TV Alert Today 11/8 - Kristi Yamaguchi Friends & Family

[heyang]

If I recall correctly, some of the kids have or are competing at novice level. Viktoria Petrenka and Daria Grinkova have/are. I think Gabriella Marvel has been taking lessons, but I don't know if she's been competitive.

I think Nancy's oldest just skated around like most kids, but after experiencing being out there, he thought it was fun and asked for actual lessons. Last year was the 1st time we saw him after he had started lessons.

I haven't watched all of this year's show, yet.

 

[iluvtodd]

Be prepared for lots of imbalance in the coverage, heyang. Again the musical performers have been featured more than the skaters and their adorable kids.
Disson Skating is supposed to promote skating, if I understand it correctly. I have no problems with a split screen approach, but why do the skaters have to be shortchanged again? It seems as this imbalance is happening even more so than in previous seasons.

 

[ManyCairns]

Be prepared for lots of imbalance in the coverage, heyang. Again the musical performers have been featured more than the skaters and their adorable kids.
Disson Skating is supposed to promote skating, if I understand it correctly. I have no problems with a split screen approach, but why do the skaters have to be shortchanged again? It seems as this imbalance is happening even more so than in previous seasons.

ITA. I actually gave up watching before it was over so DH and I could go ahead and go out for the evening. I was trying to watch Jenni and Todd, but not only did it seem to show the singer MORE, but also the camera shots back and forth from skaters to singer(s) were so frequent that you could hardly watch a single skating move from start to completion -- no kidding. That's when I gave up in disgust, with 'bout a half hour still to go.

These skaters are pretty dear to my heart, too, but I just couldn't see enough skating to make it worthwhile. :disagree::disagree: Honestly, we can HEAR the music, a rare shot or two of the singer should be more than enough!

 

[Mathman]

I wonder if it is part of the contract than the singers are guaranteed a certain amount of "face time" on the broadcasts. After all, if they showed only the skaters, then they could just as well be skating to recorded music.

 

[Tonichelle]

it's no doubt a reason, MM. and I would assume the Disney Radio darlings would have someone pulling the strings to get them as much face time as possible.

The tweeners screaming just for the singing talent was annoying too. Not a show I would have wanted to attend.

 

[waxel]

I don't really enjoy these skating specials too much, but I record and skim through. I did really enjoy Nancy and her son's number from the Billy Elliot musical. And he did do some single jumps- and a scratch spin that was pretty decent! Vey sweet number.

 

[CzarinaAnya]

Oh, yeah, you could tell Nancy's son has the performing bug. He looked so thrilled.

The Petrenko's were very cute together.

I miss Katia & Daria.

I made my boyfriend watch it. heehee

 

[heyang]

I pretty much stopped watching the shows that are Tributes to a particular musician. Those are pretty much guaranteed to be 50% or less skating.

With all the technology that exists, why can't they do picture in a picture/split screen, at least.

 

[Tonichelle]

they used to do picture in picture/split screen

CBS used to do a great job showing both...

 

[Mimzy]

Does anyone have any info about why Ilia, Katia, Daria weren't there? I sure missed them!

Joe and kiddlets are a kick! Love how sweet Blade seems. Hope he is that nice in his personal life.

I Love this show. HATE the music and seeing the singers so much.

They don't get that their audience is skating fans - we are not tuning in to see the singers.
If they ran a pure skating show then a music show, they would see what ratings were higher. Not hard to figure out.

 

[Tonichelle]

but the Jonas Brothers and the other Disney darlings bring in more numbers than skating has in forever... so I completely understand NBC's wanting to show the singing talent more than the athletic talent.

 

[R.D.]

Just an FYI: The ratings for this show were higher than the numbers for Skate America (1.4/3 vs. 1.3/3)

source:

http://sportsmediawatch.blogspot.com/2008/11/weekend-ratings.html

http://sportsmediawatch.blogspot.com/2008/10/weekend-ratings_28.html

That should tell you something right then and there.


EDIT: Sorry, it was last week's show. Not this week's, although the rating could also be higher.

 

[iluvtodd]

I don't know how much good it will do, but I'm sending messages to the sponsors of these shows (Glade, Mussleman's, Smuckers, and Fleming-Jenkins Vineyards) to let them know how disgusted skating fans are with the way our sport is being presented in these shows. I'll start out positively by thanking them for sponsoring skating shows, but then I'll point out how a potential audience is being lost because of the way skating is being presented on TV. I don't object to the presence of musical guests (even though there are those I prefer over others), but I do object to the imbalance of the presentation here. I have sent e-mails to Steve Disson about the split screen suggestion, but he has not responded on that issue. I've given up on trying to contact NBC (the link they provide hasn't worked).