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Must Watch: Olympics Opening Ceremony PDF Print E-mail
Written by Arya Ponto   
Sunday, 10 August 2008

According to the Nielsen Media Research, the 2008 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony was the most watched Olympic Opening Ceremony by American audiences that was not held in a U.S. city. So chances are many of you had already watched the ceremony when it aired on NBC Friday night. So why am I posting it here, on JustPressPlay?

The answer is the same as the reason why I watched it in the first place, despite my lack of interest in athletic competitions: because the ceremony was directed by none other than Chinese film director Zhang Yimou (Hero, House of Flying Daggers). As Matt Lauer put it, Zhang was creating a blockbuster film live on the Olympics stage. The creativity in the ceremony was nothing short of amazing, and stood against his screen accomplishments.

For those of you who missed it, NBC has made the event available to watch on high definition video online for free. Even with the commercials and downtime cut out, the video is still an hour long, so clear up your schedule and grab some potato chips.

Watch it here, and be stunned.

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August 11, 2008, Lightbulb said:

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 NBC seems to be more concerned about blocking broadcasts from other countries, not because of their right, but to avoid Americans seeing the editing that NBC took the liberty of doing to the Opening Ceremony.

After comparing with the BBC broadcast, it is clear NBC discarded certain images of the artistic presentation of the event. At least one of those images was clearly political. The delayed broadcast on Friday night, a blatant act of commercialism, outraged thousands of Americans. However, should this broadcasting company be made to answer about the censorship it imposed on 260 million Americans?
The Olympics are a legitimate news event. Should we expect the same altering of the Closing Ceremonies?
 

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August 11, 2008, Barbara graetzer said:

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 I agree. What the media does here in the US is ridiculous!
Not to mention that they decided to postpone its transmission to a later time of the day so they can get better rating… instead of broadcasting it live at 8am. So basically, they had 12 hours to do whatever they wanted to the video, and of course, to manipulate it.
 

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August 11, 2008, Lex Walker said:

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 you're not seriously complaining about American media in this sense are you? Of all the things to take issue with you're choosing 1)delaying for broadcasting 2) editing?

1) I can't even believe you're talking about this. Of course NBC postponed the largest sporting event of the summer. Thanks to putting off the start to the truly stupid date of 08/08/08 they missed the "Summer viewing" window where people might actually be off from work to view it at 8am. Hell, even if it were summer hours - who the f**k is waking up at 8am to watch the Olympic opening ceremony?!? I mean honestly? How many Americans knew the opening ceremony would be such a spectacle this year? Few, if any. I work in a film office - and if anyone's going to be talking about a legendary Chinese director choreographing the opening ceremony - it would have been here. Punching it back 12 hours helped countless Americans see the ceremony, because who would have sought it out online after an 8am broadcast?

2) My God. Do you have any idea the level of censorship countries like Iran have? Or hell, even European countries censor. What do American networks censor? A few swears (the number of which are declining as viewer desensitization increases). I can't believe you're getting inflamed over a few edits of political message.

Unfortunate that they did so? Sure. Criminal? Hardly. We have the freest media in all the world. We can have sex, violence and drug use where other countries will edit it out. NBC decided to cut out a political barb among the glorious flower of the Olympic opening ceremony; rest a*sured that among the rest of the world - you still count among the most liberal in entertainment standards.

So forgo your indignation. Quit acting like your civil liberties have been raped by an American propaganda machine.
 

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August 11, 2008, _JC_GUEST_NAME said:

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 I love the opening cerimonies but where can i watch it? i didn't see the whole thing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! smilies/sad.gif
 

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August 11, 2008, russ said:

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 hii didnt see beijingopening ceremony where on cabl;e tv is it poible to veiw ie virgin tv, thx
 

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August 12, 2008, Paul said:

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 Hi,

My problem is that international viewers cannot watch the NBC highlights unless they provide a US zip code and cable provider. That is STUPID. I thought the internet was international.
 

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August 12, 2008, Jason Craig said:

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 That's a stupid way of restricting things as they can just get a quick list or guess.

A better way to do it would have been to IP check.

Still can't see a reason either way 'why' though.
 

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