Hashtag NBCFAIL

I have so much to write about that I'm backlogged again. Let's see: two movies, my recent trip to New York (seeing Ricky Martin in Evita, seeing the new Yankee Stadium, etc.), I bought some comic books that aren't Simpsons or Futurama, posting my photos and videos from Bastille Day at Eastern State, not to mention the latest crop of Daily News Sexy Singles.

So why am I writing about NBC?

First, they've made me lose interest in the Summer Olympics. Between the chopped-up tape-delayed events, the near-constant athlete profiles and inane features, the mere presence of Ryan Seacrest, the butchering of the Opening Ceremony, their massive hype about having so many events live online (some of the biggest events weren't actually available online and there have been quite a few complaints about screens freezing and lots of buffering -- and besides, I personally don't want to watch sports on a computer, I WANT TO WATCH THEM ON MY HIGH-DEFINITION TELEVISION), and above all, their arrogant insistence that critics of their coverage must be wrong because the TV ratings are so high, when I actually do have the Olympics on, it's mostly just in the background with me barely paying attention.

(By the way, Blogger doesn't let me put a pound sign in a post title, which is why this post isn't called  #NBCFAIL. I think that's a #BloggerFAIL, to be honest. Or a #GoogleFAIL, since they own it.)

But that's not all.

NBC is, naturally, using the Olympics to hype their regular programming, including a new "reality" series called "Stars Earn Stripes," in which celebrities perform a series of military-style physical challenges. My problem, other than my general objection to most "reality" television and the collection of has-been/wanna-be fame whores who frequent such shows, is that NBC's promos are painting it as some sort of tribute to the brave men and women serving our country.

What a load of crap. It's a stupid TV show, and no amount of phony patriotism is going to make me tune in. I think it's distasteful, ignorant and downright repulsive for NBC to try and pass off their crappy TV show as a tribute to the military.

And the rest of the promos for new fall series also kind of make me want to cringe, to be honest. Like this new Matthew Perry show, which is apparently going to premiere tomorrow during their Olympic coverage. They're actually going to INTERRUPT THE OLYMPICS FOR A SITCOM! Anyway, it looks horrible.

Enjoy being the number four network in total viewers again, NBC.