Did you watch Friday night’s opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics?

How much do you intend to watch?

NBC approaches telecasts of these Winter Olympics walking on eggs. They are already estimating a drop of about 25% from the ratings of the last Winter Olympics. Other networks, which during the Winter Olympics usually show reruns of reruns of reruns, refuse to do that this year. Believing that the Winter Olympics are vulnerable as a TV product, the rest of the TV world is running its top shows head to head with the half pipers, cross country skiers and skeletoners.

In its desperate attempt to beef up their winter product, the Olympics (and TV) have over the last few years shoved more and more obscure sports into the competition. They believed this would result in more and more of the X-Game types watching their telecasts. That may have been a significant mis-judgement. The telecasts now seem fairly crowded with bizarre sports that once you seen them a few times do not have a long television shelf life.

There will still be significant pomp and ceremony. But somehow America just may never get into hooded people who’s faces you can’t see skiing down Italian mountains while they fire guns.

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