As we talked about in this week's edition of the TV Squad Podcast, NBC is getting a lot of bad press (again) for their programming decisions for the Olympics. Too much focus on personal drama, too many odd interviews interrupting events, and tape delays. That last one is what irks people the most, and one network says that if they had the Olympics they wouldn't have a tape delay, they'd show everything live.

That network is ESPN. They're going to bid on the 2014 winter games and the 2016 summer games, and if they win, they're going to scrap the whole tape delay thing.

Complaining about how NBC covers the Olympics is almost an Olympic sport all by itself. Pretty much ever since the Atlanta games in 1996, NBC has been raked over the coals for tape-delaying events and concentrating on stories instead of the sports themselves.

The outrage has been especially loud when the Games have been held in North America, mainly because the time differences are minimal. The hue and cry has been louder than ever from Vancouver, mainly because, in a world where results can be shot around to every computer and cell phone in the world via Twitter and Facebook, NBC is shooting itself in the foot with what seems to be 1990s thinking.

Here's the rub, though: The Olympics are kicking tail in the ratings, despite all the complaints.

NBC is all about live awards show coverage these days. Coming off the much-improved ratings from its first-ever live telecast of the Golden Globes, the network is now considering airing the 62nd Primetime Emmys ceremony live or West Coast viewers in August as well, according to Variety.

Due to the ever-increasing use of Twitter and Facebook, it's becoming easier to spoil the winners and speeches by the time the telecast hits the West Coast (where the ceremony is held).

When I was working the TCA beat on the west coast last month, I had a bit of cognitive dissonance when NBC aired the Golden Globes live at 5 PM. I watched it with a bunch of critics in a conference room we reserved for the purpose, then watched the rest in my room. After Ricky Gervais bid everyone goodnight, I started stretching and thinking it was time for bed, like I do at the end of every grueling award-show watching experience I ever had.

Then I turned and saw the clock: It was 8 PM. I could have gone for dinner and come back and still had time to work before calling it a night. It was disconcerting and refreshing all at once.

NBC is hoping people have that same experience with the Emmys on August 29, as they're toying with the idea of dumping the west coast tape delay and broadcasting the ceremony live across the country, according to Broadcasting & Cable.

(S01E04) Unlike many people, I like the Harriet Hayes character. And I like the way that Sarah Paulson is playing her. It's a distinctive performance: very precise in her delivery, graceful, even when she's yelling about something or irritated. And she's a very religious person, but one that's on a late night show doing satire. I don't see anything wrong with what she's doing or how she's written. I actually find the way she acts really believable. I know people like Harriet Hayes.

Having said that, I didn't really enjoy the opening scene of this show. I thought that (for the most part) Matt and Harriet had made up an episode or two ago. And I thought the argument (Matt's upset that Harriet gets a signed bat from a pitcher) was a little too forced, and I thought the Matt and Harriet love plot was going to take over the entire show. But then something happened in this episode, around the 19 minute mark, like something snapped and the episode started to soar, started to click, and showed how dramatic the backstage goings on at a TV show can be.

The American Family Association, the same group that filed complaints against an episode of Without a Trace, have now set their sights on Fox Sports' recent coverage of the Food City 500 NASCAR race.  During the broadcast, which like all of Fox Sports' live events was aired without tape delay, a member of driver Martin Truex's team called another car "a piece of s---." This isn't the first time drivers or members of a race team have let blue language fly on the air, and so far complaints haven't helped much, especially when one considers that only broadcast networks are subject to fines, not cable channels. While I understand people wanting to keep such language from television during the hours when children are watching, a complete absence of swearing seems almost unnatural. As BC Beat notes, a sport as intense and dangerous as auto racing is going to conjure its share of curse words. It seems to be the nature of the beast. 

Just in case Mick Jagger or, God forbid, Keith Richards decides to flash us, ABC was already planning to put a 5-10 second delay on the halftime show. Now it will also be ready in case Matt Hasselbeck decides to moon the camera. For the first time in the Super Bowl's 40-year history, the entire event will be broadcast with a five-second delay. That includes pre-game, game, and post-game coverage. Gee, I wonder what that's all about. It couldn't be the thing that wouldn't die, AKA Janet Jackson's accidental or intentional boob reveal during the halftime show two years ago, could it? Apparently ABC doesn't want the $550,000 in fines that CBS had to pay for that major nip slip. Last year, FOX refused to put a tape delay on its broadcast of the Super Bowl. FOX network said it was treating the game "as a news event".

The Parents Television Council publicly praised ABC for going with the delay. The group president said, "ABC has wisely decided to ensure that this year's Super Bowl is not hijacked by raunchy performers as it was in 2004."

Now that the sex will be taken care of, what about all the shots of the coaches and players yelling curse words? Come on! We may not be able to hear them but we know they're not yelling about figs.