"Up Close and Personal" TV bios

As you said Joe, the younger skaters really don't know anything except skating and what their publicity folks coach them to say. The older skaters tend to keep quiet about what they're really thinking, so then we get tortured with redundant stuff --- MK "I really just love to compete", Irina in shopping malls, etc. I could live with no fluff on TV - leave it to the skating magazines.

One of the few UCAP segments I actually enjoyed was the one filmed on Elaine Zayak when she made her wonderful return to competition at the 1994 US Nationals. Elaine explained how she wanted to show the figure skating world that a 28-year-old woman could still be competitive. She said her comeback was a month-by-month process, and she wasn't at all sure when she resumed intensive training in the summer of 1993 that she would be ready to compete at Nationals -- but she wanted to challenge herself and try. I thought, "Good for you, Elaine. You go, girl!"

And Elaine skated two terrific programs at Nationals and won the pewter medal.

Being older than many of you gives me a particular pov on these things and I do agree. Keep it short if you have to do it at all. Frankly, most of these people are not bright enough, well-educated enough, interesting enough, mature enough (pick any of these) off the ice to merit much examination at all. The American (and yes I'm very American) celebrity culture that speaks to the 'live through the celeb of your choice' pathology is operating full-time here. Where there is a real story (I thought Baiul's story in Lillehammer was really a story worth telling or, not skating related, Lance Armstrong's story of fighting cancer or Katarina Witt's story of coping with the East German political system) then I think it's great to tell it. Anything else is just a waste of space - but that's so much of TV and magazine journalism isn't it, filling up space with the meaningless and banal.

The great skaters speak to us during their performances and send their message most eloquently with their skates. They don't need to say much more. Unfortunately the media asks them to.

Hmmm...just wondering....did Dorothy Hamill or Peggy Fleming ever film an "UCAP" segment prior to their competing at the Olympics? Did Elaine Zayak, Roz Sumners, or Tiffany Chin have these bios prior to the 1984 Olympics? I don't think so.

I think this fluff-stuff really took off after the 1988 Winter Olympics. Such a big deal was made of Debi Thomas - the first African-American to win a World and US title, and her Stanford pre-medical studies. She was an interesting subject, and the media somehow assumed that all of the other top skaters would prove to be "interesting" interviews.

W-R-O-N-G!! These young skaters are experts on figure skating, but they're still kids. They lack the maturity and life experiences to really have anything to say that is worth listening to.

"The American (and yes I'm very American) celebrity culture that speaks to the 'live through the celeb of your choice' pathology is operating full-time here."

It's operating full time everywhere. The only difference is that US celebs tend to more often be world wide celebs as well.

Personally, I think the UK takes the cake for mindless vague celebrities who are famous for doing or having nothing. The only reason that they don't do "UCAP"s is because they don't give a rats arse for skating, don't have any good skaters, and rarely if ever show it on TV. I also have a hard time believing that years ago, the UK box wasn't over run with T&D "UCAP"s. Heck, I can't believe how many TV specials they have about TV!

France takes second place.

Personally, "UCAP"s are my secret shame. They are so bad and useless and cheesy, I just love them! What would we do without the latest "She lost a pen, a foot and then her birth mother, just months after being reunited. Now she skates for gold, just weeks after giving her kidney to her dying brother, despite his having embezelled all of her money." ?

Although I too will hurl if I have to see one more MK on the beach type UCAP, but then again I watch way too much skating to be considered healthy. I'm sure that the normal people who only watch skating once in a while appreciate the low down or recap on the big names just as I did when I first got hooked on the sport.

I must be one of the few on this forum who enjoy some of the UCAPs. However, I don't like it when they repeat them during every GP event the skater enters. If I want to watch it again, then I'll record it. There was a good one about Takeshi Honda a few years ago, but most of my favorites haven't been profiled. I guess they rank too low or aren't popular enough in the USA.

I guess I would not mind the "Up Close and Personal" segments if they varied from year to year and/or at least contained some new, fresh, interesting material. Unfortunately, it's nothing but the same, old stale diet of fluff pieces -- enough to make even the most diehard figure skating fan want to gag.

Are you ready for another season??? Here's what we can expect to see --

Yet another UCAP bio in which Michelle Kwan explains for the gazillionth time her thought processes behind her decision to stay in the eligible ranks.

Yet another UCAP bio in which Michael Weiss attempts to explain his thought processes behind his efforts to land a clean program.
Come on, Michael, enough already. At the age of 27, if you haven't figured out how to land a quad, you probably never will.

