The pain at NBC

We were not big fans of the National Broadcasting Company's (NBC) televised coverage of the recent summer Olympics from China which relied on "experts" like Chris Collingsworth -- a former football player, for goodness sakes -- and some tired anchors whose names I won't publicize any further. Oh, and then there were the old and tired camera angles used while broadcasting the women's and men's marathons... Let's see, there was the camera in front of the pack, the camera at the back and the helicopter shot that made Beijing look like nothing more than downtown Los Angeles/Burbank.

Just two cameras were used during the track and field events. One camera was placed in front of the runners and the other was placed at the side of the track. Gosh, that was so interesting and so 1950s-like.

But NBC hasn't gotten the expected bounce from that coverage. Instead, its fortunes seemed to have waned as reflected in these comments -- from the last two days -- from two different print media sources. First, USA Today wrote on Tuesday about, "NBC, a network that can't borrow a good idea to save its soul." Today, the San Francisco Chronicle noted the foolishness of having in 2004 promised Conan O'Brien -- originally hired as nothing more than a tall comedy writer -- Jay Leno's job in 2009. But the network did and recently attempted to salve this wound by giving Leno a 5-day a week 10:00 p.m. slot. The Chronicle noted that this agreement degrades both O'Brien's value and that of "The Tonight Show," as Leno should retain the clout to host the very best guests and hire the best writers. Agreed.

But the Chronicle did not stop there. It went on to state, "NBC executives can't program. Period. The network... slid from first to fourth and can't create or sustain hits. Despite a relentless marketing campaign around the Summer Olympics, NBC's fall programming imploded, its midseason offerings are not generating any excitement, and it just lost five hours of prime-time programming. Ladies and gentlemen, meet the (winless) Detroit Lions of broadcast television."

So what are the odds that Rick Wagoner will bolt from General Motors to lead NBC? It'll be an oh-so short flight from Detroit to beautiful downtown Burbank's Bob Hope Airport on a luxury leased jet.