Before we offer our usual playful take on the televised spectacular, we need to acknowledge the serious side of last night’s Olympics Opening Ceremony. Read the full post.
Feb 13
2010
11:49 AM ET
Vancouver Olympics Opening Ceremony: Best and Worst
- Comments 501
- Add comment
Latest News
- 'Awake' finale: Replay Kyle Killen chat
- 'Revenge' boss fields burning Q's!
- Lee Daniels' 'The Paperboy': Cannes review
- 'Thor 2,' 'Iron Man 3' baddies: Casting
- JoAnna Garcia joins 'Animal Practice'
- 'Transformers the Ride 3-D': A fun one!
- Grant Bowler: Richard Burton to Lohan's Liz
- 'Men in Black 3' poised to KO 'Avengers'
Most Commented
Top 5 Most Read
- ‘Revenge’ season finale: Creator Mike Kelley answers burning questions!
- Bodies of Work: 46 Unforgettable Nude Scenes
- Cannes: ‘The Paperboy,’ starring Zac Efron and Nicole Kidman, proves that ‘Precious’…
- 'Duets' series premiere recap: Just Me, Myself, and You
- 'American Idol': Who REALLY Won Each Season?
Absolutly love the giant trees and all the dancer. Spectacular effects. Also loved when they had all the fiddlers and dancers. Loved the orcas and the ice breaking as well as the giant bear, though I wish you could have seen it for a longer period of time. Too bad the fourth arm didn’t rise when it was supposed to, people will remember that one for a while. Overall love the ceremonies.
Opera and the Olympic hymn didn’t work. I drug the ceremony out. I’m glad Canada has very talented Opera singers. But this was not my favorite part of the ceremony.
For me ,it was worst then the mal function .. guess i lack culture in that domaine ,it was just unbareble and i only saw chaos in the interpretation …she was scary
YES! This opera/hymn part was train-wreck bad. She was so obviously lip-synching (very poorly) and using the overly dramatic opera gestures. It was hilariously terrible in an overwrought way. I’m still chuckling about it. Sometimes less IS more.
I was cringing as I was listening to that opera. It went on forever! And that vibratto was giving me a headache!
Wow, there must be something wrong with me, because I absolutely loved it!
I loved it too…Measha is great!
Oh I have to agree. I love that hymn sung by a chorus, not an opera singer.
Overall it was a lovely opening show with some wows (like the whales and the prarie). Amazing what they did with CGI stuff. I have been to Canada hundreds of times (used to live by their border) so I think the show did display their culture.
So the only glitch was the flame pole not coming up, 3 did come up and it was OK. Good show Canada.
There’s absolutely no way Measha Brueggergosman was lip syncing. This woman has an amazing talent and that was as authentic of a performance as you’ll ever see.
MRA is right! She is spectacular.
ALL singers lip-synched last. ALL of them.
Not only that… but the ‘orchestra’ was not playing either. I think they had to ask a few orchestras to sit, and pretend to play, but got turned down.
MRA, this woman is probably a great opera singer. It’s also true that all of the singers probably lip-synched. But many times during the song her lip-synching wasn’t even close. I had it on the DVR and ran it back a couple of times. Maybe in her credit opera singers just don’t do any lip-synching so she had no practice. But it was very obvious.
I have to disagree with the comment about Nelly Furtado and Bryan Adams. Sometimes less is more and I thought they did a great job singing a catchy tune that stuck with me through the whole show and today.
I liked it too, I just wish they had sung live.
Oh, please, I really have to disagree. That song was awful. I was so happy that Bryan Adams performed because I have a mad crush on him, but I’d rather he’d performed one of his hits–and alone, without Nelly Furtado who has a lousy voice. That song was the low point of an otherwise beautiful Opening Ceremony for me.
I enjoyed it overall, thanks for the recap! It’s amazing really how the ceremonies are always pretty much so boring but captivating at the same time and the time flies…it’s a weird combination I can’t quite explain. Ah well, go Canada!
That was KD Lang? I thought it was Wayne Newton!!!
I luv when idiots show their stripes
Mabe just wanna be funny ?
Exactly what I thought as well…..oh well it’s seems imperative these days that we have to pander to the gay community at every public event.
Excuse me? I was at the Calgary 1988 closing ceremony and K D sang there and she was great.
I don’t see how having an incredibly talented woman singing a beautiful song is pandering to the gay community.
In Canada, gay people are not feared/hated by the majority of people, and are very much a part of Canadian culture. Having the extremely talented KD Lang sing was great!
so, never mind her talent, which she has spades??? idiotic.
I do believe KD Lang is cast to play Wayne Newton in an upcoming film.
KD Lang makes Wayne Newton appear feminine.
WOW sheltered much?
Grow up. Homophobia is so out of date and pathetic. And yes, I am straight.
thought adams & furtado were good – thought k.d. lan was over the top a bit. overall entertaining and uplifting show
i enjoye the show espaciely the part were all those people dress in red skate in oposite direction with the light sugesting a slow shot of car in the city …. Not so proud of Garou when he miserably faile to reprensente ar french side by is no voice phony interpretation of un peu plus haut …allez cherchez Ginette kelkun … and thx to Shane Koyczan for in wonderful worl nicely deliver … dans son ensemble it made me proud to be part of this not perfect but great contry ….
je viens d’apprendre sur le forum que de toute manière la chanson n’a pas été diffusée sur les chaînes américaines!!!
Wow you bloody quebecers even wright with an accent.
