Your favorite and least favorite figure skating commentators

[el henry]

As long as we're griping about random stuff, I'd like to make my pitch for banning the color orange.

I've always disliked orange. It's unattractive, and nothing rhymes with orange.

All in all, it's a useless color. We should NOT ban the fruit, however, although I am open to suggestion as to how it can be renamed.

Well orange rhymes with beaucoup de mots en français.

comme j’adore l’orange
la couleur des anges

(and yes I’m an Anglophone and I just made that up, so everyone be nice )

but if you dare to stand up for Orange, don’t you know that you are a hater (or a lover, I don’t know which ? And your opinion to be discounted? And certainly never loving a commentator who loves orange; how déclassé?

and therefore we must be at war. En garde!

 

[lariko]

I find it strange that you think its ok for an "expert" to voice their opinion on a skaters jump technique, but not their opinion on a skaters stiff upper body and arm movements and not being on rhythm to the music hurting their artistic presentation. Both are equally valid opinions to voice to viewers who may not be knowledgeable about either.

Other viewers and children will be okay. Don’t worry.

 

[el henry]

And like it or not the judges value artistry.

and rank it. and score it.

so a commentator saying, yes, this skate is artistic, here is why it should be ranked highly in PCS is just as useful as, yes that jump was not around and will get negative GOE.

Whether we as fans agree with either subjective determination (PCS or GOE) is another matter.

and Tara does make such commentary. At least in the commentary I have heard. Mostly I am on Peacock, so I have not heard an enormous amount.

 

[Joekaz]

Other viewers and children will be okay. Don’t worry.

That makes about as much sense as the rest of your commentary. Lol

 

[Joekaz]

And like it or not the judges value artistry.

and rank it. and score it.

so a commentator saying, yes, this skate is artistic, here is why it should be ranked highly in PCS is just as useful as, yes that jump was not around and will get negative GOE.

Whether we as fans agree with either subjective determination (PCS or GOE) is another matter.

and Tara does make such commentary. At least in the commentary I have heard. Mostly I am on Peacock, so I have not heard an enormous amount.

Very good point about the GOE being just as subjective as the PCS. The whole sport is subjective. When they got caught cheating and changed from the 6.0 system, all they did was camouflage their opinions, biases and corruption under a mountain of numbers based on the same subjective opinions as before.

 

[TontoK]

but if you dare to stand up for Orange, don’t you know that you are a hater (or a lover, I don’t know which ? And your opinion to be discounted? And certainly never loving a commentator who loves orange; how déclassé?

and therefore we must be at war. En garde!

Be warned: This is the hill I will die on!

The orange faction must be purged!

I suppose we have drifted far off topic, and while I didn't find the original topic edifying, perhaps others do. I expect the mods to arrive at any second. Maybe they will move everything related to the horrific color orange to a new thread.

Edit: If they did start a thread titled "Random Gripes" it would probably be one of the most popular on the forum.

 

[kolyadafan2002]

To be honest, it's the best sort of commentary for me.
The viewer can see artistry, and judge it for themselves. I'd rather not have an annoying voice going on over the skating, but rather take it in and enjoy it.
After the program is done, then they can talk about skating skills etc, stuff which a typical viewer doesn't pick up on when watching.
With jumps, it's nice for them to be identified throughout the program (as these aren't stuff shown on slow motion etc).
Of course, for competent viewers, commentary may not be needed at all - although it adds an exciting feel I guess (with eurosport commentators thats what I get at least), but for the typical viewer jump identification is important (as well as lacking rotation/mistakes), and the rest can be discussed after the performance - to evaluate the performance as a whole. When a skater is portraying emotion or skating I want to get into it, rather than over-commentary of artistry.

 

[Joekaz]

To be honest, it's the best sort of commentary for me.
The viewer can see artistry, and judge it for themselves. I'd rather not have an annoying voice going on over the skating, but rather take it in and enjoy it.
After the program is done, then they can talk about skating skills etc, stuff which a typical viewer doesn't pick up on when watching.
With jumps, it's nice for them to be identified throughout the program (as these aren't stuff shown on slow motion etc).
Of course, for competent viewers, commentary may not be needed at all - although it adds an exciting feel I guess (with eurosport commentators thats what I get at least), but for the typical viewer jump identification is important (as well as lacking rotation/mistakes), and the rest can be discussed after the performance - to evaluate the performance as a whole. When a skater is portraying emotion or skating I want to get into it, rather than over-commentary of artistry.

I believe you are actually agreeing with the original comment in a way. They were complaining that Tara doesn't comment on artistry at all, I believe. Not just during the actual skate.

 

[kolyadafan2002]

I believe you are actually agreeing with the original comment in a way. They were complaining that Tara doesn't comment on artistry at all, I believe. Not just during the actual skate.

"Lipinski only comments on the jumps, so there is noticeable silence between those jumps."

And tbh, I can't remember her commentary as I don't watch US streams, but I don't remember specific problems with it.

 

[anonymoose_au]

Edit: If they did start a thread titled "Random Gripes" it would probably be one of the most popular on the forum.

"Random Grapes" would be a better title I think.

Sorry just had to say it

 

[Mauvedreamer]

As long as we're griping about random stuff, I'd like to make my pitch for banning the color orange.

I've always disliked orange. It's unattractive, and nothing rhymes with orange.

All in all, it's a useless color. We should NOT ban the fruit, however, although I am open to suggestion as to how it can be renamed.

 

[Joekaz]

"Lipinski only comments on the jumps, so there is noticeable silence between those jumps."

And tbh, I can't remember her commentary as I don't watch US streams, but I don't remember specific problems with it.

