Olympic Opening Ceremony

[crazylegs]

So, a question to all the non brits around. What were your thoughts on the opening ceremony, it made sense to me but then I'm British & 'got it'. Was it easy enough to follow for anyone else though?

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Personally I think the Olympics opening ceremonies are like a Super Bowl halftime show stretched out to five hours. This goes for every single Olympics.

I guess I followed the few parts I did watch fine, but then again the NBC commentators were explaining things.

[Slayer]

I taped most of it, but I did get the parts I saw last night. I taped the Canadian broadcast since it was live and not delayed like NBC so I'll see later if they explained, too, lol.

[AnaKhouri]

I didn't think it was difficult to follow at all. Here in the US there were announcers describing things (which was annoying because the husband and I know a bit about British history and just wanted them to shut up!). I quite enjoyed it. Rowan Atkinson was pure win, the dancing industrialists were fun and I never thought I'd hear Prodigy at an Olympic opening ceremony! My husband is a big fan of Underworld so he was very pleased that Danny Boyle used their music as he does for his movies.

[Greenday]

For the most part, I had no idea what was going on. I finally figured out what the heck was going on when they started with the industrial age but even then. I wasn't too impressed with this ceremony.

[42_42_42]

Opening Ceremony is always my favorite part. Then, I'm one of those weirdos who actually likes the parade of nations and will sit and watch that part from start to finish.

I thought this year's ceremony was terrific. Would have enjoyed it more if the stupid commentators had shut up. I'm an American, but I'm also the Anglophile daughter of an Anglophile mother, so I didn't need any explanations....except for the guy who's credited with the WWW, that I didn't know. Love that they incorporated the Tor! Wish they'd started earlier in the history. Would've loved to see a Boudicca, Arther/Merlin, Aelfred the Great, Chaucer, etc.

[Jester]

I taped it and watched it this morning, and thought it was extraordinarily well done. Knowing that it would be impossible to top what they did in Beijing four years ago, the producers went at it from a different angle, and it worked. I was very impressed.

I didn't think it was difficult to follow at all. Here in the US there were announcers describing things (which was annoying because the husband and I know a bit about British history and just wanted them to shut up!).

I don't know that much about British history, but I still found those announcers annoying as hell. I didn't mind so much that they would interject with some information from time to time, but there were so many times when there was no need for them to be speaking, and they'd be talking over some of the best parts, including the children's choir near the beginning. NBC, for the love of the sports gods, teach your announcers that they don't HAVE to be talking all the time! I wanted to duct tape their mouths shut!

I'm one of those weirdos who actually likes the parade of nations and will sit and watch that part from start to finish.

I was certain that I was going to fast forward through that part, but it drew me in, and I watched the entire thing. And the announcers (who never shut up) were right, it was about the fastest parade I've ever seen at the Olympics. Made it less dull than usual. Even learned a few things I didn't know before; and of course I paid special attention to the rum-producing nations I've become such a fan of over the last few years! LOL!

I was especially interested to see that there were four independent athletes in attendance. They seemed to be having a blast, too. (And one trains in my home state of Arizona, which was cool.)

All in all, I thought it was a job well done (other than the annoying NBC announcers--did I mention that they wouldn't shut up?). Well done, Britain!

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

I'm really thinking there should be an Olympics hosted in Wisconsin.

It'd be great! We'd skip over the whole "culture" thing (since most people here don't have a whole hell of a lot of it anyway) and go straight to the kegger. Two choices of things to wear: blaze orange and/or Packers gear. The Olympic torch would be used to grill brats. We'd fire up some polka music or the BoDeans and throw footballs around in the middle of the field.

Then we'd pass out drunk halfway into the parade of nations and sleep through the first three days of competition.

[dragon_wings]

I missed it (been woefully out of depth with the world for the past few days) but wish I had. Anyone know of a good online replay. I'm a huge anglophile and Harry Potter fan so I was pleased to find out they had a section with JK Rowlings and the huge Voldermort puppet thingie.

[Akasa]

Is there somewhere I can watch the Olympics online? BTW I'm exactly 12 hours behind England so live stream wouldn't work I'm sure.

[Kheldarson]

Try NBC.com. They've got the filming rights apparently.

And I enjoyed the opening, especially Her Majesty's entrance. Wish they'd been able to include a bigger bit for Doctor Who though *pouts* But I liked it just fine.

Agreeing about the commentators though. Although I had a more annoying issue. We had a storm front moving in, so guess what kept happening every 10 minutes or so?

[BlaqueKatt]

So, a question to all the non brits around. What were your thoughts on the opening ceremony, it made sense to me but then I'm British & 'got it'. Was it easy enough to follow for anyone else though?

it was censored in the US, we got more commercials, different music, and NBC decided the tribute to the 2007 bombing victims, and the couple second kiss were "offensive".

[fireheart]

For Aussies, Channel Nine/WIN have the broadcasting rights for the Olympics and have been doing mostly round-the-clock coverage (and unlike the last two olympics, they HAVE done some human interest stories, but they're for around 2-3 minutes and involve live interviews).

They are also broadcasting the Olympics on GEM, but not on GO for some reason.

[Kheldarson]

it was censored in the US, we got more commercials, different music, and NBC decided the tribute to the 2007 bombing victims, and the couple second kiss were "offensive".

What are you talking about? They showed the kiss when I was watching.

[MoonCat]

I thought it was pretty cool. I loved the history part of it, especially the marching suffragettes. If there was a mention of Doctor Who, I missed it. The book parts were good but how could they not include Tolkien?? Thought the torch was great! And so, so, soooo very glad that for once the American athletes weren't wearing stupid cowboy hats!!