Lol, ??. I wish their was more of a French aspect to the ceremony.
Also, totally off topic, but I am so craving Poutine right now…and the Vancouver version is AWFUL!
The Never Never Land Prairie segment captured the gift of wind and sky played out with eye-popping colour and embraced by an energetic modern day Peter Pan. There aren’t many more “lovelier thoughts” – James Barrie was visionary.
I feel so embarassed for Gretzky…Canadas best first having to witness a most lame and faulty indoor torch lighting then running off and having to wait for someone to open the stadium door for him OMG….and then getting propped up in the back of a pickup truck and driven for 15 minutes through the pouring rain (with no apparent security)to light another tin foil torch. This is the best idea VANOC could come up with?
Embarassing.
As someone who was at the outdoor torch ceremony, it wasn’t raining that hard! Don’t feel sorry for Gretzky.
BC Place is air dome and therefore doors have to open in sequence. That is why he had to wait.
It was soooooo Canadian: Try to picture something similar in the US–seriously, do you think that Michael Jordan could just jump on the back of a truck and then walk calmly through a crowd of people to light the Flame? After Homeland Security, the FBI, the anti-terrorist blockades got their checkpoints all cleared, it would have added 2 more hours… Gretzky, Truck,”normal” Canadians running along side… and all done with respectful enthusiasm. Wonderful Moment.
please. he got to light the olympic flame, so what if it wasn’t the most comfortable experience. obviously you haven’t seen the pictures of the torch relay passing through Resolute Bay, Nunavut, where everyday Canadians carried the torch over ice floes in subsubzero weather.
John, he had to wait in that airlock just like everyone who goes in & out of that stadium. And up here in Canada, even the most famous people can walk down the street without security – and they do. That’s one of the reasons so many stars love filming movies up here – because Canadian fans are by & large respectful, smile & leave them alone.
Here’s my little critique of Vancouver 2010 opening ceremonies: K.D. Lang’s performance of “Halleujah” – AWESOME(if you’re like me and are frustrated by those IOC windbags blocking video of this magnificent performance…a previously recorded version from CTV can be found at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_NpxTWbovE&feature=player_embedded , Spouting Orcas were neat, Aerial act by Thomas Saulgrain was strangely moving…beautiful…I would have passed on agonizingly long Olympic hymn, ranting poet and the Furtado/Williams debacle, the mechanical malfunction was no biggie…Gretzky’s awkward reaction was worse…at least Nash kept cool. Overall, nice job by David Atkins and crew and great night for the world, eh!
It’s good to read that everytime us Italians get the best dressed prize
I want the coat so badly.
Your not italian, your just someone with italian great great great grandparents and thinks that qualifies you. If you really are italian you have my permission to be insulted anyway.
I thought the opening ceremony was brilliant.
I always look forward to the opening ceremonies of any olympics. I am not a young person and have watched many of them. This opening ceremony was the most boring I have ever seen and as a result I will not waste my time with the closing ceremony for these games. What were they thinking??
Being old does not have to make you cynical as well – that’s purely your choice.
that they weren’t going to pander to people expecting only shock and awe, like you. clearly you’re not a fan of the arts.
Agreed. I love the simplicity of it all – and yet not simple when you know what goes into all the effects. But then, I guess you have to be a little cultured.
My, my, your tiny little patriotic feelings are getting hurt. Getting up on your high horses spouting nonsense about culture and arts if anyone disagrees with you. How narrow-minded and culturally ignorant.
I think parts of it were good. The bear, the whales, Joni Mitchells and KD Langs songs and the snowboarders. But the native dancing, Sarah M’s song and the fiddlers was embarrassing. It made the whole to me just OK. When I remember how I felt watching the Beijing ceremony…there just wasn’t any comparison.
you have to remember, China spent over $300 million on their while Canadians spent $30 million. It was incredible nevertheless.
why do you keep bringing this up? beijing was amazing. that’s all.
Ya because there is so nothing wrong spending 300 million when an entire province of their country was in complete devastation like Haiti . ..
You can’t compare summer and winter ceremonies. The Summer Games are always grander and more lavish. More countries compete. More events. More money. Vancouver did a great job.
oohh big bad china once again… apparently also uncaring folks i see.
what an ad hominem argument
Beijing was run by slaves
wrong. the fiddlers and the First Nations dancers were sensational. I commend the organizers for taking those risks, knowing people like you wouldn’t appreciate it, but that’s your loss, not theirs.
Mena, this isn’t the Beijing games. That is all.
And a lot of the most impressive parts were fake.
I thought the Opening Ceremony was one of the most beautiful I’ve see. The projections were breathtaking and I loved how the circular thing at top became the Northern Lights, a tree and then the Canadian Rockies. Plus I love the music being a fan of Sarah and KD. I know everyone is going to compare this ceremony to China’s but really I prefer this one. Yes China had the grand pagentry but really who couldn’t look at the performers and know that the threat of “Re-education Camp” was over their heads. Plus with the Canadian Show less is more!
I loved this Opening Ceremony too as it was very Canadian. However, us Canadians shouldn’t be too uptight about the comparison to China’s OC – it’s fine to point out that they spent more but people missed the point if they claim that the performers in China had limited rights. The truth of the matter is, this is two entirely different mentality – China as a whole is very proper and disciplined (if anything, average civilians would not stand for any screw ups, let alone the govnt) whereas us Canadians are more laid back and lassez-faire. And it shows in both – which is great!