All Access

Does anyone have a comment on this? I think it should have been called Access Ice. Oh well, the whole thing was confusing. I thought about what could be the purpose of it. It was definitely a push for Paul Wylie to come into prominence with the Disney people. Maybe Dick is going?

The other purpose I thought of was a nice segment for MK as she is being replaced at Disney with Kimmie.. Kimmie was all over the production.

Any comments on this show?

Joe

I didn't watch it all but from what I saw we should probably thank our lucky stars that we havd had Dick and Peggy. The thought that kept crossing my mind was WHY ? Kimmie seems like a sweet girl and is a talented skater but WHY was she put in this position? It seemed a rather indulgent gesture, IMO. The commentary during Sasha's skate just seemed silly. Again why? Does (maybe) landing a 3A qualify her to critique the skaters? Dick, Peggy, Peter, Susie and the others have some credibility, IMO whereas Kimmie does not. . OTOH I enjoyed Irina's commentary about her own skate, the visit to the Red Army Club, the fluff piece about Tarosova. I think the information about skating in the host country was a nice touch.

I am so mad, I bought a New VDV/VCR playaer & to record is different on this one from my last one. I took me forever to set up the timer. & I forgot that I had to setup my cable box. So I taped the show however the tape is all snow.


What was the segement on Michelle?


I am a fan of kimmie but, I don't like how they seem to be rushing her. She came in third at Nationals yes, But, a or so later failed to make the podium at all at the 4CC. I don't want to see her rushed & pushed in the senior levels. I noticed that when Peggy was talking to her during worlds. Kimmie said that she was watching the Asian skaters because of their jumps & wants to keep up or surpass them. That is very well & nice but what about her improving her artistic side. She seems to be good at that but, artistically She does not have the talent of Namoi, Sasha, or Michelle at that age. I just think that if they keep pushing she will turn out to be another tara, A blip on the screen who burned out quickly.

Why they were having Kimmie critique programs is beyond me. She is what 15 and she's trying to say what is hard or not? Paul should be saying that and Kimmie should be asking the questions not the other way around. I thought the segment with Kimmie, Paul, and Oksana was cute in the restaurant though. The whole thing about the producers and directors and how they do all the camera work was interesting as well. Stephane going through his program and saying what he was thinking was nice as well. The rest were just repeats of fluff pieces and Paul acting like Joan Rivers backstage at the exhibition. Yes Michelle has Vera and the rest have nobody. Also good promo for Ice Princess.

I think Kimmie would know what's difficult in a program and what isn't considering she's a high-level skater herself.

My 2 cents...

I thought it was fun watching Irina and Stephane "watch back" their programs and comment about what they were thinking / feeling during their LP's.

I thought the Kimmie participation was a flop. Not her fault - she's just a young kid and doesn't have the skills or experience at this stage to offer anything of much interest by way of commentary. I hope her parents and coaches take a lesson from this and keep her out of the lime light and just let her focus on her skating until a more appropriate time in her career.

With rare exception in this show, I would have rather seen ESPN use this hour and a half of our limited coverage time to show us more skaters during the actual competition.

DG

All access

During the GP, Paul was doing on-camera commentary. During Worlds, he wasn't. It seems to me as if some kind of contractural obligation was worked out where he would, instead, get to do more fluff pieces. In the end, they had more fluff than could fit in with the standard broadcast, so they spun it off.

Worked for me, actually. It was just one more chance to see a tiny bit more skating before the season ends. Perhaps the broadcasters decided that if people like us on GS were willing to rehash the competitions and dish about the skaters, coaches, etc., etc. ad infinitum until the next season rolls around, then perhaps we'd be willing to watch a rehash / dish kinda program on TV.

The bit where they filmed people watching the skating was rather silly... but it gave me a chance to pretend I was there, and brought back memories of being at Worlds in 2003. Plus, got me looking up package prices to Calgary in 2006!

Oksana needs to work with the manners police. Interrupting the other speakers and stuffing your cheeks full on camera are not exactly good form. Plus, what the heck does she know about caviar? It's not like she could afford much when she lived in Russia... it would have been a better piece if she'd helped Paul and Kimmie order in Russian and had humbly admitted that she hadn't had much caviar in Russia - they could have all experienced it together.

Linny

I, too, thought Oksana was overly dramatic (as usual) and her manners were dreadful, stuffing that huge blini into her mouth and talking while she did it.

I felt sorry for Kimmie. I once was forced to taste caviar (very high-quality caviar, supposedly) as a young teenager at a Russian restaurant in NYC. It was horribly salty and very fishy and my reaction was much like Tom Hank's in the movie "Big".

