Media Guide, TV Notes, News and Listings For the Small Screen Options

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TV Notes

Compiled by Susan Wessling

Broadcasting Worlds in U.S. and Canada

Universal Sports has the television right in the United States for the 2010 World Championships, being held in Torino, Italy from March 22-28. On the plus side they will be showing the medal ceremonies as part of its event coverage. A negative: Not all service providers carry the station. Scroll down for the schedule. Another note: All coverage will be shown live on-line at www.universalsports.com.

In Canada, CBC has the rights for the event and has a comprehensive schedule (scroll down) on its main network and on Bold, is a Canadian English language digital cable specialty channel owned by CBC. CBCSports.ca is also broadcasting the event live online.

Lyscaek is Part of New Cast for 'DWTS'

Evan Lysacek is one of the new competitors on ABC hit show, "Dancing With the Stars." Interest peaked on Lysacek as a contender as soon as he won the Olympic gold medal in Vancouver. Cheryl Burke tweeted him the suggestion that he join the cast of the show.

Lysacek will dance with pro Anna Trebunskaya (who will be in her fifth season with the show). She was the runner-up with partner and football player Jerry Rice in the show’s second season. "I’m really excited to take on this new challenge,” Lysacek said. See our report.

Fun Quotes From the Stars in Vancouver

(Courtesy of Universal Sports)

NBC’s Scott Hamilton is always good for some interesting sound bites. After the men's event at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver he sat down with Al Michaels to share his thoughts. Men’s gold medalist Evan Lysacek also talked to Michaels about his victory.

Lysacek on his performance in the free skate: “I knew that I skated a winning performance for me. It was my absolute best on the Olympic stage, the most important moment of my life probably and that’s all I can possibly ask for.”

Lysacek on competing in Sochi in 2014 after beating a Russian: "I don't know if they're going to let me in the country now.”

Hamilton on Lysacek’s performance: “I’ll say this emphatically, he’s the best trained, the most conditioned athlete in that event and it showed up on the most important night it needed to. He skated beautifully. He did everything he needed to do.”

Andrea Joyce on Lysacek not crying: "(His coach) Frank Carroll has to stop telling his skaters not cry -- that's my bread and butter area!!"

Hamilton on Evgeni Plushenko (who took the silver medal) and “the quad” controversy: “He was rewarded for doing the quad triple combination. He’s the only guy in the world right now that can depend on that combination. It’s his greatest trick and it’s his best asset. It’s what he’s going to throw out in front of everybody and he’s absolutely right to do so.

“He’s absolutely right to say that the future of figure skating should be in the quadruple jumps. You need to raise the levels of competition. The ISU needs to think about that. But you know what? It’s figure skating. It’s about skating and it’s about the entire performance.

“That’s one thing that I think has been lost on him. You can’t do the same performance you did in Torino and expect to win four years later. The sport has evolved, and you’re showing up at a championship to compete under set rules and guidelines, and you don’t think they apply to you, generally, directly. I think that’s a problem.”

Jimmy Roberts, NBC Sports reporter and host of "Meet the Olympic Press" on Plushenko: "Figure skating is clearly in a state of transition. ... The most amazing thing to come out of ... the competition is that if Plushenko had just done one more jump, one that he could have done as a 12-year-old, he would have won. It's elementary. That's amazing."

Paul Wylie, 1992 Olympic slver medalist, on whether or not figure skating is advancing without a quad: "The sport of figure skating is advancing and the quad is very important, but it’s not just a one-jump competition."

Joyce: “When they miss the jump (the quad), the rest of their program falls apart. ... Had Plushenko finished that quad and got the extra point, I think people would have been shocked and booed (if Plushenko had won and Lysacek was judged the silver medalist).

Phil Hersh, Chicago Tribune reporter on Plushenko's reaction to getting silver: "I thought it was one of the worst displays of sportsmanship I've ever seen."

Joyce: “Plushenko did not congratulate Evan at all. But Evan gave Plushenko props.”

Hamilton on the future of men’s figure skating: “There a lot of guys whose description ended in ‘teen,’ and they’re phenomenal. Nineteen year olds who are doing extraordinary things under this system of judging. They’ll only get stronger and better.”

Dick Button on USA’s Davis and White: “I am marvelously impressed by with Davis and White. I thought their two performances [at the U.S. Championships], first the original and then the free dance, were just special and they just got to me. ... The performance they gave, the choreography of it, it was just mesmerizing.”

Michaels on ice dancing not being a sport: “You don’t need a penalty box for it to be a sport.”

