VIEWER’S GUIDE

Some of the 140 profiles and special features NBC prepared for its Olympic coverage are well done and informative. Some are, well. . . .

One of the better profiles was aired before Monday’s women’s 800 meters. It featured Cuba’s Ana Quirot and her struggles after a terrible kitchen-fire accident. She ended up winning the silver medal.

NBC’s next vignette deserves a gold medal for silliness. It dealt with the maligned and exiled Olympic mascot Izzy, whose role was greatly reduced because of media criticism.

What this feature did was allow Bob Costas to get a lot of corny lines out of his system.

“The Olympic mascot hasn’t been Izzy to find,” said Costas. “Izzy shy, Izzy injured? Did Izzy fail a drug test?”

And, “What Izzy, the world wondered?”

And, “All over Atlanta people are asking, Izzy here, Izzy there, where Izzy, where Izzy, where is he?”

Good thing Izzy doesn’t have a more prominent role. The Izzy lines could become insufferable.