Super Bowl most watched TV show in United States ever

SECOND UPDATE: The Super Bowl drew the largest U.S. audience in the history of American television, CBS reports. The CBS telecast of the New Orleans Saints’ 31-17 victory over the Indianapolis Colts had a viewership of 106.5 million, topping the previous record of 106 million for the finale of M*A*S*H in 1983. For the telecast, CBS earned a “fast national rating” (which is a more comprehensive measurement than the overnight ratings) of 45.0 (percentage of U.S. households tuned in, bettering last year’s rating of 42.0 by 7 per cent (Pittsburgh-Arizona).

UPDATE: CBS earned a 46.4 overnight rating for the Super Bowl (New Orleans Saints 31-17 over Indianapolis Colts). That’s the highest overnight rating in 23 years (New York Giants-Denver Broncos, 1987, CBS, 47.8). A rating is the percentage of potential U.S. households tuned in. The CBS rating is up 10 per cent over last year’s 42.1 (Pittsburgh-Arizona).

CBS’s Super Bowl coverage was much like the game itself: Well played, occasionally exciting and, except for an interception, largely error free.

   The telecast may have focused too much on Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning, but he really was the story going into the game and for most of it, despite throwing an interception late and losing to the New Orleans Saints.

  The production: CBS’s 50 cameras were used effectively for the most part. Nothing was missed, although the overhead Cablecam was over-used.  It helped the telecast that CBS posts the time clock on the screen, allowing the viewer to see how close to the edge Manning was operating with the no-huddle offense.  In the fourth quarter, CBS’s replay cameras gave us a good look at the disputed two point conversation that was given to  the Saints in a review. The  fast SuperVision cameras didn’t bring anything exceptional to the telecast.

Announcer Jim Nantz: He delivered a solid, unobtrusive play by play that never got in the way of the action on the field. His call is clear and straight-forward. He was criticized, correctly, for doing a commercial earlier in the season with Manning. It left the impression that he’s a pal of Manning and may favour him in the game telecasts. Several times he referred to Manning as “Peyton,” although he never called Saints quarterback Drew Brees “Drew.” But Manning ranks among the few athletes whose first name is enough, like Kobe, A-Rod or LeBron.

   Nantz described most of the big moments well and with few words. When the Saints succeeded in their on-side kick, he said simply and accurately, “What a fearless way to start the second half.”

 Phil Simms: He doesn’t criticize and rarely expresses an opinion, which makes his game analysis somewhat soft and uninteresting. When Colts receiver Pierre Garcon dropped a perfectly thrown ball in the second quarter, Simms didn’t attempt to discuss why or say something like, “You’ve got make those catches in the big games.” Nantz stepped in to say the dropped ball was a “momentum changer, perhaps.”

   Still, Simms’s strength is his analysis. He noted the Colts defense hadn’t faced a passing offense like the Saints’ for several weeks – the Jets and Ravens in the post-season didn’t pass much. He also got it right late in the first half when he predicted that New Orleans would go for the touchdown with fourth and one at the Saints one yard line. In advance of the Saints being stopped, he stated that going for the TD was the wrong decision, that  they should kick the field goal.

Studio analysts: Loud, irritating and often stupid.

Halftime show: No, you weren’t watching Saturday night entertainment at the home, but the Who is looking a little old. Still, Roger Daltrey’s voice is holding up pretty well. (He’s 65.) The show, featuring a medley of hits, wasn’t in the same league as Bruce Springteen and the E Street Band a year ago, but the Boss delivered the best the Super Bowl halftime entertainment ever.

The Burke story

 It’s worth wondering what U.S. television will do with the death of Toronto Maple Leaf general manager Brian Burke’s son, Brendan, particularly during the Winter Olympics, when Burke will be front and centre as manager of the U.S. men’s hockey team.

   Who knows how mawkish this story might get. We saw a bit of it Sunday in Toronto where The Toronto Star headline read, “Leafs win one for Brendan,” and the headline on The Globe and Mail online edition read, “Leafs win one for Brian Burke.”

  The Star, by the way, posted the following when the news of Brendan’s death in an automobile accident broke: “Brendan Burke – the gay son of Leaf general manager Brian Burke – has been killed in a car accident in Indiana.” It was eventually changed to: “Brendan Burke – the youngest son of Leaf general manager Brian Burke – has been killed in a car accident in Indiana.”

  Unfortunately, this story is red meat for a tabloid producer. Just imagine the maudlin pieces that could surface during the Olympics: Burke wants to win one for son. Brian perseveres despite  family grief . The tragic story of Brendan and Brian, the son comes out at Thanksgiving, Brian supports him and then this.

