Twenty years ago, a quirky Briton with Coke-bottle spectacles risked life and limb on the Olympic ski jump. A bobsleigh team from Jamaica shivered in the Canadian winter. And the two Brians warmed up for their showdown at the Saddledome.
As Brian Williams, the host of tomorrow's Olympic Journey: Calgary to Vancouver on TSN, notes, Calgary in 1988 ranked among the most memorable Winter Games, even if the host country did fall short of winning a gold medal.
"In spite of Canada not having a great Olympics, the Calgary Games produced some of the iconic figures in Winter Games history," Williams said. "There was the Jamaican bobsleigh team, Katarina Witt, Eddie the Eagle, the battle of the Brians and much more."
The one-hour piece, which will be broadcast at 10 p.m. EST, was originally intended as a look ahead to the Vancouver Olympics of 2010, but, when the subject of Calgary was pondered, the focus changed.
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"So much happened in Calgary that we decided to take a look back as well as a look ahead," Williams said.
It was a good decision. The Calgary pieces, for which Williams interviewed the Stokes brothers in Jamaica, Michael (Eddie the Eagle) Edwards in southwest England and Canada's Elizabeth Manley, who outskated Witt in the women's long program, are among the best.
Edwards, who no longer wears glasses, discusses his ups and downs, which included earning £10,000 for personal appearances at one time and then filing for bankruptcy in the 1990s. Manley and Witt reflect on their performances at Calgary and discuss their careers post-Calgary.
A few weeks ago, the TSN crew rented the Pengrowth Saddledome from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. to shoot a reunion of Canada's Brian Orser and Brian Boitano of the United States, who duelled for the gold medal in men's singles figure skating.
The Vancouver pieces include online polling segments consisting of questions: Who should carry the Olympic torch? And who should be selected for the Canadian men's hockey team?
"If the Canadian men had won at Torino [in 2006], I'm not sure the team would be the story it is," Williams said. "But with the men finishing out of the medals, the selection is going to be huge."
TSN hockey anchor James Duthie and insider Bob McKenzie present their views.
CTV is kicking off its Vancouver Olympic programming this week. Lloyd Robertson is anchoring the CTV National News from Vancouver tonight. Williams, the network's Olympic host, has appeared on Canada AM. But the most substantial Olympic entry is the TSN piece, and it's well done.
Hockey Day numbers
The audience results were mixed, but mostly good for the CBC's Hockey Day in Canada.
The 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. EST programming slot, which consisted of live location reports and features, drew an average audience of 357,000, up 9 per cent from last year (327,000) and 19 per cent from the 2006 number.
The first game, at 3 p.m. (Detroit Red Wings-Toronto Maple Leafs) produced an audience of 1.046 million, well above last year's audience of 705,000. However, the afternoon game last year didn't have Toronto as a home market. The Montreal Canadiens played the Ottawa Senators.
This year's pregame show pulled in 697,000, the largest of the season, but slightly short of last year's 714,000.
The 7 p.m. game was a split East-West telecast, Habs-Sens and Edmonton Oilers-Calgary Flames. It drew 1.344 million, a good audience, but below last year's 1.531 million for Vancouver Canucks-Leafs, the teams that play in Canada's two largest English-language markets.
The 10 p.m. game, Colorado Avalanche-Canucks, was watched by 713,000, well below the 886,000 who tuned into Oilers-Flames last year.
Rating the weekend
| EVENT | NETWORK | VIEWERS | SKINNY |
| Friday | |||
| Hockey. Bruins-Sabres | TSN | 262,000 | Good game, down from 419,000 average |
| Basketball. Clippers-Raptors | Sportsnet | 201,000 | Sportsnet's best Rap audience of season |
| Saturday | |||
| Soccer. Everton-Reading | Sportsnet | 103,000 | Good EPL audience |
| Hockey. Hockey Day in Canada | CBC | 357,000 | Up 9 per cent from 2007 |
| Golf. AT&T Pebble Beach | TSN | 78,000 | Just average |
| Hockey. Red Wings-Maple Leafs | CBC | 1.046 mil. | A good afternoon audience |
| Hockey. NHL regionals | CBC | 1.344 mil. | Habs-Sens, Oilers-Flames total audience |
| Hockey. Canadiens-Senators | RDS | 732,000 | Above average |
| Auto racing. Budweiser Shootout | TSN | 309,000 | Nearly double 2007 audience |
| Hockey. Avalanche-Canucks | CBC | 713,000 | Fall from 886,000 in 2007 (Oilers-Flames) |
| Sunday | |||
| Soccer. Liverpool-Chelsea | Score | 77,000 | Great match-up, so-so audience |
| Curling. Jr. Curling Championships | CBC | 319,000 | Excellent audience |
| Golf. AT&T Pebble Beach | TSN | 112,000 | No Tiger Woods |
| Football. NFL Pro Bowl | Sportsnet | 91,000 | Up a little from 2007 |
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