Maybe it’s the baby boomer in me. With narrowcasting having taken firm hold, a part of me still missed the mass shared experience that used to rule the days when there were but three major television networks.
Nonetheless, there are those increasingly rare events that bring us back to an almost single audience orientation–the Super Bowl, of course, and most recently the Summer Olympics. These television events represent precious gold for the right advertisers. The Super Bowl and the Olympics carry ever-escalating price tags for ad time but it’s a premium which many are glad to pay in order to sponsor a mega-TV event during an era when audience fragmentation is the norm.
Indeed the Olympics and the Super Bowl seem to bring us closer together whether it be feelings of patriotism relative to our country’s performance in the former or plain, good old-fashioned water cooler talk the day after about the happenings at either event.
Yet rather than a warm glow, NBC’s coverage of the Games left me cold. Yes, we still reveled in the performance of the world’s athletes and the emotions they stirred in us. But it was what we didn’t see or hear much about–and the time during which we got to see the events themselves–which proved troubling. Indeed look what NBC did (particularly to those of us on the West Coast) when it regained the Nielsen-dominating power of yesteryear.
For one, there was no Michael Phelps live on air which would have been around 7 to 8 p.m. Los Angeles time. Instead broadcast of the swimming events was delayed three-plus hours. And while Phelps’ dominating performance may have killed much of the drama relative to the outcome of events in which he competed, any last vestige of suspense succumbed to NBC’s decision to tape delay in order to keep us watching well into the night. Even the Saturday evening when Phelps won his eighth Gold Medal was tape delayed out West. We thus lost the precious chance to witness history as it was being made because it was counter to NBC’s audience-building strategy.
And relative to what we didn’t see or hear much of, I find myself fondly reminiscing about Jim McKay, the great ABC sportscaster who became synonymous with the Olympics. We sadly lost McKay earlier this year and in Beijing we lost his journalistic spirit, one which would have put in more consistent, intelligent, poignant context the Tiananmen Square revolt without undermining the athletes and the spirit of the Games.
Last year the International Olympics Committee predicted that the Olympics in Beijing would be a force for good and spur on progress in human rights. Instead to keep a tight rein on its country’s image, the Chinese government on many reported occasions stepped up human rights abuse during the Games.
I think McKay would have shed more light on this. Instead NBC seemed content for the most part to play host to a celebratory coming out party for China.
Indeed we should be grateful that media has changed so that we’re no longer so dependent on but three major TV networks. NBC’s work at Beijing has stopped my waxing nostalgic about those good old days.
“Se7en” Turns 30, Gets A Special Restoration From David Fincher For Its Re-Release
For David Fincher, seeing “Se7en” in 4K was an experience he can only describe as harrowing. That or a high school reunion.
“There are definitely moments that you go, ‘What was I thinking?’ Or ‘Why did I let this person have that hairdo’?” Fincher said in a recent interview with The Associated Press.
He’s OK with the film being a product of its time in most respects. But some things just could not stand in high-definition resolution.
“It was a little decrepit, to be honest,” said Fincher. “We needed to resuscitate it. There are things you can see in 4K HDR that you cannot see on a film print.”
Ever the perfectionist, he and a team got to work on a new restoration of the film for its 30th anniversary re-release. This weekend the restored “Se7en” will play on IMAX screens for the first time in the U.S. and Canada, and on Jan. 7, the 4K UHD home video version will be available as well.
The dark crime thriller written by Andrew Kevin Walker and starring Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman as a pair of detectives looking for a serial killer was somewhat of a career-reviver for Fincher, whose directorial debut “Alien 3” had not gone well. “Se7en” was not a sure thing: It was made for only $34 million (and only got that when Fincher managed to persuade studio execs to give up $3 million more). But it went on to earn more than $327 million, not accounting for inflation, and continues to influence the genre.
Fincher has over the years overseen several restorations of the film (including one for laser disc) but decided this needed to be the last. It’s why he insisted on an 8K scan that they could derive the 4K from. He wanted to ensure that it wouldn’t have to be repeated when screens get more... Read More