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Which would you rather have: a gold medal or the public support of Justin Bieber?
Missy Franklin doesn’t have to choose. The U.S. Olympic swimmer (and true Belieber) now has both after she claimed the gold in the 100m backstroke. Bieber himself extended the digital congratulations, tweeting, “heard @FranklinMissy is a fan of mine. now im a fan of hers too. CONGRATS on winning GOLD! #muchlove.” READ FULL STORY »
Some of the criticisms about NBC’s Olympics coverage aren’t entirely fair. No one likes watching tape-delayed sporting events with commercial breaks every three minutes. But NBC is a corporate entity whose purpose is to soak up advertising dollars — it’s not like another network would be any better. (Unless the Games moved to HBO, in which case all the athletes would be revealed as unlikable morally ambiguous narcissists who despise the world almost as much as they despise themselves, which would be awesome for all two million people watching.) But the network made one decision with their coverage that is indefensible: When Danny Boyle’s opening ceremonies featured an extended tribute to the victims of the 7/7 London bombings, NBC cut away to an interview between Ryan Seacrest and Michael Phelps.
Last night on The Daily Show, Jon Stewart didn’t hold back from taking the network to task for this decision. READ FULL STORY »
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We always strive for diversity when it comes to crowning the Olympic Stud of the Day here at PopWatch Central, but for the third day in a row, a U.S. swimmer is far and away the most deserving champion. I am speaking, of course, of 17-year-old Missy Franklin, the Colorado native who swam to qualify for the women’s 200m freestyle race and then not 15 minutes later won gold in the women’s 100m backstroke in spectacular fashion.
This bears repeating: This sunny high school student — who has turned down lucrative endorsement deals so she can remain eligible to compete with her school’s swim team — swam four lengths of the pool, fast enough (though just barely) to qualify for the finals in the 200m free. READ FULL STORY »
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“The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat” may be the slogan for ABC’s defunct Wide World of Sports, but rarely has it been as apt as on the third day of NBC’s Olympic primetime coverage. The U.S. pulled in some major hardware in the swimming pool — though Ryan Lochte faltered for the second day in a row, and went home without a medal for the first time at this Olympics. America landed its first medal for men’s diving since 1996 — but diver Tom Daley, Great Britain’s most famous Olympian and one of its best chances for gold, failed to reach the medal stand. And while the host nation celebrated its first medal in men’s team gymnastics in 100 years, the favorites for gold, the United States, suffered through an agonizing slow-motion collapse, and finished a distant fifth.
Meanwhile, John McEnroe talked bikini bottoms with Bob Costas. The human drama of athletic competition, everyone! Let’s get to it: READ FULL STORY »
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Ricky Berens, who won gold and set a world record alongside Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte, and Peter Vanderkaay in the men’s 4 x 200m freestyle relay in Beijing, will try to repeat the feat Tuesday. Here are five reasons EW readers in particular should root for him.
1. He’s endured an infamous wardrobe malfunction: At the 2009 World Championships, his suit split down the back. “You Google me, it’s a porn site that pops up,” he told EW earlier this year, laughing. “It doesn’t get much worse than that.” Well, it could have split down the front. “It could have,” he concedes. “At least the camera didn’t have a view when I flipped the turn. I’m sure the ref had an interesting view.” READ FULL STORY »
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According to the London Evening Standard, artists who performed at the Olympic Opening Ceremony in London last Friday were paid the token amount of just £1 (approximately $1.57). That includes everyone from breakout Grime artist Dizzee Rascal to the Arctic Monkeys, Mike Oldfield, and of course Sir Paul McCartney. The fee is used to ensure contracts signed by the artists are binding and is not a measure of their performance. So what else could you get for £1 in the UK? Nothing says Great Britain like fish and chips, but how about the next best thing? A jar of Fish and Chips flavored sandwich spread with a cool 21 pence left over to go towards a bottle of mouth rinse after. Or perhaps three maps of the London Underground designed by artist Tracey Emin? But clearly the most useful item would be a biography of Isambard Kingdom Brunel so we can all agree Kenneth Branagh was not in fact portraying Abraham Lincoln at the opening ceremony.
Read more:
Olympic opening ceremony: Best/Worst
NBC’s tape-delay victory
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With the Olympics in full swing, you’ve probably already yelled at your TV — but hopefully not at a commentator. Before he left for London, we asked swimming analyst Rowdy Gaines — who’s calling his sixth Games for NBC — to describe the process. After reading his responses, you might want to cut them all some slack.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: We’ve talked about the times you’ve figuratively been on the edge of your seat calling a race, but are you literally on the edge of your seat sometimes?
ROWDY GAINES: I’m sitting on, like, a barstool, and I’m definitely moving. I’m standing up, sitting down, standing up, sitting down. It’s nervous energy. I would say 80 percent of the time, I’m watching the monitor — watching TV just like you are — even though I’m there live. I have to be watching the monitor to see what you’re watching because I can’t be watching it live and looking at Lane 6 and the camera’s on Lane 4. READ FULL STORY »
Oh, what hath the Olympics wrought?
First there was the U.S. swimming team’s parody video of Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe,” which we thought might be the only one we’d come across during the Games. But we were fools for thinking that — fools! 
It only took a couple days, but there’s already a Carly Rae parody video named “Call Me Lochte” that’s popping up all over the place. The gag, produced by the folks at the NOC, re-imagines the Ryan Lochte-Michael Phelps rivalry like so:
“Hey, I’m not Michael, don’t eat at Subway/But this is my year, so call me Lochte/It’s hard to swim right, by Phelps baby/But this is my year, so call me Lochte.”
And so forth! Check it out in the video below:
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Hypothesis: Samuel L. Jackson is amazing.
Evidence: In addition to his movies, and other lists EW has compiled, we’re impressed by his recent tweeting of the Olympics, where the actor has been giving his off-the-cuff reactions to the events along with — of course — some signature color commentary.
Some examples: “OK! Getting that MOLYMPICPHUKKEN Fevah! GO TEAM USA!!!!!” and “Now, for that Field Hockey Gold….how we feelin’? Speak up MUFEXPERTFUKKUHZ!” READ FULL STORY »
Image credit: Gregory Bull/AP
The second day of the London 2012 Olympics was filled with more teeth-clenching and heart-wrenching moments than last night’s episode of True Blood. At this pace, we’re going to be a ball of nerves by day 17. As anticipated, the U.S. women’s gymnastics team ruled the day, but their world was rocked when world champion Jordyn Wieber failed to advance to the individual all-around finals. In other upsets, France nabbed the gold in the men’s 100-meter freestyle relay, lowering Ryan Lochte’s pedestal while redeeming Michael Phelps. Now for the highs: Dana Vollmer set the women’s world record in the 100-meter butterfly and the U.S. won its first synchronized diving medal in history. Despite all the action, parent reactions, colorful commercials, and NBC’s overall coverage (including its lack of live broadcasts) provided the most entertainment and discussion fodder.
Keep your friends close, but your frenemies closer
Aly Raisman knocked reigning world champion Wieber out of the all-around gymnastics final, reinforcing the network’s theme of the night — these girls are each other’s best friends and biggest threats. From home videos of them training with each other as children to non-stop commentary about the pressure to compete against teammates, the stage was set for someone’s triumph to mark another’s downfall. READ FULL STORY »
