olympics

Worst Olympics Ever.

Oh I'm sorry, am I not allowed to say that? Because on Day 2 of the Games, I almost got into a Facebook fight with an old friend when he posted a status update that accused those of us with discerning tastes and sharp tongues of not supporting our country. He got an argument from me, but support from pretty much everyone else.

I guess VANOC is like our troops in the PR war. Nelly Furtado's lip synching is the shock and awe of the Olympiad. Isn't this how Bush got elected a second time?

Not only am I not sorry for coming out and saying that The Vancouver Games and the TV coverage of the Games suck, I'm actually kind of enjoying myself.

Here's tonight's TV lineup (all times Eastern).

• At 8, NBC has The Olympics.
• The CW has a new 'Smallville' at 8.
• PBS has a new 'Washington Week' at 8, followed by new episodes of 'NOW' and 'Bill Moyers Journal.'
• Sundance has a new 'Shameless' at 8.
• At 9, HBO has the series premiere of 'The RIcky Gervais Show,' then the season premiere of 'The Life and Times of Tim' and the season premiere of 'Real Time with Bill Maher' at 10, with Seth McFarlane, Wanda Sykes, Eliot Spitzer, Norah O'Donnell, and Elizabeth Warren.
• Syfy has a new 'Caprica' at 9.
• At 10, ABC has a new '20/20.'
• STARZ has a new 'Spartacus: Blood & Sand' at 10.
• Food Network has a new "Best Thing I Ever Ate' at 10.
• E! has two new episodes of 'The Soup' at 10.
• Travel Channel has a new 'Most Haunted' at 10.
• Also at 10: Discovery has a new 'American Loggers.'

Check your local TV listings for more.

After the jump, the late night talk shows.

Here's tonight's TV lineup (all times Eastern).

• At 8, ABC has a new episode of 'The Deep End,' followed by new episodes of 'Grey's Anatomy' and 'Private Practice.'
• CBS has a new 'Survivor' at 8.
• NBC has more coverage of The Olympics at 8.
• At 9, FOX has a new 'Past Life.'
• History Channel has a new 'Food Tech' at 9.
• At 10, USA has a new 'Burn Notice.'
• There's a new 'Ace of Cakes' on Food Network at 10.
• Bravo has a new 'Real Housewives of Orange County' at 10.
• Comedy Central has a new 'Important Things with Demetri Martin' at 10, then a new 'Sarah Silverman Program.'
• Lifetime has a new 'Project Runway' at 10.
• FX has a new 'Archer' at 10.
• Also at 10: TLC has a new 'L.A. Ink.'

Check your local TV listings for more.

After the jump, the late night talk shows.

Have you got Olympic fever? We do, and there's been plenty of special moments in Vancouver during the '2010 Winter Olympics' (daily, on NBC).

Lyndsey Vonn said, "I'm not trying to be Michael Phelps. I just want a medal of any color." The USA skier got her wish after scoring a gold medal for Ladies' Downhill.

Meanwhile, Shaun White also won a gold medal for snowboarding, after throwing in his signature trick on his second run in the Men's Halfpipe. Go, USA!

Watch the video after the jump.

The Winter Olympics in Vancouver are underway, and soon we'll see which athletes become this year's biggest stars. And once the games are over, many of them will inevitably make their way to television with cameo appearances and reality competitions. (Let's start our Lindsey Vonn on 'Dancing with the Stars' campaign now, everyone!)

With that in mind, the Hulu team took a look back to find other Olympic heroes who have crossed over to TV over the years. Here are some of our favorites.

Here's tonight's TV lineup (all times Eastern).

• At 8, NBC has The Olympics.
• FOX has a new 'Human Target' at 8, then a new 'American Idol.'
• PBS has a new 'Faces of America' at 8.
• At 9, Syfy has a new 'Ghost Hunters International.'
• Discovery has a new 'Man vs. Wild' at 9, followed by a new 'Solving History with Olly Steeds.'
• At 10, USA has a new 'Psych.'
• TNT has a new 'Leverage' at 10.
• FX has a new 'Nip/Tuck.'
• TBS has two new episodes of 'Tyler Perry's Meet The Browns' at 10.
• Food Network has a new 'Throwdown with Bobby Flay' at 10.
• Bravo has a new 'Shear Genius' at 10.
• TV Land has a new 'High School Reunion' at 10.
• Also at 10: MTV has a new episode of 'The Real World.'

Check your local TV listings for more.

After the jump, the late night talk shows.

Here's tonight's TV lineup (all times Eastern).

• At 8, NBC has The Olympics.
• FOX has a new, two-hour 'American Idol' at 8.
• TCM has 'Some Like It Hot' at 8, followed by 'The Odd Couple.'
• Also at 8: USA has The Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show.
• At 9, ABC has a new 'Lost,' then a new episode of 'The Forgotten.'
• Discovery has a new 'Dirty Jobs' at 9.
• BBC America has a new 'Last Restaurant Standing' at 9.
• At 10, Food Network has a new 'Chopped.'
• Syfy has a new 'ECW' at 10.
• A&E has two new episodes of 'Paranormal Cops' at 10.

Check your local TV listings for more.

After the jump, the late night talk shows.

A Tracy Morgan interview is truly an unpredictable event, as Joel found out last year. Often you don't know if you're talking to Tracy Morgan or Tracy Jordan from '30 Rock,' so anything is possible. Last night he was on 'The Late Show' and talked about Oprah Winfrey, 'The Wolfman,' and why he doesn't watch the Winter Olympics. They could probably use this on '30 Rock.'

It may be chilly in Vancouver (well, if you consider low-50s chilly), but NBC's ratings for the opening weekend of the Winter Games have proved to be surprisingly hot stuff.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, NBC has averaged an unexpected 28.6 million viewers over the first three days of its Olympics coverage, which marks a 25 percent increase over the 2006 Torino Games.

