Nice coverage equals nicer ratings for NBC

Just when it seemed Americans had stopped getting excited about the Olympics, along comes NBC with its soaring -- and well-deserved -- ratings.

The network estimates 75 percent of U.S. households with televisions have tuned in at some point. Ratings after six days are up 19 percent from the Nagano Games, and up 31 percent among the coveted young adults 18 to 34.

NBC can't take all the credit, any more than it can take the blame for the 2000 Olympics being held 15 time zones away. Americans are having their best Winter Olympics, and they're doing it on American soil. Throw in a figure skating controversy that casts a charming young couple as victims and judges as villains and big ratings are almost a guarantee.

But the lapses in judgment that seemed common in the network's coverage of the Sydney Games are missing this time. NBC smartly pared the prime-time coverage from five hours to a more digestible 3 1/2. The network even tells viewers which event is coming up next, and when.

And though melodramatic features have long been a staple, somebody figured out the events themselves are interesting enough to hold people's attention. Moguls skier Jonny Moseley's "Dinner Roll," the spectacular leaps in ski jumping, even the strange short-track speed-skating relays all have been riveting.

Entering the Games, figure skating seemed dull by comparison -- oh, look, it's Michelle Kwan, Todd Eldredge and Elvis Stojko again -- but that, obviously, is no longer a problem. Not since Torville and Dean has ice dancing rendered anyone breathless (other than perhaps NBC analyst Sandra Bezic, who always seems to be breathless).

It is true that much of the prime-time coverage still isn't live. But NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol has been right all along on one point: Not only does it make sense from a business standpoint to air the best stuff in prime time, but fans of the Olympics love to cozy up on the couch and watch the Games after a long day, and many are willing to wait a little while for the results even when they're readily available.

When the Games are presented with a minimum of fluff and jingoism and a maximum of fun, as they have been so far, they're worth the wait.

HOORAY FOR McKAY: It was painful to hear Jim McKay stumble throughout a limited appearance in the frigid Opening Ceremony, but evidently he just needed to get warmed up. His appearances with Bob Costas in the studio have been as comfortable as a fire-lit room, even if the fire is fake (more on that later).

McKay's feature on brain-damaged Olympic gold medalist Bill Johnson was poignant, and his solid piece on Apolo Anton Ohno -- who was 5 when McKay hosted his last Olympics in 1988 -- demonstrated an interest in more than the athletes he already knew. It is a joy to see McKay, 80, work another Olympics, even if his contributions are controlled and somewhat formulaic. Like much of what NBC has done in Salt Lake City, it just feels right.

THE MAGIC OF TV: That cozy fire placed oh-so-perfectly between Costas and McKay during McKay's visits to the studio is nothing more than a video of a fire in a faux fireplace. It flickers realistically; about the only thing it doesn't do is make sparks.

A real fire was out of the question, set designer Jeremy Conway told USA Today: "Any theatrical or broadcast facility frowns on live fire."

QUICK FIX: NBC isn't the only entity listening to its viewers. In Hernando County, where VH1 and CNBC share channel space on Time Warner's cable system, officials from Time Warner responded quickly to complaints that losing CNBC in the evenings as usual meant missing half of the nightly hockey coverage.

By Monday, the schedule was adjusted so the switch to VH1 wouldn't occur until 12:30 a.m., a half-hour after the scheduled end of CNBC's nightly six-hour Olympics coverage.

On The Wire