Yet another UCAP bio in which Timothy Goebel attempts to explain
his thought processes behind his efforts to upt the ante, as far as artistry is concerned. Gee, it's as if he's suddently realizing that the presentation mark is important and is the tiebreaker.

Yet another UCAP bio in which Sasha Cohen attempts to explain her thought processes behind her efforts to blot out the field, concentrate on her own skating, and "skate for herself". Really, just about every top skater follows this same philosophy.

Mind you, I'm not trying to bash these wonderfully talented skaters. Please. But, on the other hand, I'm not the slightest bit interested in their "thought processes". I just want to see them skate their hearts out. I do not need to know them "personally".

JUST LET YOUR SKATING DO THE TALKING!

Perhaps one of the most ridiculous (IMHO) Up Close and Personal segments I've ever seen was the bio on Tara Lipinski that was filmed during the 1998 Olympic season. Clearly the purpose was to portray Lipinski as a normal 15-year-old who just happened to be the reigning US and World champion (going into the 1998 season) who spent most of her day at the skating rink and in off-ice training pursuits.

Tara was shown shopping with her girlfriends, putting on makeup, playing with her stuffed animals, playing with her friends on the roof of her house, and, in a really idiotic sequence, was shown talking absolute nonsense with her buddies. Evidently, they had made up a "language" of their own, and four of them were shown sitting on Tara's bed speaking this gibberish. Their words sounded like a combination of "Taxi's" mechanic Lafka (sp)
and Mork from "Mork and Mindy". Don't try to ask what they were saying to each other.

Tara and her mother were shown preparing dinner and waiting for Mr. Lipinski to call from Texas. Tara's mother told her daughter that her dad had to cancel his planned visit that Friday, and it would be a few weeks before they saw each other again.
Tara seemed to take it all in stride - but her mother looked positively woebegone.

Mrs. Lipinski was shown as a woman who had given up her life to support her daughter's skating dream. She looked tired, drawn, and showed no enthusiasm for her daughter's achievements.
All she could muster was a few words of praise for her "golden child".

I remember that UCAP on Tara and her mother. At one point, I think they had the camera at the end of the bed and the bottom of her foot took up most of the view. She was also trying to drive in the driveway and Pat was about to have a heart attack.

Not one of the better UCAPs. If they were looking for sympathy, then they certainly didn't get any from me. However, I don't dislike Tara.

I'm sure most of these sentiments have already been shared...

UCAP: Take time away from skating
They are the same every year (same skaters same story)
They are corny -well most of them, especially when they try to create scenes: Michelle walking wistfully down a road, etc

On the other hand I wouldn't mind UCAPS-if they focus on lesser known skaters. If they don't seemed to contrived.

But mostly I say-Show me the Skating!

What's that expression about the lunitics running the asylum? A lot of people try to diss Pat as a pushy skating Mom, but I always thought of her as the oppoiste: it always seemed to me like that little girl was running the show and the parents just jumped thru whatever hoops she told them too.

Berthes Ghost writes:
What's that expression about the lunitics running the asylum? A lot of people try to diss Pat as a pushy skating Mom, but I always thought of her as the oppoiste: it always seemed to me like that little girl was running the show and the parents just jumped thru whatever hoops she told them too.

LOL!

I have to agree with you -- Mrs. Lipinski always seemed like a pretty nice woman -- a lady who was totally caught up with her daughter's skating career. She all but sacrificed her life so that Tara could pursue her skating dream. I sure would not "diss" her for doing this -- although it's certainly not the kind of life I would want to live.

I like the Bio's if they are kept NEW, Short & Sweet.

The same old Same old is boring.

But, I have to say is that I do sometimes get very tired of seeing the the not really developed senior skaters. The falls are very hard to watch not to mention immature programs. I am ok with watching the top maybe 6 or seven skaters. They have a chance at somekind of medal.

Number 13 or 14 is unlikely to finish in the top ten.

But, thats just me

I would enjoy viewing UCAP segments that allowed each of the top skaters to explain his/her/their rationale and process for selecting their competition music. Why are they skating to their specific pieces of music? Do they admire the composer? Do they love the beat, the flow of the music? Do they want to tell a story and portray the storyline behind the music? Did they work with a different choregrapher this year? This kind of stuff is interesting, as it focuses on their programs - it's not the silly fluff stuff that typically comprises these bios.

Just my opinion, of course.