The first Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel episode of 2022 airs on HBO Tuesday night (Jan. 25) and includes a segment on NBC figure skating analysts Tara Lipinski and Johnny Weir.
As Soledad O’Brien says in her report, the broadcasting duo attracts more attention from figure skating fans these days than the competitors who take the ice during domestic and international competitions, including the upcoming Beijing Winter Olympics.
Lipinski and Weir are “the most dynamic and eccentric broadcasting duo in all of sports,” says O’Brien. They’ll certainly be a major draw for viewers during NBC’s Winter Olympics coverage, whether on broadcast, streaming, and social media.
Here’s a clip from the segment, titled “Skate Mates”:
Lipinski and Weir go viral for their daring, flamboyant outfits worn during NBC’s broadcasts (and surely in their everyday lives, as well). Hopefully, working remotely from Connecticut due to COVID-19 concerns doesn’t cramp that style.
But their analysis and commentary is insightful, sharp, and funny, almost always matching the moment seen on-ice. As with the most popular broadcasters in any sport, they’re fans of what they cover and that enthusiasm is palpable. Yet the two are also critical when necessary, as the Real Sports feature shows.
Also appearing in the feature is former NBC Olympics producer Jim Bell, who had the idea to team Weir and Lipinski up for the 2014 Sochi Winter Games after they were individually covering men’s and women’s figure skating, respectively.
“You’re welcome, America,” said Bell.
The broadcasters most associated with figure skating in Dick Button, Peggy Fleming, Scott Hamilton, and Sandra Bezic are revered among fans and athletes, and have been influential on Lipinski and Weir. Yet they also have to be themselves, which is what makes them feel authentic.
“Why would we ever try to be something that we’re not?” Weir said to O’Brien.
The latest episode of Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel premieres Tuesday, Jan. 25 at 10 p.m. ET on HBO. The show is also available on-demand and HBO Max, in addition to repeat airings on HBO networks.
Ian Casselberry is a sports media columnist for BSM. He has previously written and edited for Awful Announcing, The Comeback, Sports Illustrated, Yahoo Sports, MLive, Bleacher Report, and SB Nation. You can find him on Twitter @iancass or reach him by email at iancass@gmail.com.
