“Personally, I love what NBC has done with the Olympics.
I always dreamed of living in an era before the Internet, without Twitter or online streaming or live breaking-news updates. And watching the tape-delayed Olympics on NBC, I feel like I’m there.
It’s just like I pictured: I would gather around the large, box-shaped television with my extended family and adjust the rabbit ears, and we would watch, riveted, as something that had happened hours ago appeared on the screen, preferably in black and white. And Bob Costas would be there. […]
Do they not realize that we live in an age of 25/7 media updates? Some people on Twitter tell you what is happening before it has actually happened. […] It used to be that Twitter just prevented you from enjoying or appreciating the things that were going on around you at the time. But now it’s ruining things that happened hours ago in a foreign country. Heck, the radio knows what happened before NBC will tell you. That’s saying something.
NBC’s efforts to pretend that none of this is a problem remind me of the awkward moment at a historical reenactment when a plane flies overhead. “A curious bird!” Colonial Interpreter William says, cocking his head. “Lo, there be demon spirits in the wind!”
NBC has put so much effort into replicating the conditions of the past. “Context,” quipped Darren Rovell, “NBC’s ideal viewer is someone who doesn’t get sports text alerts, doesn’t appointment stream or get on Twitter.” “NBC’s ideal viewer still lives in 1987,” joked NotBillWalton.”
Alexandra Petri: NBC Olympics — live from 1987 | WaPo