   Let’s hope the Olympic networks show restraint.

• Couldn’t agree more with Hockey Night In Canada’s Don Cherry: Steve Stamkos deserves a spot on the Canadian Olympic team. Grapes pointed out that over the past 82 games, Alex Ovechkin leads in the NHL with 54 goals, followed by Sidney Crosby with 49. And in third place? Stamkos, with 47 goals. Canada, which always seems to struggle offensively in high level international events, could use his goal scoring.
• Hockey Night’s Mike Milbury had it right to rap Atlanta Trasher general manager Don Waddell for his handling of the Ilya Kovalchuk deal. How can you not allow an interested team access to Kovalchuk to see if he’ll sign long term? If an understanding had been reached, his value would have gone up.

VANOC’s Olympic size PR gaffe

  I wasn’t planning to do a second piece on the CTV-Rogers/VANOC torch relay fiasco, but reader interest in the previous blog deserves a follow-up.

  Let’s begin by saying the omission of Olympic gold medal winner Kerrin Lee-Gartner from the relay isn’t the only dumb move made by the CTV-Rogers Olympic consortium and VANOC. Consider Debbi Wilkes, whom sources say was surprised and disappointed when she was overlooked.

   And why wouldn’t she be? Wilkes has been involved in figure skating most of her life. She won a silver medal for Canada at the 1964 Winter Games. She’s been a coach and is employed by Skate Canada as director of marketing and sponsorship. And, for years she was a skating analyst for CTV, the company that handed out torch relay spots to TV personalities such as Ben Mulroney and Tanya Kim of CTV-owned eTalk.

   I won’t go to any length in reiterating my disagreement with broadcasters and journalists carrying the torch, except to say it is a conflict of interest — not so much for the Barbies and Kens like Kim and Mulroney, but for people who are real journalists such as Stephen Brunt of The Globe and Mail and Brian Williams, CTV’s prime time Olympic host.

   My point is this: How can you participate in a marketing campaign for the Olympics , which is what the torch relay is, and then be perceived as someone who will give you an objective and independent assessment of the Olympics?

   The answer is you can’t. This has become a public relations disaster for VANCOC and CTV-Rogers. And it easily could have been averted as soon as the bad press started in October. The mistake could have been admitted and a selection system implemented for worthy torch bearers, beginning with former medal winning Canadian Olympians. (There hasn’t been that many.)

   But, typical of big media companies and bureaucracies, they arrogantly ignored the criticism and went ahead with their ridiculous marketing strategy of getting their own people out before the public, torch in hand.

   How many extra readers to you think will buy the Globe during the Olympics because Brunt, as well as columnists Gary Mason and Roy MacGregor participated in the relay? And how many additional viewers do you think CTV’s Olympic coverage will receive because Williams, Michael Landsberg of CTV-owned TSN and others ran with the torch? To both questions, the answer is zero or close to it. And how much ill will has this controversy produced? A huge amount.

   Pot luck for Olympic singer

 Beginning next week, you will hear the CTV Vancouver Olympic theme song, I Believe, a lot.

   The network will use it to introduce its pre-opening ceremony telecast next Friday. And for the next two weeks it will be heard daily on the broadcasts. Written by Alan Frew and sung by Montreal’s Nikki Yanofsky, it’s been getting raves.

   But, Yanofsky, a 15 year old jazz/pop phenom, almost didn’t get the gig, despite Frew writing the song specifically for her. Instead, CTV wanted to use a big name, Celine Dion or Alanis Morissette.

   It’s not clear what happened to Dion, but Morissette was clearly in the picture, despite Keith Pelley, the head of the CTV-Rogers Olympic production, and Frew pushing hard for Yanofsky.

  But then came November and the minor problem of Morissette deciding to tell the world that she enjoys smoking marijuana. And that she feels it improves her creativity. Oops. CTV dropped her like a pot, er, hot potato. The job went to Yanofsky.

  Here is the song:

  Winning gold for Canada

 Sports Illustrated’s Olympic edition in Canada has Sidney Crosby on the cover dressed in his Canadian hockey gear.

  SI predicts Canada will finish second to the Germans in the overall medal count, winning gold in men’s and women’s hockey.

 Germany, 35 medals (11 gold, 11 silver, 13 bronze; Canada, 30 medals (10 gold, 11 silver, nine bronze); United States, 27 medals (seven gold, 10 silver, 10 bronze).

  The magazine has Canada also winning gold medals in women’s curling (the men get a silver); moguls (Jennifer Heil); men’s parallel giant slalom (Jasey-Jay Anderson); snowboard cross (Maeli Ricker); women’s long track speed skating, 1,000 meters (Christine Nesbitt); team pursuit; men’s short track, 500 meters, (Charles Hamelin).

