Your favorite and least favorite figure skating commentators
- Thread starter Minz
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Thanks to both you and labgoat for the recommendation.
I'm chronically tech-challenged but really need to get my act together because after all, this is for figure skating -- efforts must be made!
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For those that are interested, here is how it ended up:
- Karina Manta / Regan Gascoigne [Dancer]
- Vanessa Bauer / Brendan Cole [Dancer]
- Kimberly Wyatt [Puddycat Doll] / Mark Hanretty
(First time using the spoiler coding, so hope it works!)
CaroLiza_fan
Thanks for posting the info.
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I watched Simon and Nick before they were summarily replaced for the hot mike comment. I wonder if it helped resurrect Ted as a commentator, which may have been blemished as being English language commentator for Channel 1. Remember, tho, during the pandemic coverage, many of us were grateful to have skating comps to watch no matter the source.
After watching Ted, I was shocked (and got to admit it, a little amused) by Johnny’s shade, e.g., Grassl just lying on the ice during his choreography sequence. Reminded me of Uncle Dick dissing Pluschenko. Yes, they definitely have preferences. The Canadian commentators tend to be more effusive about Canadian skaters—but that’s just natural. I’m sure every country does that.
Interesting to see Johnny dialing back on Russians. He was finally able to work in what you know was going to be a big fluff package about his trip to Moscow in Olys by mentioning briefly his interview with Morisi.
After watching Ted, I was shocked (and got to admit it, a little amused) by Johnny’s shade, e.g., Grassl just lying on the ice during his choreography sequence. Reminded me of Uncle Dick dissing Pluschenko. Yes, they definitely have preferences. The Canadian commentators tend to be more effusive about Canadian skaters—but that’s just natural. I’m sure every country does that.
Interesting to see Johnny dialing back on Russians. He was finally able to work in what you know was going to be a big fluff package about his trip to Moscow in Olys by mentioning briefly his interview with Morisi.
I'll premise with what i consider the key values for commentating figure skating (granted i've never done personally, i can only imagine how difficult it must be especially live, but here i'm purely talking from a viewer perspective):
1) The commentators should have knowledge of this sport. This is the most important rule, and unfortunately we sometimes got commentators borrowed from other sports (like the ISU commentary for Europeans in 2020) pretending to know figure skating and completely calling jumps wrong, or not being able to give any insightful information.
The current scoring system is already very complicated so for casual viewers, not knowing what jumps that skater has just landed or the mistakes, makes this sport even more confusing.
2) The commentary should be related to the actual performance (when the music is on). I like fluffs, drama is part of this sport, but leave it for a nice fluff piece like NBC used to do, or still they have plenty of time to discuss in the warmup or during the ice resurfacing about any controversy, maybe during the replay after the performance but during the program, they should talk about the elements, the skating quality or lack there of, the speed, the emotions, etc. I think it's also important to react to the performance, the commentary sometimes helped making certain performances such special moments in FS history.
3) The commentators should not be afraid to call the mistakes (even the uncalled ones). Some people think this is harsh, but look this is a sport. We all judge what's on the ice, if the skaters don't like to be judged, they wouldn't compete. I want to know when a jump is underrotated, or when the skater is slower, especially cause the perception we have from the television is often different than what you see in person or you can only see certain mistakes during replays; and because of lenient or too harsh judging, all the politics and double standards, we all know that what judges assess is not always 100% the truth. There are uncalled edge mistakes, underrotations, overmarked steps sequences, etc.
(the bonus 4th one is that commentators should try to stay as objective as possible: i know it's hard when most of these people are basically hired to cheer for the countrymates, but an unbiased view is always very important to get an outside perspective; it's why British commentaries got so popular, they were neither pro russians or pro americans, only reacting to what's on the ice)
FAVOURITE
Ambesi / Dolfini / Poli, Silvia Fontana and Valentina Marchei used to be with them in the past - Basically the Eurosport Italy crew: They are generally very objective and aren't afraid to call out all the mistakes from both skaters and judges all the aspects, not too much space for drama maybe, but they are very technical with the analysis for the elements and they know when you should cheer for a great program. example
Tracy Wilson (TSN, NBC, Olympic Channel) - I like that she pays as much attention to the technical skills but also the artistry and the beauty, and being a coach helps a lot highlighting all the little details. I like her voice, very calm, she must be one of the nicest person on earth.
