The 2008 Summer Olympics–I will admit that, going in, I had very little interest in the Olympics. Sure, I thought, it’ll be cool if Michael Phelps can grab eight Golds, but, do I really have to even watch it live? I can just go online and get the results. Well, yes, I did have to watch it live…and so did you! It’s been years and years since the nation was so united in its palpable anticipation and sheer joy at the achievements of Olympic athletes. Ratings skyrocketed every night during the swimming events, which NBC smartly managed to schedule in and around prime time, as Phelps swam for Gold with his teammates. Who can forget the race where Jason Lezak came from nowhere to win the relay and keep hope alive? Or the one Phelps swam with his goggles full of water? Or how about the one he only won because the other guy picked his head up before touching the wall? And that was the tip of the iceberg! Gymnastics was exciting and controversial (The U.S. women took Gold and Silver in the All-Around, the Chinese “women” appeared to be about 10 years old, but won the team Gold anyway); Beach volleyball players Misti May and Kerry Walsh took Gold again and a Jamaican runner named Usain Bolt ran the 100 meters so fast he had time to showboat! Oh, and I almost forgot the spectacular Opening Ceremonies, which NBC recently rebroadcast, since they were so breathtaking. Never mind the controversy with the cute Chinese girl, who was lip synching her performance, because the actual girl who sang was deemed too unattractive to be seen on TV! Look, it’s Yao Ming and that impossibly cute little boy who saved his classmates from the earthquake! There, that’s better. Need a tissue? Dancing With the Stars–All in all, this wasn’t the best season of the show (although our recaps were fabulous!) but it was certainly memorable. First of all, it was plagued by injury and illness–two or three people had surgery midstream–and then there was Cloris Leachman. She had a reserve of goodwill from me to draw from, and that was lucky for her, because she tested my patience. I had to give her a lot of credit for doing what she did given her advanced age, but the schtick wore thin quickly, and she outlasted much better dancers. My biggest gripe is that not one of her Mary Tyler Moore co-stars dropped by the sit in the audience. Only Ted Knight has a good excuse; he’s dead.