 NBC still tape delaying

  It has always amazed me that an American network broadcasting to the largest English language market in the world would deny its viewers live coverage of some of the biggest sporting events in the world.

 But, that’s what NBC has been doing for years with its Olympic coverage – holding back telecasts of the big competitions until they could be aired, tape delayed, in prime time.  There will be less of that in Vancouver because many of the gold medal events are scheduled for the evenings and that means prime time in North America.

   Still, consider Saturday, Feb. 13, Day 2 of the Games. The men’s downhill goes in the afternoon. CTV will show it live, but NBC will not.  American viewers will need to wait until the evening telecast to see the race.

  NBC does this to maximize revenue. It can promise advertisers, who pay a premium for prime time spots, a larger audience if an event isn’t available until prime time.  Still, the network is putting revenue ahead of coverage.

How VANOC snubbed Olympian Kerrin Lee-Gartner

  I’ve written periodically about CTVglobemedia’s moronic decision to have its journalists and broadcasters participate in the IOC torch relay. As a follow-up, I strongly recommend Randy Starkman’s Feb. 1 blog in The Toronto Star.

   Just to state my position: It is inappropriate for journalists to carry the Olympic torch, particularly those who will be in Vancouver covering the Games. It’s inappropriate because these people, by running with the flame, are participating in a marketing exercise that promotes a business enterprise, the Olympics, which they will be expected to objectively report on. How can you help hype an event one moment and then be expected to give an honest and independent assessment of it the next?

   By email a few months ago, Tom Jolly, the sports editor of The New York Times, told me his paper would never allow its journalists to carry the Olympic torch. The Globe and Mail obviously thought otherwise. It assigned several of its journalists to the relay. In total, CTVglobemedia, which owns the Globe and CTV, had 27 broadcasters and journalists running with the torch. One of them explained his/her feelings about it this way: He/she didn’t want to do it, but held his/her nose and got it done. “Luckily, there was nobody along the road to see me,” the person said.

  The only way participating in the relay can be justified journalistically – and even then it’s a pretty lame argument – is to do it to produce a first person account of the experience. But what makes the experience exceptional? You’re on a road, you’re carrying a torch, there may or may not be people along the way watching you, and then it’s over. Of the Globe’s writers, the only one who wrote about the experience, columnist Gary Mason, described it as “strangely wonderful.”

   There’s another reason why journalists should not be in the relay. They take spots away from more deserving people. As Starkman noted, Kerrin Lee-Gartner is the only Canadian to win the Olympic downhill event. It was in 1992 at Albertville. She’s from British Columbia, the province in which the Olympics are being held, and she lives in Calgary. She was an obvious choice to carry the torch, right? Well, no. She didn’t make the cut. But people such as CTV’s Ben Mulroney and Sandie Rinaldo did.

   After The Vancouver Sun ran a story reporting on the number of Olympians overlooked for the relay, VANOC head John Furlong contacted Lee-Gartner and said the organizing committee would try to fit her in for Feb. 11, the day before the start of the Games. He said he would get back to her on Jan. 29. He never did.

  So, there you go. Ben, Sandie and all the others get to carry the torch. A great Olympian gets fobbed off.

CTV Olympic host Brian Williams: “I can’t wait”

  After a four year absence, Brian Williams returns to the Olympics as host of CTV’s Vancouver prime time coverage.

   He says, if anything, his enthusiasm has increased. And, of course, Vancouver, as Canada’s first domestic Games in 22 years, will be special.

  “This is why I left the CBC,” he said in an interview. “I was very happy there. They treated me well. But, I’m 63 and I’m fortunately a young, healthy 63.

 “And to do the Games in my own country and then to do London in 2012, I’m very much looking forward to it.”

   Williams has spent months researching the Olympics and the international competitors, an assignment he says he enjoyed.

  “It’s something that fascinates me. I have an Olympic library at home and I’m always reading. I was a history major at school. And having done 12 Olympics, one tends to prepare for the next one.”

   Late last week, he checked into a Vancouver hotel which will be home until the Games are over. He is spending this week and next preparing for the two week coverage and particularly the telecast of the opening ceremony, which he will co-host with Lloyd Robertson of CTV News and former Olympian Catriona Le May Doan.

   As prime time host, he will be on the air daily from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. ET. The eight hour shift is necessitated by the time difference between the Pacific and Eastern zones.

 Two a.m. in the East, after all,  will be 11 p.m. in Vancouver, where live events will still be taking place.

