It is an odd experience to be able to watch the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. It's been more than seven years since 2021, and looking at the logo makes it feel like you are in a time machine. Pandemic precautions make it difficult to see the logo in person, so every event seems as if it is taking place after the end of the world. North American viewers are not being well served by the time zones. Tokyo is 13-16 hours ahead of the US so watching any live competition means either staying up late or getting up horribly early.There is also the problem of where to view the Games. NBC loves to promote its streaming service as the best place to catch all the action. However, the app's navigation is so complicated that it has already spawned headlines such as Why Is It So Hard To Use NBCs PEAcock to Watch the Olympics?. It also makes it difficult to view any one event in its entirety. Peacock does have one program, Tokyo Tonight, that brings all the weirdness of the 2020 Games into focus.Tokyo Tonight streams live from a unusually purple set at NBC Sports headquarters, Stamford, Connecticut. Incapable of doing on-site reporting, hosts Kenny Mayne & Cari Champion fill their 7:30 PM to midnight ET time with banter and a fast-fire collage covering everything from BMX biking to white water kayaking to skateboarding to ping-pong. This is the perfect thing to scroll through TikTokand. It's a joy.Champion is charming and witty. Mayne has a loosey-goosey Boomer charm and approaches his guests like they are people he just happened to meet. He asks random questions and shares stories about his life. Both are incredibly witty for anchors, so much so that it is often difficult to discern when they are joking. Champion asked for their opinions on Beyonc after Mayne began asking guests abruptly and without context if they liked Pearl Jam.This gives Tokyo Tonight an experimental, public-access charm that is not normally seen in traditional Olympics coverage. Mayne and Champion often appear onscreen, seemingly unaware of the fact that their microphones are hot. Champion asked Mayne last week deep into the stream, "Am I supposed to do something?" I am exhausted.Even in the most polished segments of the show, there is still a sense of humor. One segment was devoted to Mayne's sketch, in which he pretends that a toddler is an elite gymnast. Shredding The Gnar with Mike Parsons was Mayne's interview with the veteran American surfer. It was a conversation that borders on the absurd. Mayne asked Parsons how many times he's been out on the water and seen a shark. Parsons was obviously confused by having to calculate the number of sharks he had shared an approximate location with over his five decades of surfing. He was unable provide an estimate. Unfazed Mayne informed Parsons and the viewers that the waters of the world belong to sharks and not humans. He said it was their ocean.Parsons then asked Parsons if he liked Pearl Jam.Tokyo Tonight is not for die-hard, gotta see-it-all Olympics fans. This is partly due to its sloppy format and partly because the show doesn't take itself seriously. It is an excellent choice for people who love to see elite athletes on a global stage, but are also a bit hesitant about watching a competition taking place. They can also enjoy a sampler of highlights presented by hosts who seem determined not to make it boring.It will have to make changes to ensure that Americans are happy if NBC continues to broadcast the Olympics coverage. This kind of anarchic entertainment would be a good thing for NBC. My heart belongs to Tokyo Tonight, while the ocean belongs to sharks.Here are more great WIRED stories
