2/19/2006: Crackling good TV
One of the best treats of these Olympics is an hour-long show that airs daily on the USA Network called "Olympic Ice" that focuses on figure skating & ice dancing. It's hosted by Mary Carillo, an unusual he-she who knows very little about skating, but don't let that put you off: co-hosts and regular guests include gold medalists Dick Button, Scott Hamilton, and Jamie Salé & David Pelletier, along with superstar pairs coach Tamara Moskvina and big name skating guests daily.
Each day's show features analysis of the previous night's skating (if any) along with previews of what's coming up, but they have a lot more in-depth info & back-stories than NBC's primetime coverage offers us, and they do it with a sense of humor. They also show us some of the practice sessions for what's coming up, and the practice rink often serves as the backdrop for their pieces. They tell us what and who to watch for, and let us know who might do better or worse than expectations.
But they don't just reel off names on this show. Today's installment for instance highlighted the upcoming ice dance competitions, and to illustrate what ice dance is about they showed British champs Jane Torvill & Christopher Dean's entire "Bolero" piece from the Sarajevo games, including the unprecedented slate of perfect 6 scores that followed it. Sadly, they told us not to expect another Torvill & Dean in the next few days of ice dance at Torino, and lamented the fact that there would probably never be another Torvill & Dean.
The show's guests today were 1956 silver and 1960 gold medalist Carol Heiss, and "flamboyant" Johnny Weir who won silver the other night. "Olympic Ice" came closest to coming right out and saying what everyone thinks and no media will say out loud by titling his segment "Weir Eye for the Skate Guy" - it was about skating costumes. They talked about the trends, the ridiculousness, and the outright horrible ideas some of these skaters have when choosing what to wear.
One of the best things about the show is Dick Button. The guy who said on NBC that Russian medalist Evgeny Plushenko won because his "bamboozling arms" distract the judges takes it further on "Olympic Ice" by saying things like "figure skaters need to expand their horizons beyond Puddlepoop, America." There's also a daily feature called "Push Dick's Button" where viewers send questions to the two-time Olympic gold medalist. The questions are predictably inane, but his answers are hilarious. One viewer asked him what a "rusty hoot" is, which sent Button into hysterics.. he couldn't even speak.
Even though they don't have the broadcasting experience and expertise that Button & Hamilton do, Pelletier & Salé are a great addition to the show. They're the Canadian pair who were at the center of the judging scandal in Salt Lake City that caused the entire skating judging system to be overhauled. They called all that "the poop upstairs" on "Olympic Ice" and have added a fresh perspective and lots of inside info about intricate skating moves as well as the politics and personalities involved.
Toward the end of each show former Russian skater Tamara Moskvina offers a kooky 60 second piece based on some theme of the day. She coached half the Russian pairs to victory over the years but you'd never expect her to have the sense of humor she does. Her delivery is dry and deadpan, but her wit is funny as hell and she really grows on you. For instance, for the Valentine's Day show she told us about how she used to tutor her skaters to pretend they were in love on the ice - even if they were fighting or hated each other - as that was what judges and audiences really want to see when watching pairs.
