Gonna go with the unpopular opinion here and defend Ryan Seacrest, who’s getting crushed over being named NBC’s new late-night Olympics host (Bob Costas will still man the big chair, assuming his eyes aren’t pink).
Seacrest, to me, is a lot like Joe Buck– people reflexively hate him because they’re supposed to or something, but fail to consider that he’s actually quite good at his job. Now, you may not like Seacrest’s job – hosting American Idol, a radio show, a show on E!, Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest Why Can’t They Just Rename The Show Already Come On, and more – but you have to separate that from his abilities. He’s supremely talented, especially as a live TV host. Anyone who’s ever watched American Idol – a live show with a massive audience with many moving parts (many of them amateurs) – knows that Seacrest can handle just about anything that comes his way. He takes direction in his ear while simultaneously giving direction with ease. He effortlessly handles gaffs, awkward moments and pacing missteps. So he’s well-equipped to host a live studio show like the one NBC back-bones its Olympics coverage with.
Yet, two of the most notable sports media critics dug into this one:
And Awful Announcing (not lead writer Matt Yoder):
Well, “internationally-acclaimed” is one way to describe Seacrest. He’ll have big shoes to fill, too; Carillo has done a stellar job of providing the late-night shows with their own flair in over the years while also contributing features for other parts of NBC’s coverage. She has an impressive journalistic reputation for her work with NBC, with HBO’s Real Sports, with CBS, with ESPN, and with Tennis Channel, and she hasn’t lost her fastball, either, earning our pick as one of the top-10 Olympic announcers from Sochi. Thus, it seems like an odd choice to replace a well-respected sports journalist with a plethora of Olympic experience (Carillo has covered nine Olympics, first doing skiing and tennis coverage and then shifting into more of a host role in 2004) with someone who’s best known for his work on E!, American Idol, his radio hosting, and “Dick Clark’s Rockin’ New Year’s Eve with Ryan Seacrest. Even the “trying to reach a younger demographic” idea doesn’t really work here; Carillo’s 58, but Seacrest is 40, so he’s hardly someone all those kids are identifying with.
First of all, fortunately or not, respected sports journalist is not as important as well-equipped to handle a live studio show broadcast to millions of people. NBC has long abandoned trying to cover the Olympics like they’re sports and instead embraces them as the entertainment product they are. We don’t care about swimming, track and field, or beach volleyball the other three years and 11 months of the cycle, so it’s hypocritical to argue that so-and-so violates the sanctity of cherished sports. The Olympics on NBC are entertainment. Compelling entertainment. Sports people love to hate their coverage, but in reality, it’s the best reality show around. That doesn’t mean the coverage is perfect – NBC often makes weird, self-serving decisions to the detriment of the viewer – but when they get it right, their format just works. [I wrote about this last year.]
Seacrest– he’s perfect for this sort of thing. And while he may be 40, that’s still a full 18 years younger than Carillo. He’s extremely well-known by the younger demographic, regardless of his age. There’s a whole generation of kids – now in their 20s – who grew up watching Seacrest. They’re the ones up late enough to see the late-night coverage. Seacrest is their Dick Clark. So this works on many levels. The Olympics are a live entertainment program, and that’s literally what Seacrest does. Hell, he is modern live entertainment programming. For all the praise The Voice gets, Caron Daly is not remotely as adept at his job as Seacrest (and Daly is also synonymous with live entertainment TV– TRL). Seacrest is the gold standard, and he’ll do just fine as the late-night host on NBC for 31st Summer Olympiad LIVE on the networks of NBC!
33 Responses
you like Ryan Seacrest.
Seacrest is a good looking, supposedly straight, smooth, American white guy. America HATES a guy like that nowadays. At least we are supposed to.
Seacrest should just say he is gay. Everybody would believe it and he would be getting a lot less pushback on the Olympics gig.
The guy actually pulls some major ass, just never anyone famous….but he’s sort of an unknown legend
Nick Cannon > Carson Daly > Seacrest
Seacrest has had some of the best looking woman on the planet so stop with the gay rumors
Oh, stop that bullshit. Yea, its SO fucking hard for straight white guys to get jobs these days. Are you serious? Give me a break.
Thoughts?
NBC took a hit on Sochi. Winter Olympics are always the lesser viewed, especially when they are on a tape delay from halfway around the world. With Phelps returning and the Olympics being live from Rio, they’ll get ratings but Seacrest is a poor choice. It should be someone from a sports background.
McNabb is looking for work. Colin Blowhard? Screamin A?
If they really want to get big ratings, they should get Josh Innes to host. That dude knows how to bring in ratings.
