It’s been a rough summer for NBC, mostly since the most common word following the peacock network letters was the word “fail” — because of its highly criticized Olympics coverage. But the icing on the failcake may have happened Sunday morning, when NBC cameras focused on one of the spectators and announcer Bob Fitzgerald declared, “I know I’m gonna put that picture on Facebook, we’ve got every executive of note, it seems, worldwide, attending these Games.” However, while Fitzgerald was clearly referring to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, the person on camera was actually actor Jesse Eisenberg. Yes, they are both Jewish, kinda look alike and Eisenberg did portray Zuckerberg in “The Social Network.” But no, Eisenberg is not Zuckerberg (though he probably would love to get his paycheck).
Ah, the NBC fail. At first it was the tape delays, which forced many avid Olympic watchers to go through online streaming or simply to earmuff the entire day and completely disconnect themselves from the outside world. Then it was silly spoliers, like when the network announced the swimming winner in a “Today” promo before the race was broadcast. Other controversies included shutting down a journalist’s Twitter after he criticized the network’s coverage, cutting parts of the opening and closing ceremonies and everything that led to the #NBCfail hashtag and amusing twitter handle.
As expected, the Internet world went crazy, and much like the wonderful ending to the London Games (Spice Girls reuniting and all), it was just a wonderful ending to the two weeks of NBC fail.
