2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony not live! (U.S.)

[Deleted]

I thought it was good but i think thats because im from uk outsiders would find that very odd xD

[Deleted]

They missed a thrilling portrait of a nation in decline. The story of a country that's so ashamed of most of its greatest accomplishments (e.g. taking a muddy little island and turning it into a world power) that the most they can find to celebrate is their welfare state and children's authors. The PC police evidently decreed that the topic of imperialism and how the Brits brought modern civilization to large parts of the world was taboo, so instead we received a riveting drama about a girl who lost her cellphone.

Yeah, the Queen should have gone down to the track, taken the flags off of the colonies and repatriated them into the Empire, before declaring all out war on the Argentine contingent. The athletes would have made way for missiles and tanks as Britain flexed her military might before the world, tore down the Olympic flag and declared it a contest of "us v Johnny Foreigner". All the sponsors would have been ditched in favour of the Daily Mail, immigrants rounded up in the streets and sent back to work down the mines. Then Thatcher would come out and lead us all in a delightful chorus of Rule Britannia. Meanwhile Jeremy Clarkson powerslides an Aston Martin and makes jokes about the hun.

Alternatively we could just stick with what we had. A fun ceremony celebrating Britain's transformation into an industrial giant, her contributions to the world, her fantastic literary and cultural history and her spirit of multiculturalism.

[vazar_da_priest]

the fact that NBC owns right to olympic footage is stupid. the olympics isn't theirs, its everyone's

[The Glitch]

It certainly was an impressive ceremony... cost 9 million quid per hour, quite disgusting really.

I liked the fact they gave credit to the NHS, but considering our government has been cutting NHS jobs thousands of them, I felt it was a bit of a joke really.
All that money into a 3 hour ceremony, when people are losing their jobs and homes due to *cutbacks* ... same story world wide though isn't it?

Sorry to the Americans that you didn't get to see it as it was happening!

[Sauredfangs]

One would expect the Portuguese broadcast to be bias to Portugal? What's your point?

So much for the Olympic concept of uniting the world when you only focus on your own country. Seriosuly when the canadian team paraded they missed like 5 other teams just to watch the canadian team walk all the way. To me the olympics is an international event. Too bad I don't really have the NBC version in my cable.

Edit: And also the commentary can be so annoying because I have to listen to some bias bullshit like national pride, and when a canadian wins a medal they go into a cutscene that last like 30 minutes which is what they did in vancouver.. Idk my opinion, it is not what my view of what the olympic spirit should be.

[Deleted]

It certainly was an impressive ceremony... cost 9 million quid per hour, quite disgusting really.

I liked the fact they gave credit to the NHS, but considering our government has been cutting NHS jobs thousands of them, I felt it was a bit of a joke really.
All that money into a 3 hour ceremony, when people are losing their jobs and homes due to *cutbacks* ... same story world wide though isn't it?

Sorry to the Americans that you didn't get to see it as it was happening!

You're right! We should've known the world economy was going to collapse when we won the bid back in 2005. It would have helped a lot.
Alternatively we could have hired a DJ for the evening and had Ethel and the WI do up a finger buffet. SHABBA!

[The Glitch]

You're right! We should've known the world economy was going to collapse when we won the bid back in 2005. It would have helped a lot.
Alternatively we could have hired a DJ for the evening and had Ethel and the WI do up a finger buffet. SHABBA!

Lovely sarcasm!
Fact is though, the economy has been suffering for a long time, jobs have been cut too, remember the millenium dome fiasco?
The ceremony was fantastic, but it still leaves a sour taste in my mouth, that, that kind of money is spent on such inane things, it's not just the olympics, I know that, but jesus, think about it, 9 million pounds per hour for a 3 hour show...

People are losing their jobs and being chucked out of their houses for crying out loud! Do we the little people benefit from this really? Not trying to start a economy/government war, it was just my thoughts when i found out how much money was spent, I personally found it disgusting.

Surely the main point of the Olympics is the events themselves? The athletes competing? When a country/countries people are dealing with an economy crisis such as we are at the moment, maybe it's best to pull in the reigns a bit, instead of trying to *show off* to other countries.

Would have been quite happy with a concert of some sort from British artists, that would probably have cost waaaay less than what we had

[Arganaut]

Lovely sarcasm!
Fact is though, the economy has been suffering for a long time, jobs have been cut too, remember the millenium dome fiasco?
The ceremony was fantastic, but it still leaves a sour taste in my mouth, that, that kind of money is spent on such inane things, it's not just the olympics, I know that, but jesus, think about it, 9 million pounds per hour for a 3 hour show...

People are losing their jobs and being chucked out of their houses for crying out loud! Do we the little people benefit from this really? Not trying to start a economy/government war, it was just my thoughts when i found out how much money was spent, I personally found it disgusting.

Surely the main point of the Olympics is the events themselves? The athletes competing? When a country/countries people are dealing with an economy crisis such as we are at the moment, maybe it's best to pull in the reigns a bit, instead of trying to *show off* to other countries.

Would have been quite happy with a concert of some sort from British artists, that would probably have cost waaaay less than what we had

That's a bit too simplistic though isn't it. As a Brit I'm very anti Olympic at the moment and so proud I went to watch Batman, but I think you under estimate how much an opening ceremony like this is designed to 'sell' your country. The 27 million should be seen as an investment to show the world what a great nation we are and inspire people to come visit and spend their monies here. Whether we see value for money, and whether folks actually come in another matter and only time will tell.

[PlatedPriest]

/cry
i just want to be able to watch it. none of my regular websites are putting it up.