And that’s what it’s all about. It’s not about being a decent human being or putting on a show that someone with an IQ over 5 can stomach. It’s about appealing to the lowest common denominator — stupid 16 year old boys.
Get Josh and you’ll get the demo. Just ask Andy Bloom!
For about six more sentences! Clickbait BS. Does it count as another page view after this comment posts and my page refreshes?
If so, I guess the joke is on me then…
YOU SEEEEEE KYLE!!!!
If you would give us a secure login we wouldn’t have jerks like this saying mean stuff about the site!!!!
I MEAN COME ON KYLE!!!!!!
What’s that Bob????
I couldn’t hear you…. Your moms dick was in my mouth!!!
Boom!!!!!
This might be the greatest response in CB comment section history.
Brilliant
Why would his moms dick being in your mouth prevent you from hearing his comment?
If his mom has a dick wouldn’t she be his dad?
It’s not clickbait. If I put too much on the home page it slows down loading, or just has a giant wall of text. That the only reason I do it. Especially with videos and such. Every other website makes you click into everything. I do a couple of jump per day and people bitch.
This honestly is one of the cleaner websites out there as far as click-throughs and ads go. But you know better than any of us that the commenters on here will bitch about anything you do.
You’re right, he is like Joe Buck. And Joe Buck fucking sucks. OK, maybe Carillo was a bit butch for some. But bringing this gaylord hack in is too much. What, Mike Greenberg wasn’t available? It could have been worse then.
And, a Carson Daily comparison? So anyone on a sports site has ever seen anything start to finish with Carson Daily in it? Damn, I hope not. That shit is trite.
Carson Daly hosted TRL – young pop culture in the 90s – and now is a host on the Today Show and The Voice. Ryan Seacrest hosts American Idol (young pop culture in early 2000s) and now is hosting the Olympics. You don’t see a comparison?
its not a dumb choice at all. RS is the modern day example of success (in TV). People see that face on a station, hosting something, automatically one thinks, hmm, this must be an interesting / good program because RS is talking. Perception is reality. Maybe some of the neanderthals that comment here will someday understand.
I have no problem with Joe Buck. Don’t love him, don’t hate him but he doesn’t bother me at all. Ryan Seacrest is nothing more than a Clear Channel programmed robot. He will do whatever they ask and it is all cookie cutter. He is the same way with any of his other ventures. Anytime I hear him on a radio commercial it drives me nuts. I will not watch, listen, purchase or even donate to anything he endorses. He is also the same one who brought the Kardashians into your home.
Not that I don’t respect the hell out of all the money he has made, I just cant stand anything he is about.
What’s he about though? I mean, its like like he has any controversial views or anything. He’s basically a generic television host, and he’s better than most at doing the job.
I could understand people being pissed about him hosting something like the Daily Show or something that requires talent beyond introducing segments and interviewing guests. But this is basically just another generic hosting gig, perfect for a generic host-bot like Seacrest.
Who cares
Lmao get out of here with this nonsense
Buck doesn’t enjoy baseball. He thinks it’s boring. He said as much on national radio. And you know what? It really shows in his play calling. He’s awful.
Unless of course its St. Louis, then he all of a sudden gives a shit. I think the problem with him is that he shows his biases and, as a national guy, he shouldn’t be doing that. Its the same reason Cris Collinsworth was always so fucking insufferable. He obviously hated the Eagles and didn’t try to hide it at all. If you’re a local host, sure there will be some bias (see, Reese, Merrill) but not when you’re a national broadcaster. They’re supposed to be objective.
Cris Collinsworth is still insufferable, and Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead.
Manning. End Zone. Touchdown.
Had to post this.
https://youtu.be/kHmvkRoEowc
You know, I’m surprised as much as Kyle is at defending Seacrest. After all, this is the sorcerer who opened the ninth gate of Hell and unleashed the unholy media whore kraken that is Kim Kardashian upon the world. But I remember a different Seacrest, back in the 90’s when he hosted an afternoon radio show in LA with a hottie named Lisa Fox and had to constantly fend off rumors about him being a fudge-paking ass pirate by admitting he made out with her on more than one occasion but being the genteel Southern Dandy that he was, he was embarrassed by the attention.
But let’s face it, like Kyle said, the man knows how to handle a live production and it’s not like he needs the money. But also, it’s time Lamps retired back to San diego and finished reconciling with his hot wife with the freaky crab claw hands.
Bob costas’ actual gay is gayer than ryan seacrests’ supposed gay. And the only thing gayer than costas’ gay is people actually acting like they give two anal scab shits about who is the host of the Olympics that they don’t watch. And if you’re watching the olympics for costas, then you’re gay enough to not care if seacrest is gay. Got all that ya [email protected]? Bob, you’re hearin me eh?
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