Category Archives: Olympics

Tilghman to have major role at Olympics; O’Brien, Roggin also will host

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Kelly Tilghman’s ship has come in, so to speak.

NBC announced Wednesday that the Golf Channel veteran will serve as MSNBC’s studio host during its coverage of the Olympics. Tilghman will receive plenty of air time with 155 hours of Olympics sports slated for MSNBC.

This will be Tilghman’s first Olympics assignment. It is a huge step, allowing her to branch out beyond golf. It also shows the synergy among the networks since Comcast bought NBCUniversal.

Also, NBC announced CNBC will have 73 hours of Olympic boxing, both men’s and women’s. Fred Roggin will serve as the host.

Tennis fans will go to Bravo for 56 hours of their favorite sport. Pat O’Brien will be the host.

 

John McEnroe, Olympics correspondent? Yep

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NBC disclosed its lineup for hosts and correspondents for the Olympics. In the no-surprise department, Bob Costas will be the prime-time host for the millionth time (actually his ninth); Al Michaels and Dan Patrick will share weekday and weekend duties; and Mary Carillo will handle the late-night duties.

However, on the list of correspondents, one name stuck out, and it wasn’t Ryan Seacrest. Rather it was John McEnroe.

The three-time Wimbledon champion as an Olympics correspondent? Now that’s interesting.

According to NBC, McEnroe will appear during NBC’s primetime show, serving as a roving reporter/analyst. He will be doing features, maybe even off-beat stuff.

Clearly, McEnroe has media ambitions beyond talking about tennis. When it was announced last week that he will be ESPN’s lead analyst for Wimbledon, he was asked if he wanted to do something else at the network. He said:

“There’s been talk about that in the past. That’s intriguing. … I’m open to suggestions.”

Obviously, McEnroe jumped at the idea of being an Olympic correspondent. If NBC can make his segments edgy and unpredictable, in keeping with the man himself, it will be a great move.