Button: “You don’t need to slug somebody and knock them out. Although I must say, some of the Russians are trying to do that right now after the men’s singles skating. Don’t get me started on that."

(Below Section Posted Feb. 15th)

Universal Sports has been interviewing broadcaster, stars and their family members in their coverage. Earlier in the week, they convened to talk about several disciplines.

Peter Carruthers, 1984 Olympic pairs silver medalist and figure skating analyst (on the performance of Chinese pair skaters Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao): "They now have this show quality, they perform and that's so hard to do. It's all seamless. [It is] so masterfully choreographed. ... When you can watch something like that and get immersed in the performance. Wow! That's a home run."

Kristi Yamaguchi, 1992 Olympic gold medalist and figure skating analyst (on Mirai Nagusu): “She’s become the media darling of the Olympics. She’s a witty, young girl.”

Shawn Johnson, 2008 Olympic gymnastics gold medalist: “What is a death spiral (in figure skating)? Sounds like something you shouldn’t even try.”

Big Numbers Tune in for the Games' Opening Weekend

The 2010 Olympic Winter Games Opening Ceremony from Vancouver was the most-watched television event in Canadian history. CTV reported that 13.3 million viewers tuned in for the event.

Half of all Americans (152 million) watched the 2010 Olympic Winter Games on the networks of NBC Universal (NBCU) through the first seven days of the Games; six million more than watched the first seven days of the 2006 Winter Games (146 million) according to data available today from The Nielsen Company.

NBCU’s Thursday broadcasts were seen by 77 million total viewers, 14 million more than the first Thursday from the 2006 Games (63 million), on a night that faced original competition including "Survivor" on CBS and "Grey’s Anatomy" and" Private Practice" on ABC.

The 26.6 million average viewers for the first seven nights of the Vancouver Games is the most for a non-U.S. Winter Olympics since the 1994 Lillehammer Games (37.5 million). The 26.6 million is nearly six million more and 27 percent higher than the average viewership of the first seven nights from Torino in 2006 (20.9 million).

A night after defeating "American Idol" by 12 million viewers, Thursday night’s Olympic coverage (8-11:31 p.m.) drew 24.8 million viewers, more than five million more viewers and 28 percent higher than the first Thursday night of the 2006 Winter Games (19.4 million,.

Johnny Weir's World

Weir's reality show "Be Good Johnny Weir" airs Mondays at 10:30 p.m. The Sundance Channel original documentary series explores the life of one of America's most outspoken and colorful sports figures, three-time U.S. men's champion (2004, '05, and '06) and the 2008 World bronze medalist. Click HERE for more information from IFS including a link to an interview with Weir.

Check out the Sundance Channel website for some fun clips.

U.S. Championships Pulls in the Viewers

The 2010 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, held Jan. 14-24 in Spokane, Wash., drew a healthy TV audience, once again proving the sport has a large following in the United States.

Nearly 13.7 million viewers tuned in to NBC Sports' coverage of the 2010 U.S. Championships, the largest television audience for the event since 2003. In addition to the 13 hours of coverage on NBC, including four hours in primetime, Universal Sports featured 15 hours of coverage during the week of the championships, including seven live hours of senior-level competition in ladies, men's, pairs and ice dancing. The championships were carried on television in more than 125 countries and available to nearly 500 million homes worldwide.

NBC Sports’ final primetime rating for the ladies free skate Saturday, Jan. 23 was 3.4, 26 percent higher than in 2009. Saturday afternoon’s airing of the original dance, free dance and ladies short program received a final rating of 2.1, 17 percent higher than in 2009, and the primetime broadcast of the Smucker’s Skating Spectacular on Sunday, Jan. 24 earned a 2.5 final rating, 150 percent higher than the 2009 Smucker’s Skating Spectacular that aired in a 2:30-4:30 p.m. time slot. The three skating programs all produced higher network ratings than any of the weekend's nine other sporting events, except those of the two NFL conference championship games.

Photo above: The ladies podium at U.S. nationals: (from left) Mirai Nagasu (silver), Rachael Flatt (gold), Ashley Wagner (bronze),and Sasha Chone (pewter); photo by Jay Adeff

WWBBD? Cook Up a Season 2

Brian Boitano cooked up some good TV viewing with his new show "What Would Brian Boitano Make?" on the Food Network. The delicious show, shot in the 1988 Olympic champion's San Francisco home, received positive reviews from the experts and it seems was well received by audiences as well. Its off-the-wall humor and easy-to-follow recipes made for an entertaining show.