VIETgrlTerifa said:

I think Kimmie would know what's difficult in a program and what isn't considering she's a high-level skater herself.

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I agree, but why put her in that position. It is in bad taste for a competitor to criticize another competitor in public. That should be left to the commentators and the printed page. Kimmie is a nice gal and doesn't need to be drawn into a superficial spotlight. That can be detrimental.

Critiquing(sp) one's own program such as Stephane was interesting.

I also agree, the three hours could have been used to show some of the skaters who made big impressions on the fans at the arena.

I'm still wondering if this type of program will become an annual event.

Joe

Joesitz said:

I agree, but why put her in that position. It is in bad taste for a competitor to criticize another competitor in public. That should be left to the commentators and the printed page. Joe

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AMEN!!!

DG

I missed it. Kimmie is replacing Michelle Kwan for Disney? This is great news! I really believe KIMMIE is the future of US figure skating. Everyone is assuming, after Worlds results, that Sasha will be National Champion next year. I think Kimmie will have something to say about that. A clean skate from Kimme with a bunch of sloppy jumps, 2 footed landings, and the small mistakes Sasha makes, and KIMMIE will be National Champion next year.
I can hardly wait!
What did Irina say about her skate? Did they show her SP? What did she say about her mistakes?
Did Sasha watch her program? What were her comments on her 2 footed landings?
What did Michelle say about her program? The fall?
Sounds like I missed a great one.

Hi Fossi...

I haven't re-watched it yet, but on first viewing the comments from Irina that stood out most were about how tired she was during the last part of her program, and how she couldn't feel her legs under her. I don't know where that energy came from (deep from within I suppose) at the end of her program, but I thought it was cool to hear her talk about it.

I think Kimmie has a ways to go before everyone starts crowning her the Next Coming in US women's figure skating. I hope her parents and coaches wise up and put a big brick wall between her and the media until she develops into whatever she will become someday.

DG

Linny said:

Plus, what the heck does she know about caviar? It's not like she could afford much when she lived in Russia... it would have been a better piece if she'd helped Paul and Kimmie order in Russian and had humbly admitted that she hadn't had much caviar in Russia - they could have all experienced it together.

Linny

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For starters she never lived in Russia, she is from Ukraine. Second, the caviar in the USSR was very cheap and it is still very inexpensive in comparison to what it costs in US. You could get a caviar sandwich at any theater, circus, or even a movie theater concession stand. Of course it would cost more than a cheese sandwich but even Oksana (at least while her mother was alive) could've had some.

Most importantly, she lives in the NYC area where Russian grocery stores and restaurants, diners are everywhere. Don't you think that she can buy some there? Red caviar is only ~$20 a pound in a Russian grocery store and the black is about $30 per 100 grams at the most.

The caviar is a big part of Russian and Ukrainian cuisine so ordering a caviar dish made sense to me. That's what Russia is know for (and the vodka of course Picking Oksana to do some commentary seemed logical to me. I mean who else (who speaks English, who is not competing or touring at the moment) are they going to pick?

But I agree about her not having much manners and being a drama queen.

I enjoyed the show, but again, the majority of the fluff pieces were recycled at least once..very few new parts. At least there was some FS that weekend, you know? But I would much rather see other skaters.

Yana

Kimmie may be National champ but perhaps in 07.

Access

I was excited to watch the show thinking it was going to be some behind the scene type stuff and I really like that. Then it turned out to be many of the fluff pieces shown during the comps. I think the two things I liked best were Stephane and Irina commentating their own skates. I really thought that was a great thing to do. Irina started to cry at the end and that really touched me. Then they watched Michelle’s skate through the eyes of two fans, Belbin & Agosto through the eyes of their parents, Johnny Weir skate commentated by Paul, and Sasha’s skate commentated by Kimmie and Paul.

It also showed behind the scenes with the camera people. That was interesting because there is a lot more going on than I thought. I forget the main person name but he and his assistant go to the practices and write down primarily the programs so they know to take a long or short shot. I did find out that I can’t yell at the camera people anymore because they are directed as to what shots they take. It always bothers me for example the two I just become so irate at is when Johnny Weir starts his straight line footwork why do they show his face??? The other is when Sasha does her spiral why do they show her face, I would like to see her spiral, not her beautiful little face. :sheesh:

I am not sure what the big deal is about Kimmie. Do you think she is going to replace Uncle Dick.

Oksana I think is a wannabe comedian.

I think this would be a good idea if they showed all the fluff pieces and whatever else during this time slot, and show more skating during the comps, other than that I think I wasted my time watching it.

