NBC at top of its Games

NBC's Olympics coverage just gets better with age. After the early years of excessive prepackaged material and John Tesh, the peacock has patented a winning formula for how to cover the Games and thus finds itself in the midst of its finest gold-medal presentation to date.

In the year marking the passing of the great Jim McKay, Bob Costas' work as primetime studio host may be his best yet. At a point in his career where he's just about done it all, Costas refuses to mail it in. As the anchor of a hectic schedule of dramatic live events from throughout Beijing, Costas has been every bit the glue McKay was for all his years as the face of the Olympics on ABC.

Costas' interview with President George W. Bush on the Russian invasion of Georgia and other pressing world matters was as good as anything the network could've gotten from its news division. And his deft handling of the outspoken gymnastics coach-turned-commentator Bela Karolyi has produced some of the Games' most interesting byplay, especially when the topic has been the purported ages of some of the female Chinese gymnasts.

Though many who've been compelled to comment on MSNBC's online message boards will disagree, the team of Al Trautwig, Tim Daggett and Elfie Schlagel has done a spot-on job of breaking down the complexities of the gymnastics performances and the sometimes erratic judging that's ensued.

A former gold medalist himself, Daggett has become something of a lightning rod for a perceived harshness in his critique of the American gymnasts. We don't see it. Of all the analysts to appear thus far, Daggett and Teddy Atlas on CNBC's boxing coverage stand out for their sometimes brutally honest commentary. Both are willing to praise when appropriate but are also undaunted in exposing the flaws in athletes' performances. For competitions in which the scoring is so subjective, that's precisely what you demand from an analyst.

As for primetime's other marquee competition, swimming voice Dan Hicks deserves kudos for striking the right chord as he chronicles Michael Phelps' historic rise to becoming the most prolific gold medal winner in U.S. Olympic annals. Not so for partner Rowdy Gaines, whose shrieking analysis and faulty predictions have taken some of the chlorine out of the pool.

Atlas and his boxing partner Bob Papa have a history together dating back to their days on ESPN's "Friday Night Fights." Not only do the two get on quite well as a team, but their well-researched dissection of the disparate styles of the fighters and their perspectives on the absurdity of some of the low scores have been enlightening.

If NBC's coverage deserves a deduction it's for not devoting at least a small portion of the primetime broadcast to note what's going on in the sports that don't make it to the showcase. All of the athletes representing the United States have devoted their lives to the sports they participate in, yet most are relegated to less convenient time slots on the network's sister cable outlets and online video streams.

Instead of the requisite canned features, why not use the time to show a clip or two of some of these other performances, like pitcher Steven Strasburg's one-hit, 11-strikeout masterpiece against the Netherlands in the baseball competition. Or Deontay Wilder's thunderous comeback in the heavyweight boxing competition. Or the women's softball team's first-inning explosion against Japan. There are dozens of stories like these that deserve a mention on the big stage.

All in all, NBC's effort from Beijing has been first-rate. With Costas leading the way, viewers have been provided a compelling first week of television that bodes well for these Games to become the network's crowning achievement.