Olympics Coverage: No Medals

“Olympics Scrambles to Bridge Generation Gap” (Jan. 27) was no surprise to me. I am 31 years old, and my interest in the Olympic Games has been lacking for the past 10 years, but not for the reasons you listed. I am frustrated every time I turn on the TV during the Olympics to be treated to figure skating or gymnastics. There are other sports and, believe it or not, people want to see them.

Most young people today do not relate to the drama and competition of the Olympics because they are not able to see much of the competition. There is a lot to be said about watching a sporting event live, from beginning to end, versus seeing continual highlights.

If only NBC could take advantage of today’s technology and utilize many more channels to show more events live. The more NBC takes away from the true athletics going on at the Games, the more it takes away from the true Olympic spirit of competition and from young people’s understanding of what the Games are all about. Stop the circus and show the Games.

Alex Benoliel

Lakewood

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One aspect you did not visit regarding the decline in Olympic viewership is that it has become unbearable to watch because of the amount of commercials. Every five minutes we’re taken away to a commercial break. I never thought I’d say this, but it’s worse than the NFL broadcasts. I wouldn’t be surprised if you found a steady increase of commercials per hour correlating with the decline in viewership.

Richard Davey

Temecula

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I can’t believe that Olympic organizers cannot figure out why the Games are considered irrelevant. Network television has destroyed young viewer interest by packaging the show strictly for prime time. The main events are heavily advertised at the beginning of the evening, when the sappy human-interest stories are shown in an effort to trap viewers into wasting their entire evening. By the time the marquee events come on--around 11 p.m.--the young people (and a lot of older ones) have given up.

We’ve tried to keep our kids interested by videotaping, but after a while the tapes just pile up going unwatched. It is so stupid and arrogant of the so-called “savvy marketers” to think that throwing in the Dixie Chicks and LeAnn Rimes will bring the people back. Kids watch the X Games because they are on during a convenient time period!

Chip Gulley

Tustin