Dee

Kimmie or Sasha 2006 US Champion? Sorry, but I think a certain Ms. Kwan will be there to claim #10.

I came in a bit late - just seconds, thankfully, before the Brian Joubert piece and I thought Brian came across great on camera, as usual. If there was something on Plushy, I missed it unfortunately.

Really liked the format and idea overall, although of course the execution could have been better. WAAYYY too much time on Kimmie M. - to the general public she doesn't even register - that was a waste for the most part.
Thought the portions with Irina were fabulous, and also liked the part with Lambiel.

But again the parts with Kimmie - and ESPECIALLY when Kimmie was supposedly commenting on ladies practice sessions with Peggy Fleming was awful, but then again I never care for Peggy's commentating, and anything with Brennan is a disaster. Give me uncle Dick and the boys anytime!

Overall, "Access" is a good broadcast idea that I think could generate more viewers to the sport. Better execution of it is needed, but for their first time - well, at least they made the effort for something new and different.

Zanzibar said:

If there was something on Plushy, I missed it unfortunately.

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Sorry, nothing on Evgeni.

Dee

Linny said:

Worked for me, actually. It was just one more chance to see a tiny bit more skating before the season ends. Perhaps the broadcasters decided that if people like us on GS were willing to rehash the competitions and dish about the skaters, coaches, etc., etc. ad infinitum until the next season rolls around, then perhaps we'd be willing to watch a rehash / dish kinda program on TV.

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I agree with you, Linny. I though All Access was very entertaining once I fast forwarded through the rerun segments, and Paul did a good job of hosting. Seeing him do a split jump in Gorky Park made me wish they had left out the sad Russian docu piece to make time for a Paul exhibition.

The Kimmie media machine is really building toward Turin, but ESPN is not doing her any favors by plugging her as the next big thing. If I were Kimmie I would be worried about that segment of commenting on Sasha’s skate coming back to bite me. That was presumptuous of her to sit there pointing out Sasha’s mistakes. She has a long way to go to compete with Sasha, and I think she will be lucky to beat out Emily and (hopefully) Angela to go to the Olympics.

Also, I was not offended by Oksana’s manners, and having her and Kimmie together was hilarious. Kimmie is so shy, and I laughed at Oksana getting in her face and saying “if you can do a triple axel you can try this caviar!” I wish Oksana had returned during all of Kimmie's segments to yell at her and add some interest, and I would love to hear Oksana's thoughts on Sasha's program. I will say that Kimmie looked very pretty when she was commenting on Sasha. Her makeup looked better than when she was skating, and she had much better expression in her eyes when she was looking out at Sasha than she usually does when people are looking at her. During interviews and when she skates, she seems like she does not connect with people. Maybe a good choreographer could point out the difference to her to help her develop as an artist.

I loved Stephane giving a shout out to Lucinda Ruh and talking about spinning with her. I could be mesmerized for hours watching Stephane and Lucinda spin. I also loved Johnny’s shout out to Oksana, and I could be mesmerized for hours by Johnny and Oksana’s artistry.

Dee4707 said:

It also showed behind the scenes with the camera people. That was interesting because there is a lot more going on than I thought. I forget the main person name but he and his assistant go to the practices and write down primarily the programs so they know to take a long or short shot. I did find out that I can’t yell at the camera people anymore because they are directed as to what shots they take. It always bothers me for example the two I just become so irate at is when Johnny Weir starts his straight line footwork why do they show his face??? The other is when Sasha does her spiral why do they show her face, I would like to see her spiral, not her beautiful little face.

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That camera assistant should have been afraid to reveal her face to skating fans after all the terrible camera crimes committed by ABC/ESPN over the years. I did not like the way they dissolved in the middle of T&M's pair spin because I think any cut during a spin is disorienting and detracts from the performance. I did like the camera cuts during T&M's emotional reactions after their skate. I think the camera people were good at telling emotional stories, but they didn't seem to know much about skating. Maybe if they hired a former skater to map out the camera angles they could reduce the mistakes.

Caviar

I stand corrected on caviar. I thought it was an expensive delicacy in Russia like it is here. Didn't know it was served on a sandwich at the circus like a hot dog.

Kimmie only seemed to say nice things about the other skaters. Oh, she said "a little bobble there" when Sasha did, indeed, bobble, but that's not really something that will come back to bite her. For such a young person, she came off pretty self-effacing to me. Mostly, she seemed in awe... although I think that Paul did a good job putting her at ease. 'Cept, of course, when she was trying caviar.

Perhaps the idea was not to bill her as the next-big-thing. Maybe, it was more to give other 15 year old aspiring figure skaters and idea what it was like to attend the World Championships.

Linny