[lizon]

Am I the only one semi-disappointed that the opening ceremony was not live for us to watch here in the United States? I have been looking forward to the London Olympics for quite sometime now, NBC, has the recordings but will be played at a later time, for commercial's to pay for the coverage... Personally I find it ridiculous that we will watch a swimmer get on the podium and grab gold, 5-8hrs after it happened!! I want to see it happen, I want to see history happen live, not delayed! Well just post your thoughts was it right of NBC.. Or do you personally find this stunt on their behalf ridiculous.

It was shown live on cable. For NBC it makes sence to time delay it to a more reasonable hour for when ppl are actually home.

Also time difference is pretty shitty for the states. Unless you want to be up at 3am to see stuff live you won't be missing much.

[Deleted]

Lovely sarcasm!
Fact is though, the economy has been suffering for a long time, jobs have been cut too, remember the millenium dome fiasco?
The ceremony was fantastic, but it still leaves a sour taste in my mouth, that, that kind of money is spent on such inane things, it's not just the olympics, I know that, but jesus, think about it, 9 million pounds per hour for a 3 hour show...

People are losing their jobs and being chucked out of their houses for crying out loud! Do we the little people benefit from this really? Not trying to start a economy/government war, it was just my thoughts when i found out how much money was spent, I personally found it disgusting.

Surely the main point of the Olympics is the events themselves? The athletes competing? When a country/countries people are dealing with an economy crisis such as we are at the moment, maybe it's best to pull in the reigns a bit, instead of trying to *show off* to other countries.

Would have been quite happy with a concert of some sort from British artists, that would probably have cost waaaay less than what we had

There were reports the other day that these games will turn a profit of £4billion. Take that with a pinch of salt obviously, but with a figure like that floating around you'd expect them to at least break even AND have the legacy stuff as profit.

[Soulstrike]

anyone else watch the beijing olympic ceremony after London "ceremony"?? lol

i liked the beijing one better but i gotta say Mr bean is awsome :P

[Fuzzzie]

So much for the Olympic concept of uniting the world when you only focus on your own country. Seriosuly when the canadian team paraded they missed like 5 other teams just to watch the canadian team walk all the way. To me the olympics is an international event. Too bad I don't really have the NBC version in my cable.

If you think NBC's coverage would be any less bias towards American athletes then you're mistaken. The NBC broadcast even cut chunks out of their broadcast to show interviews with American athletes while the event was going on. They even cut out a large tribute to terrorism victims for no reason. If national pride bothers you that much then read the coverage from the official website or something. I can't many people watching in Canada or the US or anywhere in the world are bothered by the fact that their home networks focus more attention on their athletes. Anything less just doesn't make sense.

[biglinhead]

Going to be honest here China had a way better opening ceremony. It was like something was missing from this one.

yes i have to admit the beijing olympic is really awesome!So many people work hard to perform the best olympic ceremony,the london olympic is also good,really like a big party,lol

[JustaBigBird]

ive only got to see highlights of it so far, and why the heck did we show off the NHS!?!

Well to be honest the NHS is actually something to be proud of considering the health service in other countries.

[conscript]

the fact that NBC owns right to olympic footage is stupid. the olympics isn't theirs, its everyone's

Tell that to the IOC that is charging them $2 BILLION dollars for their winning bid to host these Olympic games on US television.

I was pretty pissed about their decision to not even stream the opening ceremony like they are everything else (but the closing ceremony) as it happens live at nbcolympics.com. Today is a pretty good example of NBCs flawed policy of tape delayinig in the US. Lochte and Phelps face off for the 400IM gold medal today. That takes place at 2:46pm EST. It won't be televised until at least 8:00pm. That is just stupid. By that point everyone knows the result. If drama happened the cat is completely out of the bag. Hell by that point the IOC will have spent hours trying to stop people from uploading thousands of copies of the race to Youtube from the BBC channels. I realize that corporate advertising is what funds NBCs stupid decision to pay $2 billion for the games and end up losing about $1.3 billion of that due to being unable to sell enough ads for enough money, but they can't show it live and then in primetime also? They are only showing Olympic stuff on five freaking channels. Thanks for livestreaming it at least, but having absolutely no announcers for the vast, vast majority of the livestreamed events is just awful.

---------- Post added 2012-07-28 at 06:59 AM ----------

There were reports the other day that these games will turn a profit of £4billion. Take that with a pinch of salt obviously, but with a figure like that floating around you'd expect them to at least break even AND have the legacy stuff as profit.

Not having to build dozens of massive structures really helps in the profit department lol. Yay for having the games in places where infrastructure exists to support them and not in Beijing, Athens, South Africa(World Cup), etc. where the stadiums end up just rotting a month after the games end because they are totally useless.

[Deleted]

Glad I don't watch it on american tv. How does commercial breaks work in live sports that isn't regulated so it doesn't stop everytime there's an exciting moment?

[conscript]

Glad I don't watch it on american tv. How does commercial breaks work in live sports that isn't regulated so it doesn't stop everytime there's an exciting moment?

Depends on the sport. I don't watch a lot of MLS(any really) but for EPL games or international games there just are no breaks until halftime. Pretty much every other American sporting event has plenty of time for commercial breaks built in (in fact most of them have specific rules about where commercial breaks happen in accordance with time on the clock).

[Northern Goblin]

They even cut out a large tribute to terrorism victims for no reason.

Wait really? They cut out the 7/7 tribute?

[Fuzzzie]

Wait really? They cut out the 7/7 tribute?

aye. caused a big stir on twitter last night.