your national elections, whenever the next one in your country should be.

I'm also intrigued at the race for the least favorite commentator here: Bezic vs. Lipinski

 

[MacMadame]

It's actually a 3-way with Scott Hamilton IMO

 

[Frau Muller]

It's actually a 3-way with Scott Hamilton IMO

The sad thing is that I truly love Scott as a skater/performer. Alas, his commentating is something else altogether. (Ditto Ashley.)

 

[Frau Muller]

I'm also intrigued at the race for the least favorite commentator here: Bezic vs. Lipinski

Yeah. And Tanith is the clear queen...although I could do without her cheesy Homelight commercials, trying to link skating skills to selling a house, LOL!

 

[olympic]

Not on the list, but didn't Debi Thomas do commentary at the 1990 Goodwill Games? I remember she was pretty good at it.

Also not on the list is Robin Cousins. I listened to his commentary at Vancouver 2010 which was some of the best I've ever heard.

 

[missing]

The poll seems to be ongoing, which kind of surprises me, since I thought it would only run for a week. But I have very limited poll skills and maybe I gave it a longer running time than I'd intended.

If it truly is still open, I hope Tanith makes it to 100 votes. She's the only one close to that number, and I like the idea of her achieving that (meaningless) status.

 

[Vagabond]

The poll seems to be ongoing, which kind of surprises me, since I thought it would only run for a week.

By default, polls stay open unless the person who starts the thread clicks "Close this poll after...." among the Poll Options and then selects a finite period. The default choice is seven days.

Barring earlier intervention by @SHARPIE, this poll will remain open until she archives the thread.

ETA: NBC should consider replacing Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir with Paul. He is getting many more votes.

 

[Frau Muller]

If it truly is still open, I hope Tanith makes it to 100 votes. She's the only one close to that number, and I like the idea of her achieving that (meaningless) status.

Tanith is now at 100 votes!