Paloma and Susanna from TDP (the spanish feed) - I like how passionate they are, it helps elevating certain performances. I only watched programs with their commentary on youtube, i've to say they've done an excellent job over the years covering this sport.
I LIKE
Chris Howarth / Simon Reed / Nicky Slater / Mark Hanretty of British Eurosport. I started watching this sport with their commentary, and stayed with them for many years, they helped me understanding Figure Skating maybe more than anybody else at the time. Again they were very technical on their analysis at least in singles, maybe no longer my favourites after the recent incident with Meagan Duhamel and in recent years they've started to become a bit too focused on the drama (Mark too), but it wouldn't be fair not to mention them, cause i've enjoyed their work for so many years, and i hope despite everything, they'll still have an opportunity to continue. Mark is the latest addition, he's also very good, and i enjoy his commentary and he did great at Worlds last year.
Franca Biancone, Arianna Secondini, Alice/Maurizio Pedrazzini, sometimes Hotarek, Kostner and Cappellini - Rai Sport: The presence of a coach or an ISU specialist makes the commentary way more informative and interesting, cause she'll give insights others wouldn't catch, like if the warmup for that athlete was doing great or bad, the boots situation, etc. So Franca elevates their commentary, but the others are fine too, again they tend to stay on point.
Nice to listen for side commentaries
Tatiana Tarasova,Kurt Browning, Sandra Bezic, Carol Lane - Not for everybody cause in my opinion they are a bit too biased, Tarasova made some inappropriate comments in the past, but i like her passionate commentary and these are all people with a huge background in the sport so it's good to have them for a youtube video i'll watch later, maybe not Live.
Not a huge fan
Ted Barton - I think his style works for juniors, but he tends to be too "pro-judging" or too positive commentary for the popular skaters, so he'll stand for whatever the judges decide which as pointed earlier, judges don't always assess jumps correctly and tend to inflate due to politics and other factors, so he ends up calling good jumps that are totally not. That is not informative.
Also the no talk during performances is fine for juniors, but at the big events like Worlds and Olympics or even GPF, you need to bring in the excitement to explain the audience why that program is so special, and why it's so exciting in the moment. Perhaps it could help for him to have a sidekick.
Johnny and Tara - Love them as athletes, but their commentary has too much fluff, i like more technical analysis, and they like to go off topic.
Ryan Bradley - He's fine, doesn't talk too much, but he tends to repeat the same lines over and over with a weird tone.
Also not a fan of some of the other russian commentators like Grishin as they talk waay too much during programs, and sometimes it totally ruins such beautiful moments, when the skater is really giving everything in the steps sequence of the most important program of his career and you're just talking about whatever the others did. Case in point
1) The commentators should have knowledge of this sport. This is the most important rule, and unfortunately we sometimes got commentators borrowed from other sports (like the ISU commentary for Europeans in 2020) pretending to know figure skating and completely calling jumps wrong, or not being able to give any insightful information.
The current scoring system is already very complicated so for casual viewers, not knowing what jumps that skater has just landed or the mistakes, makes this sport even more confusing.
2) The commentary should be related to the actual performance (when the music is on). I like fluffs, drama is part of this sport, but leave it for a nice fluff piece like NBC used to do, or still they have plenty of time to discuss in the warmup or during the ice resurfacing about any controversy, maybe during the replay after the performance but during the program, they should talk about the elements, the skating quality or lack there of, the speed, the emotions, etc. I think it's also important to react to the performance, the commentary sometimes helped making certain performances such special moments in FS history.
3) The commentators should not be afraid to call the mistakes (even the uncalled ones). Some people think this is harsh, but look this is a sport. We all judge what's on the ice, if the skaters don't like to be judged, they wouldn't compete. I want to know when a jump is underrotated, or when the skater is slower, especially cause the perception we have from the television is often different than what you see in person or you can only see certain mistakes during replays; and because of lenient or too harsh judging, all the politics and double standards, we all know that what judges assess is not always 100% the truth. There are uncalled edge mistakes, underrotations, overmarked steps sequences, etc.
