2020-21 US Women's Figure Skating

[Skater91]

In my opinion, Tara and Johnny are extremely annoying and grating to listen to, but they mostly know what they're talking about. I would be a lot happier if they ditched Tara and Johnny and had Tanith do the commentary for all events instead of confining her to just ice dance. Tanith and Charlie did commentary together for the 2019 US Champs over NBC Gold, and that was a great watch. Mark also did a great job as a commentator. They should ditch Simon forever, since he has no clue what he's talking about.

Tanith only does dance as she likely wouldn't know a lot about pair and solo skating imho

 

[Minz]

Didn't he totally trash Tara during 1997 Worlds? He couldn't stand her skating. He called her a geek and a circus freak! lol. He's been doing skating for decades, so it's strange that he could get so many things wrong in his commentary.

I think that might have been Chris, the other Eurosport commentator. Simon is mostly a tennis commentator.

 

[dancelion21]

Tanith only does dance as she likely wouldn't know a lot about pair and solo skating imho

She's commentated solo and pairs skating before for NBC Gold, and she's quite knowledgable.

 

[TontoK]

They really need to. It’s easier to watch a Russian Cup Stage from the US then it is to watch US Nationals or Skate America...

You are correct, and this annoys me no end. It's like they're saying, "We know what you hardcore fans want to watch, and you're going to pay up."

It's as though they're completely unaware of the way the internet works. They're giving the views to their competitors, because we WILL find a way to link to them.

 

[ice coverage]

Stumbled upon a long Q and A with Gracie Gold on a sponsor website. (When I was looking for something else entirely.)
The lion's share of it is interesting/substantive, IMO (and not related to promoting the sponsor's products).

https://www.muscletech.com/training/get-to-know-muscletechs-gracie-gold/ (Apr 21)​

Only the first few questions are about the sponsor's products.

Disclaimer re the lengthy substantive portion that follows the promotional part:
I don't attempt to watch/read every single Gracie interview -- and I am not saying that this Q and A covered completely new ground.
But I did like how she expressed herself in many of her answers here.

---

Tanith only does dance as she likely wouldn't know a lot about pair and solo skating imho

Way back when, Tanith competed in pairs.

Her firsthand knowledge is not limited to ice dance.

 

[Skater91]

Stumbled upon a long Q and A with Gracie Gold on a sponsor website. (When I was looking for something else entirely.)
The lion's share of it is interesting/substantive, IMO (and not related to promoting the sponsor's products).

https://www.muscletech.com/training/get-to-know-muscletechs-gracie-gold/ (Apr 21)​

Only the first few questions are about the sponsor's products.

Disclaimer re the lengthy substantive portion that follows the promotional part:
I don't attempt to watch/read every single Gracie interview -- and I am not saying that this Q and A covered completely new ground.
But I did like how she expressed herself in many of her answers here.

---

Way back when, Tanith competed in pairs.

Her firsthand knowledge is not limited to ice dance.

I didn't know that so really shouldn't her and Johnny be doing the pairs rather than Johnny and Tara as Johnny started as a pair skater himself
I think they would be good together along with Terry

 

[ptvvibezz]

New Audrey Shin interview came out today. She talked about her programs for next season and her training of the 3A and 4T.

Shin is thinking of keeping her SP from last season, The Giving.

I am thinking of keeping my short program [“The Giving” by Michael W. Smith] because I feel like with my short, there were so many positive comments about it, and a lot of people wanted me to keep it. I feel like I connect to that program really well, and I love skating to that program. So I thought it was a good idea to keep it for the season, especially because I don’t want to really spend a lot of time making new programs. I just want to kind of get a head start to the season.

She will be skating to Moonlight Sonata for her FS, choreographed by Drew Meekins.

Drew [Meekins] is choreographing my free skate. My program isn’t really quite done yet. It is going to be Moonlight Sonata, but it’s not the typical Moonlight Sonata. In the beginning, it is like the basic one [original composition] and then we added many cool details to it. So there will be voices and lyrics, and there’s a poem in it. I don’t want to spill too much yet. It’s really cool, and I’m super excited about it. So far, the choreography has been so much fun to make with Drew.

She also mentioned how her training of the 3A and 4T is going.

I have been working a lot on my triple Axel and quad toe. It is pretty close. I would say the closest I have got in my triple Axel is a quarter [under], so like a Q. The quad toe I have been landing a lot more, except obviously I need to work on not getting under-rotations. I’m really excited about these two jumps. I have worked on them for a while, but I finally had the time to really work on them these past few weeks. So I’m really excited to see how the jumps turn out, and I hope I can start adding them to my programs.

 

[TontoK]

^^^

Well, thank goodness!

I've often listened to Moonlight Sonata and thought, "Man, Beethoven really should have inserted a poem here to improve this piece."

Seriously, I'm a fan of hers, but I already hate this program, just on the description.

 

[moonvine]

Tanith only does dance as she likely wouldn't know a lot about pair and solo skating imho

IIRC Tanith covered Europeans one year and did a great job.

 

[Bluediamonds09]

Does canadian broadcasting of figure skating have it better than in the US? More coverage, better commentary, more availability?

 

[Amei]

^^^

Well, thank goodness!

I've often listened to Moonlight Sonata and thought, "Man, Beethoven really should have inserted a poem here to improve this piece."

Seriously, I'm a fan of hers, but I already hate this program, just on the description.

This is me every time I see Billie Eilish attached to a program

 

[NanaPat]

Does canadian broadcasting of figure skating have it better than in the US? More coverage, better commentary, more availability?

For Nationals and Skate Canada, CTV owns the broadcast rights and usually puts coverage on their niche cable channels, so no for those.

For all other major international events, CBC has coverage and streams everything, in addition to broadcasting highlights shows. Also, they don't block the ISU youtube channel! So that coverage is really good.

NOTE: CTV has commentators Tracy Wilson and Rod Black

 

[Moxiejan]

IIRC Tanith covered Europeans one year and did a great job.

Imho, Tanith should be doing ALL the commentary. Very likely, the only reason she mostly is dance-only on the main NBC shows is that NBC wants the “star power” of Tara with Johnny. In reality, Tanith-Johnny would be a vast improvement.

 

[smontgomery]

Imho, Tanith should be doing ALL the commentary. Very likely, the only reason she mostly is dance-only on the main NBC shows is that NBC wants the “star power” of Tara with Johnny. In reality, Tanith-Johnny would be a vast improvement.

Not in my opinion, Tanith needs a voice coach, and I favor Tara and Johnny.

 

[Minz]

New season thread 2021-22 US Ladies’ Figure Skating

 

[mrrice]

^^^

Well, thank goodness!

I've often listened to Moonlight Sonata and thought, "Man, Beethoven really should have inserted a poem here to improve this piece."

Seriously, I'm a fan of hers, but I already hate this program, just on the description.

What ever happened to Ryan Bradley? He was commentating with Tonia K for a while and they're both gone now. I actually liked Ryan and Tonia