Fake fireworks and “live” coverage

In my earlier post, I was somewhat hopeful that NBC took pains to note when their Olympic announcers were in New York instead of live in China.
Maybe I shouldn’t have been so hopeful after I found out that some of the Opening Ceremony fireworks were apparently digital fakes. Commentators and bloggers are jumping on the fact that the ceremony producers were worried about the display of the fireworks so they created a fairly convincing reproduction to air on TV while the real display took place around Beijing.
A blog from The Hollywood Reporter goes into pretty good detail about the matter. That blog post gets responses to some pretty good questions, including how NBC feels it can get away with graphics that say events are “LIVE” when they are most certainly being tape-delayed for the West Coast. It’s a minor frustration for me — I’d rather see sporting events live.
Aaron Barnhart has more about the digital fakery at TV Barn.