That comment was not from her original post. It was from one of her replies. She also stated that Tara doesn't comment on artistry at all, I believe.

 

[mrrice]

Look, it is no secret that I have had a problem with Tara's commentary for years. When she first began, she would talk about Jump Difficulty and how she KNEW she had to have harder jumps to beat Michelle. Now, it seems that's all she can talk about. She's from the 6.0 Era and she knows that half of the score comes from presentation yet, she never seems to talk about that aspect of skating.

 

[Mathman]

Tara's OK. They have Johnny Weir to take up the artistic angle. That used to be Dick Button's job. It's all good.

Speaking of Johnny Weir, what he does best (or at least what he attempts to do) is give an explanation of why a skater missed the jump (she didn't check her shoulder on the landing, etc.), along with why he felt that the performance wasted the music or whatever.

 

[streams4dreams]

Tara's OK. They have Johnny Weir to take up the artistic angle. That used to be Dick Button's job. It's all good.

Speaking of Johnny Weir, what he does best (or at least what he attempts to do) is give an explanation of why a skater missed the jump (she didn't check her shoulder on the landing, etc.), along with why he felt that the performasnce wasted the music or whatever.

I also understood this casting team as Tara being more of a play-by-play and Johnny being more of a color caster. It makes sense (to me at least) to have a resident expert for both aspects of the skate. And as others said already, it's not that they never comment the other aspect, it's just done more briefly.

Just making sure we don't lose the orange thread as off-topic!

 

[Blades of Passion]

Tara's OK. They have Johnny Weir to take up the artistic angle. That used to be Dick Button's job. It's all good.

Speaking of Johnny Weir, what he does best (or at least what he attempts to do) is give an explanation of why a skater missed the jump (she didn't check her shoulder on the landing, etc.), along with why he felt that the performasnce wasted the music or whatever.

I hardly ever hear Johnny talking about anything specifically artistic in the commentary. He, like Tara, just uses broad useless talk of saying a performance was very artistic or it wasn't. Dick Button would say exactly why a spin looks ugly or a footwork sequence doesn't work or a program is ineffective. He would point out specific transitions and why they are either beautiful or useless.

It's obvious that Button's negativity about the new scoring system caused him to be phased out as a commentator, but that's the commentary we need. The spins and footwork and transitions in ALL programs these days are artistically flawed, and it needs to change. But it won't if people don't talk about it.

 

[Thrashergurl]

I usually mute their talking, which is unfortunate because then I miss the music. How many times can we hear about Tara being the youngest…it got old after the first ten times they said it.

Thank goodness for alternate coverage. Tanith is okay but it’s almost like she’s trying too hard to professional and state only facts and void of personality.

 

[catjohnsn2]

I hardly ever hear Johnny talking about anything specifically artistic in the commentary. He, like Tara, just uses broad useless talk of saying a performance was very artistic or it wasn't. Dick Button would say exactly why a spin looks ugly or a footwork sequence doesn't work or a program is ineffective. He would point out specific transitions and why they are either beautiful or useless.

It's obvious that Button's negativity about the new scoring system caused him to be phased out as a commentator, but that's the commentary we need. The spins and footwork and transitions in ALL programs these days are artistically flawed, and it needs to change. But it won't if people don't talk about it.

I do miss Dick Button....."Point your toe, sweetheart....."

 

[RoundedBackCamel]

I feel like I should recuse myself from this argument because the “shriek heard ‘round the world” set my teeth on edge live when it happened and continues to do so. I don’t watch much NBC bcs they are so late in broadcasting comps and I’ll watch comps in real time in whatever country either with no commentary (Peacock) or in language of host country. Either is a vast improvement to Tara’s tee-hee commentary. She does it (slightly) less now, but she still constantly compares herself to every 15-year-old and calls them all “firecrackers.” I also don’t like that she didn’t continue to skate after her Worlds and OGM and just took the money and ran (although it must be noted that doing so certainly worked out well for her eventually).

There were two comps I enjoyed NBC commentary on this season: SkateAmerica and a recent GP, either Rostelecom or France. The first blessedly had no Tara—just Johnny and Terry. The second, I thought, “Wow! Tara really toned down her giggle and sounds so much more professional now!” Turns out it was Tanith (Belben) White doing the commentary with Johnny and Terry.

I don’t like Tara. I don’t like her voice and her amusement with herself. I don’t like her commentary. It truly adds nothing. I don’t like that she had a plantation wedding in these enlightened times when even home decorating shows now say “main bedroom” instead of “master bedroom.” In her skating I didn’t like her flutz or her leg wrap or her lack of artistry. But since she bailed so early and her career so short, there aren’t many comps to judge her on.

I don’t mind Johnny. And Tara and Johnny refer to each other as best friends, so they clearly enjoy working together. But I have to mute her. I also remember Peggy and Dick very well, but he certainly had his own biases and sometimes Peggy had to reel him in. I’ve also seen plenty of commentators who had animas toward my favorite skaters, so that doesn’t factor in for me.

As far as commentators I *do* like: Ted got some flak early in the season for being a RusFed (and Eteri) mouthpiece, but I *really* enjoyed his commentary in Russian Nationals.

From what I understand, Tara and Johnny are quite popular with casual fans. I’m not sure I’ve ever really loved any commentator; their jobs are kind of thankless, with the sport not so big in English-speaking countries, so the “new” scoring system has to be explained every time. At least they aren’t talking as much during the comps, with Terry offering color commentary (usually some pro-US stuff or how some male skater started off doing hockey) and whoever identifying the jump; now people can see what it is in the box (if they learn the abbreviations).

 

[Mauvedreamer]

I liked Jonny on his own. Tara should be banished to the underworld!!