The show has been picked up for a second season. The new season began March 7. See our story.

NBC Extends Deal

Prior to the Grand Prix Series announcment, U.S. Figure Skating and NBC Sports had inked a deal to continue their partnership to broadcast Skate America and U.S. nationals through the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia. The agreement will ensure live primetime and afternoon coverage of the U.S. Figure Skating Championships as well as live afternoon coverage of Skate America, part of the ISU Grand Prix Series, for the next four years.

“The partnership with NBC has allowed figure skating fans to view numerous hours of live competition over the course of the last two years,” said Patricia St. Peter, president of U.S. Figure Skating. “The extension of this partnership again shows the dedication of both U.S. Figure Skating and NBC Sports to showcase this popular sport not just in an Olympic year but for the next four years.”

The partnership includes 12 hours of live event coverage on NBC Sports during the 2009-10 season, including live primetime coverage of the ladies free skate at the 2010 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Jan. 14-24, 2010, in Spokane, Wash. The 2010 Olympic Figure Skating Team will be determined at the conclusion of this event. Universal Sports, available in more than 56 million homes, will once again offer additional coverage and re-airs of Skate America and the U.S. Figure Skating Championships.

TV SCHEDULE

USA

March 2010

ON UNIVERSAL SPORTS

2010 World Championships

Tuesday, March 23 Pairs Short (4 p.m. and re-air at 9 p.m.)

Wednesday, March 24 Men's Short (live at 11 a.m. and re-air at 8 p.m.)
Pairs Free (live at 3:30 p.m. and re-air at 11 p.m.)

Thursday, March 25 Original Dance (live at 10 a.m. and re-air at 8 p.m.)
Mens Free (live at 4 p.m. and re-air at 11 p.m.)

Friday, March 26 Ladies Short (live at 11 a.m. and re-air at 8 p.m.)
Free Dance (live at 4 p.m. and re-air at 11 p.m.)

Saturday, March 27 Ladies Free (live at 10 a.m., re-airs at 8 p.m. and 11 p.m.)

CANADA
CBC Television

2010 World Figure Skating Championships

Tuesday, March 23 15:00-16:00 Local Compulsory Dance
00:00-01:00 Local Pairs Short

Wednesday, March 24 15:00-16:00 Local Mens Short
00:00-01:00 Local Pairs Free

Thursday, March 25 15:00-16:00 Local Original Dance
00:00-01:00 Local Mens Free

Friday, March 26 15:00-16:00 Local Womens Short
00:00-01:00 Local Dance Free

Saturday, March 27 14:00-16:00 ET Live Pairs Free, Mens Free and Dance Free
16:00-18:00 ET Live Womens Free

Sunday, March 28 15:00-17:00 Local Gala


Bold

2010 World Figure Skating Championships

Tuesday, March 23 07:00-11:30 ET Live Compulsory Dance
13:00-18:00 ET Live Pairs Short

Wednesday, March 24 04:30-13:00 ET Live Mens Short
13:30-14:00 ET Live Pairs Free Part One
15:00-17:30 ET Live Pairs Free Part Two
22:00-23:00 ET Pairs Free Encore
23:00-00:00 ET Mens Short Encore

Thursday, March 25 07:30-12:00 ET Live Original Dance
13:00-14:00 ET Live Mens Free Part One
14:30-18:00 ET Live Mens Free Part Two
22:00-23:00 ET Mens Free Encore
23:00-00:00 ET Original Dance Encore

Friday, March 26 04:00-12:30 ET Live Womens Short
13:00-14:00 ET Live Dance Free Part One
15:00-17:30 ET Live Dance Free Part Two
22:00-23:00 ET Dance Free Encore
23:00-00:00 ET Womens Short Encore

Saturday, March 27 07:30-08:30 ET Live Womens Free Part One
09:00-12:00 ET Live Womens Free Part Two
22:00-24:00 ET Womens Free Encore
Sunday, March 28 08:30-11:00 ET Live Gala
23:00-00:00 ET Gala Encore

Editor’s Note: Times are Eastern unless otherwise noted. Broadcast schedules are subject to change. Please check your local listings.

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The International Figure Skating (IFS) March/April 2010 issue -- featuring our Olympic coveraga) -- is available digital form in now available. The print issues hits newsstands in early April. To subscribe, click HERE?, email customerservice@madavor.com or call 800-437-5828. The digital issue costs $20 (U.S.) for a one-year, is free with a print subscription, and provides access to BACK ISSUES posted online.