Reports indicate that those numbers also mark the highest non-U.S. Winter Games debut since as far back as 1994, when the Lillehammer Games got a boost from the Nancy Kerrigan/Tonya Harding Figure Skating scandal, in which Harding allegedly covered up a conspiracy between her ex-husband and bodyguard to attack her competitor, Kerrigan, during a practice session.

Sharp-eared TV fans have probably known this for a long time because NBC has been using the music for a while, but 'Lost' producer Carlton Cuse Twittered about it the other day to let everyone else know: a lot of the music that NBC is using on their Olympics coverage is the theme song to another show that Carlton co-created/produced back in the early 90s. Here's the video. God I loved this show.

Here's tonight's TV lineup (all times Eastern).

• At 8, ABC has a new, two-hour episode of 'The Bachelor.'
• NBC has The Olympics at 8.
• The CW has new episodes of 'One Tree Hill' and 'Life Unexpected.'
• PBS has a new 'Antiques Roadshow' at 8.
• ABC Family has a new 'Secret Life of the American Teenager' at 8, then new episodes of 'Make It or Break It' and 'Greek.'
• Nickelodeon has a new 'Penguins of Madagascar' at 8, followed by a new 'Glenn Martin, DDS.'
• At 8:30, Food Network has a new 'Unwrapped.'
• At 9, FOX has a new '24.'
• USA has a new 'Monday Night RAW' at 9.
• Also at 9: History Channel has a new 'American Pickers,' followed by two new episodes of 'Pawn Stars.'
• At 10, FX has a new 'Damages.'
• There's a new 'Men of a Certain Age' on TNT at 10.
• Food Network has a new 'Diner, Drive-Ins, and Dives' at 10.
• A&E has a new 'Hoarders' at 10.

Check your local TV listings for more.

After the jump, the late night talk shows.

Here's tonight's TV lineup (all times Eastern).

• Spike has an 'Entourage' marathon all night.
• At 7, ABC has the two-hour season finale of 'America's Funniest Home Videos,' followed by a new, two-hour 'Extreme Makeover.'
• CBS has a new '60 Minutes' at 7, the the season premiere of 'The Amazing Race' and new episodes of 'Undercover Boss' and 'Cold Case.'
• NBC has 'The Olympics' at 7.
• FOX has two new episodes of 'Til Death' at 7, followed by new episodes of 'The Simpsons,' 'The Cleveland Show,' 'Family Guy,' and 'American Dad.'
• Disney has the movie 'Starstruck' at 8.
• Style has the season premiere of 'Ruby' at 8, then a new 'Giuliana & Bill.'
• Also at 8: TCM has 'Casablanca.'
• At 8:30, TNT has the NBA All-Star Game.
• At 9, HBO has a new 'Big Love,' followed by the series premiere of 'How To Make It In America.'
• At midnight, Cartoon Network has a new 'Aqua Teen Hunger Force.'

Check your local TV listings for more.

Here's tonight's TV lineup (all times Eastern).

• Bravo has a 'House' marathon all night.
• Travel Channel has Samantha Brown specials all night.
• At 7, TNT has the basketball H.O.R.S.E. Contest, then 'NBA Tip-Off' and 'The 2010 All-Star Skills Competition.'
• At 8, NBC has The Olympics.
• FOX has a new 'Cops' at 8.
• HGTV has a new 'Divine Design' at 8, followed by new episodes of 'The Outdoor Room with Jamie Durie' and 'Curb Appeal: The Block.'
• At 9, FOX has a new 'America's Most Wanted.'
• BBC America has the premiere of 'Survivors' at 9.
• Hallmark has 'Elevator Girl' at 9.
• The Weather Channel has a new 'Weather Proof' at 9.
• At 9:45, Disney HD has a new 'Kick Buttkowski: Suburban Daredevil.'
• At 10, CBS has a new '48 Hours Mystery.'
• HBO has 'Bill Maher ... But I'm Not Wrong' at 10.
• Also at 10: Style has a new episode of 'The Dish.'

Check your local TV listings for more.

Although I'm generally a 'Today' show loyalist, for the next two weeks, I'm going to be a 'Good Morning America' fan.

Why? Three words: The Winter Olympics.

Every two years, since NBC started carrying the Olympics, they turn their top-rated morning news show into essentially the Games' morning recap show. Sure, you still get that first half hour of pure news, but after that, the show becomes all-Olympics, all the time, from examining the personal stories of the athletes, to travelogues about whatever exotic locale the Games are in that year, to deep, 'SportsCenter'-like examination of the previous night's results.

But that's not the part that annoys me the most. When the hosts go out and try to do the Olympic sports themselves, the cringe factor goes up exponentially. Especially when Matt Lauer and Al Roker are involved.

Here's tonight's TV lineup (all times Eastern).

• NBC has The Olympics all night.
• History Channel has a 'Pawn Stars' marathon all night.
• At 8, The CW has a new 'Smallville.'
• PBS has a new 'Washington Week' at 8, followed by new episodes of 'NOW' and 'Bill Moyers Journal.'
• At 9, TNT has 'T-Mobile Rookie Challenge & Youth Jam' basketball.
• Cartoon Network has a new episode of 'The Clone Wars' at 9.
• At 10, STARZ has a new 'Spartacus: Blood and Sand.'
• Food Network has a new 'Best Thing I Ever Ate' at 10.
  
• Travel Channel has a new 'Most Haunted' at 10.
• Also at 10: BBC America has a new 'Friday Night with Jonathan Ross.'

Check your local TV listings for more.

After the jump, the late night talk shows.