JA
And I can't hear that without remembering that Long John Baldry was Dr Robotnik in the 90s Sonic The Hedgehog cartoon!
TI
Agreed about First Steps. Having gone to the bother, and expense, of creating a 7 minute epic I'd have thought they might have used it for a number of subsequent Games. I was very surprised it didn't turn up in any Team GB medal montages this year either.
Also agreed about Tokyo. Whilst I'd like to hear First Steps again I'd also be interested to see if they use this again, the first iconic BBC Olympic theme:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fw1mgjrXZ0c
......
A bit OT, but a question that's stuck in my mind. I've Googled thus but with no consistent answer. In my memory this was the theme for the BBC Olympic coverage in 1968: Long John Baldry "Mexico". Was this really the BBC's theme or am I imagining it?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mewVvHdtm2Q
This video seems to suggest otherwise:
A small point really but it's a shame the BBC's theme music was so poor this year, nothing like as good or memorable as what they had for Athens, Beijing or London. I'd be tempted to say the BBC should use First Steps for every Olympics like NBC always uses the John Williams theme, except I'm interested in hearing what they come up with for Tokyo.
Agreed about First Steps. Having gone to the bother, and expense, of creating a 7 minute epic I'd have thought they might have used it for a number of subsequent Games. I was very surprised it didn't turn up in any Team GB medal montages this year either.
Also agreed about Tokyo. Whilst I'd like to hear First Steps again I'd also be interested to see if they use this again, the first iconic BBC Olympic theme:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fw1mgjrXZ0c
......
A bit OT, but a question that's stuck in my mind. I've Googled thus but with no consistent answer. In my memory this was the theme for the BBC Olympic coverage in 1968: Long John Baldry "Mexico". Was this really the BBC's theme or am I imagining it?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mewVvHdtm2Q
This video seems to suggest otherwise:
JA
If that's the same clip that's on TV Ark, then TV Ark says it was taken from Frank Bough's final Grandstand, and they overlaid the old Grandstand theme over the original music.
http://www2.tv-ark.org.uk/sport/bbc_olympics.html
http://www2.tv-ark.org.uk/sport/bbc_olympics.html
TI
Ah right, wasn't aware of that.
If that's the same clip that's on TV Ark, then TV Ark says it was taken from Frank Bough's final Grandstand, and they overlaid the old Grandstand theme over the original music.
http://www2.tv-ark.org.uk/sport/bbc_olympics.html
http://www2.tv-ark.org.uk/sport/bbc_olympics.html
Ah right, wasn't aware of that.
GE
From the Guardian, a rather funny, and thankfully more tongue-in-cheek, review of Inverdale's 'antics' and the BBC's Rio coverage in general.
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/aug/22/john-inverdale-the-bbcs-biggest-olympic-fails
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/aug/22/john-inverdale-the-bbcs-biggest-olympic-fails
TC
Long John Baldry's "Mexico" was theme for ITV's Olympic coverage in 1968; the BBC used Helmut Zacharias' "Mexico Melody"
BR
I think that up until the 90s that the regular weekend editions of Grandstand retained the Grandstand theme during the Olympics, even if they only showed action from the games.
If that's the same clip that's on TV Ark, then TV Ark says it was taken from Frank Bough's final Grandstand, and they overlaid the old Grandstand theme over the original music.
http://www2.tv-ark.org.uk/sport/bbc_olympics.html
http://www2.tv-ark.org.uk/sport/bbc_olympics.html
I think that up until the 90s that the regular weekend editions of Grandstand retained the Grandstand theme during the Olympics, even if they only showed action from the games.
SP
Wasn't there a Winter Olympics which used the Olympic Grandstand branding (which really needs to be brought back, btw) with Pop Goes Bach, the Ski Sunday signature tune? Felt like a bit of a lazy cop out but it worked.
BR
They were using the Ski Sunday tune up until the 2006 Olympics. For Vancouver 2010 it was Cry me a River and then something completely forgetable for 2014.
Absolutely agree about the Olympic Grandstand branding - if they can bring back Top of the Pops at Christmas every year they can bring back the Grandstand branding for BBC Sport's showcase event - it's always been a bit lost without it to be honest.
Absolutely agree about the Olympic Grandstand branding - if they can bring back Top of the Pops at Christmas every year they can bring back the Grandstand branding for BBC Sport's showcase event - it's always been a bit lost without it to be honest.
RK
Not sure if this is geoblocked but here's a glamour BTS shot of NBC's Olympic Effort. There were 2000+ employees (likely including hundreds from affiliates) in Rio and 1000 or more in Stamford. It took them two years of planning; 102 40 foot shipping containers; 120,000 tons of freight; more than 1000 cameras; 40,000 m of fiber optic cabling in the IBC; 132 HD streams sent back via fiber to Stamford ; 2700 monitors (wonder if it's physical monitors or monitors in a multi viewer); 1,800 TB of hard drive space (enough to hold 8.5 years of video storage ~ 75,000 of video); 31 EVS machines, and 52 edit rooms.
They also had Video a Descriptive service during Primetime and must say its a bit better than the coverage some of the analysts gave. I'm watching track and field recording right now and the VDS gives a bit more info.
http://www.nbcuniversal.com/article/behind-scenes-nbcs-2016-rio-olympic-games-coverage
They also had Video a Descriptive service during Primetime and must say its a bit better than the coverage some of the analysts gave. I'm watching track and field recording right now and the VDS gives a bit more info.
http://www.nbcuniversal.com/article/behind-scenes-nbcs-2016-rio-olympic-games-coverage
NG
They also had Video a Descriptive service during Primetime and must say its a bit better than the coverage some of the analysts gave. I'm watching track and field recording right now and the VDS gives a bit more info.
http://www.nbcuniversal.com/article/behind-scenes-nbcs-2016-rio-olympic-games-coverage
Is VDS the equivalent of the UK 'Audio Description' service - where action is described for the visually impaired?
* EDIT - it's not geoblocked to the UK. Just watched it - and it appears VDS is Audio Description *
Also - an interesting contrast to the UK. The BBC also do a huge amount of work on the Olympics, with their own control rooms and studios, and split working between the host nation and the UK operation. However producing such a 'puff' piece would be a major issue here - as the Daily Mail would instantly start questioning why the BBC didn't just send two people and an iPhone to cover it...
noggin
Founding member
They also had Video a Descriptive service during Primetime and must say its a bit better than the coverage some of the analysts gave. I'm watching track and field recording right now and the VDS gives a bit more info.
http://www.nbcuniversal.com/article/behind-scenes-nbcs-2016-rio-olympic-games-coverage
Is VDS the equivalent of the UK 'Audio Description' service - where action is described for the visually impaired?
* EDIT - it's not geoblocked to the UK. Just watched it - and it appears VDS is Audio Description *
Also - an interesting contrast to the UK. The BBC also do a huge amount of work on the Olympics, with their own control rooms and studios, and split working between the host nation and the UK operation. However producing such a 'puff' piece would be a major issue here - as the Daily Mail would instantly start questioning why the BBC didn't just send two people and an iPhone to cover it...
Last edited by noggin on 27 August 2016 11:26am