NBC Is Defending Their Decision to Interrupt the Closing Ceremony of the Olympics to Premiere One of Their New Shows:  

NBC saved room for one last Olympic broadcast controversy during the Closing Ceremony on Sunday night.

—Just before THE WHO were about to go on to close out the Olympics, NBC interrupted the ceremony … to air the premiere of a new show called “Animal Practice”.

—Obviously, they were looking to capitalize on the audience they had at the time … and they shamelessly prioritized THAT above providing what the viewers were there to see, which was the Closing Ceremony.

—Yesterday, NBC defended the decision.  They said what they did was OK because “prior to the break, viewers were informed that the final act and wrap up of the Closing Ceremony would follow later, [after ‘Animal Practice’ and the local news].”  

—NBC did eventually return to air The Who’s performance … but other acts were cut from the broadcast altogether.  Those included Ray Davies from The Kinks, Muse and … to a lesser extent … a second song by George Michael.

—This could’ve been avoided if they aired it LIVE on Sunday afternoon, and that’s what MIA FARROW wanted.  (???)  She Tweeted, quote, “Hey NBC, it’s SUNDAY!  Many of us would LOVE to be watching Olympic Closing Ceremony right now.”

—Regardless, NBC came out a WINNER.  The London Olympics was the most-watched event in U.S. television history, with a total of 219.4 million viewers over 17 days.  The Beijing Olympics in 2008 is second with a total of 215 million viewers.

—Sunday night’s Closing Ceremony averaged 31 million viewers.

—NBC’s “Animal Practice” stunt paid off … 12.8 million people watched it … however, it wasn’t as big as the premiere of the MATTHEW PERRY show “Go On”, which premiered after the Olympics last Wednesday night.