Peyton Manning, Kelly Clarkson should have been benched as opening ceremony co-hosts

https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/2024/07/26/paris-opening-ceremony-peyton-manning-kelly-clarkson-nbc/74565229007/

39 comments

  1. We just needed someone to say who the singer was and quick explanation of the theme or meaning of the amazing performances and art work. Didn’t really need the “ how amazing” And “how beautiful’ from Peyton and Clarkson. Tirico amazing as always, but that’s a given.

  2. Peyton did a much better job than expected. Kelly…she was bad.

  4. I actually liked Kelly, her enthusiasm was contagious to me. To each their own 🙂

    I wish they had done a better job announcing/explaining things, but none of the announcers were doing that, so I am guessing that was an NBC decision, not the announcers.

  5. Everyone but Tirico and Snoop shouldn’t be there.

  6. Kelly is more visual. Peyton simply has a recognizable voice. Neither did any homework, any background, or any research and it showed.

    They shouldn’t be commentators on non-football or pop culture related things.

  7. Peyton and Kelly were the very least problematic part of the opening ceremony.

  9. The Eurosport broadcast was amazing because it was an extremely stoic and reverent man and a sarcastic and silly woman, and over the hours, he got more and more annoyed by her to the point of near outrage. At one point during the torch lighting, she said something so obvious and inane that he gave an exacerbated sigh loud enough that you could hear it on the broadcast. It was incredible.

  10. I nominate Snoop. His genuine glee and respect for the meaning of the games is infectious.

  11. I started watching about 20 minutes in not knowing who the co-hosts were and not recognizing their voices and I got so annoyed with their commentary. Especially Kelly’s comments during the Gojira performance. I think she mentioned something about not knowing you could mix classical and metal andI though ‘wow, this woman needs to listen to more music.’

  12. The event is to celebrate athletes who train hard to gain a place – this Olympics is a joke. Why so many American celebrities ? Chrissy teigen turning up in knitted knickers ? It was a farce. The French obviously were interested and LVMH & other sponsors took over and used it as advertising. Someone tell Pharrel to shut up too. 

  13. I’ve worked in media entertainment and broadcast for almost 20 years.

    Kelly is known to be a very much in the moment, heart on the sleeve type of entertainer. Her eyes wide open, childlike experience was refreshing. I’d have loved to spend the day with someone who was taking it all in appreciation rather than some dumb bum like the person who wrote this article. These people were experiencing this same magnificent piece of art in real time with everyone else. That’s her appeal.

    Also, Mike Tirico is literally the Jesus Christ of on Air Talent. Anyone sitting next to him won’t be him.

    Also, NBC buried the music audio feed in the mix during so much of the broadcast, so it was a director decision to have them provide reactions and commentary.

    Also, for the replay NBC ended up reshooting the reactions, voiceover, and the wrap up, which were more buttoned up.

    Final note. I had a Paris je Teme moment when Céline Dion was up there, alongside my 4yo son who was breathlessly watching her performance. He said he can’t wait to go to Paris!!

  14. I got over kelly fast after everything got her so emotional… Like girl.. stop crying about the song imagine, stop crying over the performances, and the only one I’ll give as necessary was crying after Celine Dion sang.. other wise… Kelly was really annoying as an announcer

  15. My opinion most of the entertainment during the ceremony was bad.

  16. Tough task. It was as painful of an event as a holiday morning parade.

  17. “… Maria Taylor, a capable reporter who actually asks questions (something that’s becoming rare on TV these days). That type of exclusive access should have been played up more.”

    Her questions were as canned as canned can be … “tell me what you’re feeling right now?” Blah blah blah blah blah blah. Terrible.

    As far as Clarkson & Manning were concerned, sure they were a little sterile & lacking substance, but opening games ceremony commentators always are!

    I recall Katie Couric being one of NBC’s opening ceremony announcers for the Sydney 2000 Olympics, and all she could do was rattle off geo-political crap, totally unrelated to the ceremony or the olympics.

    NO PEOPLE – WE WANT TO HEAR ABOUT THE ATHLETES, THE HOST COUNTRY, & THE PERFORMANCES.

    I do not know why this is so hard for them. They’re given cheat notes after all.

  18. Peyton Manning needs to be benched on everything. I’m not sure why he got all these platforms to begin with, but Peyton fatigue is definitely a thing now.

  19. Honestly I don’t need commentary for the opening ceremony, period. If I want to know the background of something I’ll just fucking google it after

  20. I don’t like it when they talk over the musical performances… like Kelly, we don’t need to hear your voice every single second, give it a rest. And this isn’t Macy’s Thanksgiving day parade.

  21. That’s who they picked? Literally anyone else would be better.

  22. Peyton has overstayed his welcome. I get that he was a great quarterback but that doesn’t translate into a career as a commentator for every event. Kelly can comment on music because she’s actually a great singer but everything else is just filler and takes away from the performances. People need to stay in their lane.

  25. They were absolutely terrible! All she could do was say how cool or awesome things were, when viewers want to know who’s singing or performing, what the context is, why this is significant to the French, etc. and he wasn’t much better.

    In other words, we need hosts that actually know stuff. Amazing that NBC couldn’t find competent hosts.

  27. Kelly just seemed to be enjoying the show and not actually commenting

  28. Kelly was horrendous. Added zero to the broadcast

  29. Did you guys know it was raining during the open ceremonies? (They only mentioned 100000000000 times.)

  32. They did an awful job for an amazing ceremony. No background mentioned, no mention of why Marie Antoinette was at the Conciergerie, no explanations about the locations, music, art, performances, etc. Just awful cluelessness. During the Beijing Olympics, one of the commentators was very knowledgeable about Chinese culture, the symbolism used, etc., and helped the audience to understand what was going on. Not expecting endless babbling, but some context would have helped those unfamiliar with what was on the screen.

  33. Kelly Clarkson is one of the worst humans in the world. If she went away forever I’d be very happy.

  34. Gojira was the only good thing about the entire ceremony

  36. This was the most French opening ceremony. It truly captured their weird, magical, sexy culture.

  37. I think she’s a solid chick but it was bad. So much phony enthusiasm.

  39. Who ? (I live in Europe and don’t know those people)

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