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If the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics were the best Olympic Games of my lifetime, the viewing experience was still not quite perfect, at least not in America. I enjoyed the opening ceremonies even if the Parade of Nations on the Seine worked less well in practice than in theory, but what I liked least about them didn’t have anything to do with the ceremony itself (any appearance by Gaga is good) and more to do with NBC’s presentation of it. As hosts it chose the peculiar triumvirate of Mike Tirico, Kelly Clarkson, and Peyton Manning. In wake of their less than spectacular job, Clarkson took the most heat. She did have a tendency to speak over moments and performances rather than letting them be, and she did not seem wholly prepared in terms of research, and those are fair critiques. But also, Clarkson was the only one bringing any sense of palpable enthusiasm, hung out to dry by Tirico, who in his bland way is acceptable, if nothing more, as the traditional Olympic anchor but in this scenario failed in the role of interlocutor between his co-hosts. Manning, though, was worst. If Clarkson came across ill-prepared, Manning made a point of bragging about his preparation and then did next to nothing to demonstrate it, essentially saying things like, I talked with the American athletes last night, Mike, and they all told me how excited they are for this moment. For all his media experience, in that environment, he was a nothing burger, seeming to recede from the proceedings entirely for long stretches and leaving Clarkson to pick up the slack. The whole debacle reminded me of Anne Hathaway unfairly shouldering the brunt of the criticism for James Franco’s virtual ghosting of the Oscars in real time.
The only moment NBC’s broadcast worked, in fact, was when the then-Today Show co-hosts Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb momentarily took over masters of ceremony duties. That’s because Guthrie and Kotb knew that you treat an opening ceremony like the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, or the Rose Parade, rather than a sporting event. And that is why I am so grateful that NBC saw the error of its ways and has enlisted Guthrie and Terry Gannon to host the opening ceremonies for 2026 in Milano Cortina. In my memory, no one ever got the opening ceremony equation better than Bob Costas and Katie Couric, not just two people who understood the job and how to manifest it but a perfect yin and yang. Gannon isn’t Costas, certainly not in disposition, and so he will not be Guthrie’s yang, exactly. But he’s also worked for a decade now with Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir in calling figure skating events for NBC and understands the line between sports and showbiz and has demonstrated an ability to have fun while conveying pertinent information, just what the opening ceremony role requires.
I was about to observe that unlike its competitor ABC, which insists on a three-person NBA Finals booth no matter what, NBC was willing to go back to two. But then, it turns out that American Winter Olympics snowboarding legend Shaun White will join Guthrie and Gannon in the booth for the Parade of Nations part. If to me, it seems unnecessary, I also understand the network wanting a little star power, and it’s better to have one person like White than two, and he should be ok because Guthrie and Gannon both have chops for setting other people up. And anyway, Al Roker is always there with Guthrie and Kotb at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade, sort of the Ed McMahon, or Andy Richter of the affair and so maybe White can fill that role. He was in that Mila Kunis comedy “Friends with Benefits” after all. At any rate, he’s not another Manning.