(the bonus 4th one is that commentators should try to stay as objective as possible: i know it's hard when most of these people are basically hired to cheer for the countrymates, but an unbiased view is always very important to get an outside perspective; it's why British commentaries got so popular, they were neither pro russians or pro americans, only reacting to what's on the ice)
FAVOURITE
Ambesi / Dolfini / Poli, Silvia Fontana and Valentina Marchei used to be with them in the past - Basically the Eurosport Italy crew: They are generally very objective and aren't afraid to call out all the mistakes from both skaters and judges all the aspects, not too much space for drama maybe, but they are very technical with the analysis for the elements and they know when you should cheer for a great program. example
Tracy Wilson (TSN, NBC, Olympic Channel) - I like that she pays as much attention to the technical skills but also the artistry and the beauty, and being a coach helps a lot highlighting all the little details. I like her voice, very calm, she must be one of the nicest person on earth.
Paloma and Susanna from TDP (the spanish feed) - I like how passionate they are, it helps elevating certain performances. I only watched programs with their commentary on youtube, i've to say they've done an excellent job over the years covering this sport.
I LIKE
Chris Howarth / Simon Reed / Nicky Slater / Mark Hanretty of British Eurosport. I started watching this sport with their commentary, and stayed with them for many years, they helped me understanding Figure Skating maybe more than anybody else at the time. Again they were very technical on their analysis at least in singles, maybe no longer my favourites after the recent incident with Meagan Duhamel and in recent years they've started to become a bit too focused on the drama (Mark too), but it wouldn't be fair not to mention them, cause i've enjoyed their work for so many years, and i hope despite everything, they'll still have an opportunity to continue. Mark is the latest addition, he's also very good, and i enjoy his commentary and he did great at Worlds last year.
Franca Biancone, Arianna Secondini, Alice/Maurizio Pedrazzini, sometimes Hotarek, Kostner and Cappellini - Rai Sport: The presence of a coach or an ISU specialist makes the commentary way more informative and interesting, cause she'll give insights others wouldn't catch, like if the warmup for that athlete was doing great or bad, the boots situation, etc. So Franca elevates their commentary, but the others are fine too, again they tend to stay on point.
Nice to listen for side commentaries
Tatiana Tarasova,Kurt Browning, Sandra Bezic, Carol Lane - Not for everybody cause in my opinion they are a bit too biased, Tarasova made some inappropriate comments in the past, but i like her passionate commentary and these are all people with a huge background in the sport so it's good to have them for a youtube video i'll watch later, maybe not Live.
Not a huge fan
Ted Barton - I think his style works for juniors, but he tends to be too "pro-judging" or too positive commentary for the popular skaters, so he'll stand for whatever the judges decide which as pointed earlier, judges don't always assess jumps correctly and tend to inflate due to politics and other factors, so he ends up calling good jumps that are totally not. That is not informative.
Also the no talk during performances is fine for juniors, but at the big events like Worlds and Olympics or even GPF, you need to bring in the excitement to explain the audience why that program is so special, and why it's so exciting in the moment. Perhaps it could help for him to have a sidekick.
Johnny and Tara - Love them as athletes, but their commentary has too much fluff, i like more technical analysis, and they like to go off topic.
Ryan Bradley - He's fine, doesn't talk too much, but he tends to repeat the same lines over and over with a weird tone.
Also not a fan of some of the other russian commentators like Grishin as they talk waay too much during programs, and sometimes it totally ruins such beautiful moments, when the skater is really giving everything in the steps sequence of the most important program of his career and you're just talking about whatever the others did. Case in point
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I like Japanese commenters; while they do talk during a performance, their voices are taken down a couple of octaves to barely above a whisper which seems to add - not detract - from the performance in some strange way.. full volume voice during a performance is really unpleasant and I think almost an ego trip on the part of the speaker loving the sound of his/her own voice over and above the performance.
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My favourite thing about Japanese commentators is how invested in every skater they are. They're excited when a jump goes well, sad when a jump or program doesn't. So if a skater's having a real moment, like Shoma at the 2019-20 Nats, then it adds a whole other level to the experience because the commentators are going crazy and are so happy for the skater.
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Yes!! This…
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That's why I - in the long gone - liked to listen to Joan Haanappel. But this is only for the Dutchies! She really felt for the skaters, was happy for them when they had a marvellous skate or shouted frustratedly when someone fell. She stopped alas but I remember her commenting days fondly. She could also be critical but in a nice way. Never detrimental to a skater.
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