Scope of Olympics Too Great, Even for 3-Channel Enterprise

No, NBC is not purposely messing up in an effort to drive up Olympic TripleCast sales. But it does seem that way.

Why, you ask, would NBC on Wednesday night cut away from the U.S. basketball team’s game against Germany with 4:45 left in the first half and not return? Why would it give viewers only a four-minute highlight package of Cuba’s 9-6 baseball victory over the U.S.--which was front-page news--yet show more than 15 minutes of horses and humans taking spills in the equestrian competition?

And Thursday morning, why would NBC take a commercial break toward the end of a 200-meter butterfly qualifying heat with Melvin Stewart at least momentarily on a world-record pace, then not come back to it?

NBC, in covering these Summer Games, is simply faced with an impossible task--trying to please everyone. It can’t be done. Not with a single channel, anyway.

Even the TripleCast, with its nonstop coverage on three channels, can’t please everyone. The TripleCast didn’t cover U.S.-Cuba, either. There is no baseball scheduled on the TripleCast until the semifinals.

There was an in-studio interview with U.S. captain Phil Nevin that was shown at 3:20 a.m. Wednesday--during halftime of the Brazil-Angola basketball game--but otherwise baseball, the national pastime, has been ignored on the TripleCast.

Terry Ewert, the TripleCast’s coordinating producer, said Thursday the U.S.-Cuba game was not put on the schedule because figuring out Olympic baseball during the early rounds is like figuring out a jigsaw puzzle. He said adding the game would have meant preempting scheduled programming.

Ratings: NBC might not be pleasing everyone, but it is attracting viewers. After four days, the average Nielsen rating for prime time is a 19.3, up from a 16.8 after four days of the Seoul Olympics.

In Los Angeles, the ratings have been particularly impressive. The L.A. number exceeded 25 Monday and Tuesday but dropped to a 20.1 Wednesday night, when NBC had to compete with “Beverly Hills 90210” and “Melrose Place.” The two Fox Network hits got L.A. ratings of 13.2 and 11.7, respectively.

Tuesday night, the competition included the Dodgers, who drew only a 3.0 rating.

Bob Costas, NBC’s smug host, does not seem to be getting as much air time as Bryant Gumbel did at Seoul or Jim McKay did on ABC’s Olympics before that.

But he still has found time to be overly cute.

“Bud, my man,” is how Costas addressed tennis commentator Bud Collins on Wednesday night.

“Roberto,” shot back Collins, who, among other things, reported that Madagascar’s two tennis competitors, girls aged 14 and 15, were concerned because they heard that a coup had taken place in their country, a large island off the East Coast of Africa.

Costas told Collins he had not heard about such a coup and that he would check it out. Later, Costas reported that there were only 10 plotters and all they did was to take over a radio station for about three hours.

“But they did make the radio station change from classical music to country and western,” quipped Costas.

Cute, real cute.

Is Croatia’s Toni Kukoc ready for the NBA?

This is what Chick Hearn, doing play-by-play on the TripleCast, had to say after Kukoc put up an air ball during Croatia’s game against Spain on Wednesday:

“It must have been blocked. Nobody misses a shot that badly unless it is blocked, not if he is the (so-called) best player in Europe.”

Noting that Jerry Krause, general manager of the Chicago Bulls, has made several trips to Croatia to scout Kukoc, Hearn said: “I don’t know why, unless he was just piling up frequent-flier mileage.”

Olympic historian David Wallechinsky, appearing on the TripleCast on Wednesday, had an interesting item relative to gymnast Tatiana Gutsu, who advanced to Thursday’s all-around finals only after a teammate developed an injury. Gutsu ended up with a gold medal.

According to Wallechinsky, two members of the Soviet women’s 1,600-meter relay team that qualified for the final at the 1980 Moscow Games conveniently developed injuries to make room for the country’s top two runners, who had not run in qualifying heats.

Another pearl from Wallechinsky concerned how the tiny European country of Liechtenstein (pop. 28,000) picked a flag bearer among its eight athletes. The eight rolled a dice for the honor.

Charles Barkley always seems to be getting a bum rap, but he came across in a good light on Roy Firestone’s “Up Close” this week. For one thing, he said he would dedicate his gold medal to Jerome Brown, recently killed in an auto accident, and Jim Valvano, who is battling cancer.

Barkley’s father, Frank, was also on the show. Frank Barkley abandoned his family when Charles was 3, but the two have since reconciled, at least somewhat. Frank said he thinks part of the anger his son shows on the court is directed toward him.

On another recent “Up Close,” Firestone suggested that it was petty for Terry O’Neil, the executive producer of NBC Sports, to take Charlie Jones off track and field and put him on swimming.

Jones, for one, doesn’t agree.

“Shortly after Terry came aboard three years ago, we sat down to talk about Olympic assignments,” Jones said from Barcelona. “He said he wanted the Olympics to have a whole new look and that he would be switching people around. Marv Albert has moved from boxing to basketball, Bob Trumpy has gone from volleyball to boxing, and Tom Hammond has switched from basketball to diving and track and field.

“He asked me if I would do swimming and diving, and I said fine. I couldn’t be happier about doing swimming.”

TV-Radio Notes

Many of those who were planning to check out the free TripleCast sampling on CNBC on Thursday night--it is also on again tonight--ran into snags. Not all cable companies carry CNBC, and some that do don’t carry it full time. Some systems carry CNBC on the same channel as Prime Ticket. The latter comes on at 4 p.m., meaning CNBC goes off. Since the TripleCast free sampling begins at 3 p.m. PDT (not 6 p.m., as reported in Thursday’s editions), those systems are unable to offer it. For cable subscribers who do get the free sampling, it will be on today from 3 to 7 p.m. and from 10 to 11:30 p.m.

Are the Dodgers’ woes becoming a worn-out topic? Whatever, KABC radio is dropping “Sportstalk,” beginning Aug. 17. Host Steve Edwards will be the host of a 1-3 p.m. general talk show, with Peter Tilden’s entertainment-oriented show moving into the 3-7 p.m. slot. Also, sports buff Ira Fistell is being dropped, with Dennis Prager moving from weekends into the 9-to-midnight slot, starting Monday. Station spokeswoman Shelley Wagner said: “We are still very much in the sports business.” Wagner said The Times’ Mike Downey and Channel 5’s Stu Nahan will continue filing sports reports, and “Dodgertalk” with Ross Porter and, on weekends, Al Downing, also will continue. The station recently signed a new deal with the Dodgers.

XTRA has moved “The Loose Cannons,” Chet Forte and Steve Hartman, from midday to the morning (6 to 11 a.m.). Program director Howard Freedman said the move had nothing to do with any perceived morning void at KMPC because of the departure of Robert W. Morgan. “Chet and Steve have a lot of energy and are very entertaining,” Freedman said. “We just wanted to have our best show on during morning drive time.” . . . Nighttime host Jim Rome will move into the midday slot, beginning Aug. 17. For now, Brad Cesmat, who was on in the morning, is filling in on the midday show. Under the new alignment, Cesmat will move to nighttime and will be joined by his regular partner, Steve Mason, who is currently on vacation.

Say what? The other night, Jim Healy called Orange County Register columnist Randy Youngman a frequent “tuner-inner” to his show. Frequent listener would have sufficed. . . . Boxing beat: Julio Cesar Chavez, in a tuneup for his Sept. 12 meeting with Hector (Macho) Camacho, will fight Frankie Mitchell at the Las Vegas Hilton in a Showtime bout Saturday night at 7. Camacho will fight Eddie Van Kirk on the same card, and Julian Jackson will take on Thomas Tate.