   He says he thrives on the workload. And he raves about the quality of features CTV has produced.

  “I’ve just seen the essay to open the pre-ceremony show on Friday and it’s like nothing I’ve ever seen. It’s almost theatrical. The ‘I Believe’ song, which Alan Frew wrote and Nikki Yanofsky sings, really is special.”

  (The song is posted at the bottom of this piece.)

 Williams notes that features are particularly important to the Winter Games.

   “There aren’t that many events in the Winter Olympics. If, for example, alpine skiing goes down, you’d better be ready to dance, baby.”

   CTV’s telecast is expected to be more tightly scripted than what we’re used to seeing on the CBC. Keith Pelley, the head of the CTV-Rogers Olympics consortium, came away from the Beijing Olympics impressed by NBC’s structured coverage.

  Williams is more accustomed to working in a free wheeling, extemporaneous environment. He notes that a live production needs the flexibility to adjust quickly to breaking news.

  “I think what Keith wants to do is take the best from everybody,” Williams said. “CBC did a wonderful job at Beijing, NBC did too. Yes, there will some scripting.

 “But, listen, when you’re sitting there and the fur is flying, and you’re going live in 100 different directions, there is no time to script stuff.”

  There will be plenty of breaking news to report, regardless of whether the Canadian team lives up to expectations or not.

  A failure for Canada to win a medal on the first weekend will hurt CTV in terms of viewer enthusiasm and audiences for the first week. A gold medal would be a first for a Canadian athlete in a domestic Games. As Williams notes, the best Canada could do at Montreal in 1976 and Calgary in 1988 were silver medals.

  How will Canada perform?

  “I’m not saying Canada will win the most medals,” Williams said. “I’m hearing all kinds of weird predictions.

  “But I think 26 would be a great success. It could be higher. Certainly Canada has a shot at winning the overall medal totals.”

  Canadians won a record 24 medals at Turin, third behind Germany and the United States. So, a haul of 26 would mark an improvement of two.

  (Sports Illustrated predicts Canada will win 30, 10 of them gold, second to Germany, 35.)

  Whatever the count turns out to be, Williams says the Canadian athletes are insisting they will not be intimidated by playing in front of a home crowd.

   “The athletes I talk to say, no, they welcome competing at home,” he said. “There is a new confidence.

  “(Freestyle skier) Jennifer Heil, who could be Canada’s  first medal winner on Saturday, said to me, ‘We’re no longer happy to show up in the uniform. Canadians are now showing up with the attitude that we’re here to do our best and that will be good enough to win.’ ”

   A big part of Williams’ appeal and success over 40 years has been his snappy, emphatic commentary.

   Beginning in 1984 as the CBC’s host at the Los Angeles Summer Games, he has never been reluctant to express an opinion.

  He says some that attitude rubbed off from hanging out with veteran writers and broadcasters early in his career.

  In 1972, he was sent to Moscow to cover the second half of the Canada-Soviet Union Summit Series.

  He found himself mingling with some of the leading personalities in Canada’s sports media. This irreverent and occasionally unruly group included Jim Hunt of CKEY Radio in Toronto and Dick Beddoes of The Globe and Mail.

 “Those guys were my heroes,” Williams said. “If people wonder why I’m outspoken, it’s because of them.”

CTV and CBS sell out Super Bowl commercial time

  Both CBS and CTV have sold the full amount of their advertising time for Sunday’s Super Bowl, sources reported today.

  CTV sold out its ad inventory last week, although it held back several 30 second spots for network promotions, specifically for the Vancouver Olympics.

  If a company contacted CTV this week and offered to purchase a Super Bowl ad, CTV would be able to sell one of its in-house spots.

  Sources say CTV discounted Super Bowl commercials by 5 to 10 per cent from last year’s price of $110,000.

   In the United States, CBS announced this week that it had sold its Super Bowl ad inventory, which was fetching $2.5-million to $3-million for a 30 second spot.

  At this point last year, NBC, hit hard by the economic recession, had not sold out its Super Bowl ad time.

   Advertisers were drawn to this NFL championship game because of the large audience increases produced in the NFL regular season and playoffs.

   What’s more, the telecast has the marquee attraction of Peyton Manning of the Indianapolis Colts, the top quarterback in the NFL, participating in the game (Colts-New Orleans Saints).

   When CBS last week accepted the controversial anti-abortion ad by the social conservative group Focus on the Family, it was assumed the network was desperate for the  $2.5-million ad fee.

   Given that sales were brisk, that wasn’t the case. CBS, instead, simply made a poor decision by favouring one pressure group’s agenda over another.