With the Winter Olympics in full swing, there weren’t a lot of new TV episodes to contend with the hours of sports coverage airing from now until the end of next week. Tuesday was the only night to feature new episodes of shows I watch, and both of them were entertaining. New Girl introduced us to Jess’s sister, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine introduced us to the concept of going “full-Boyle” and the organization AAGLNYCPA.
The real star of the television landscape this week was the Olympics. From T.J. Oshie’s incredible shootout performance in the U.S. hockey team’s victory over Russia to the U.S. slopestyle ski team earning a medal sweep, there were some excellent winning moments for Team USA this week. And Maxim Trankov and Tatiana Volosozhar’s euphoric reaction to winning gold in pairs figure skating on their home ice was a gold medal moment I won’t soon forget.
My favorite moment of the week, however, wasn’t one that led to a gold medal. In fact, it didn’t lead to a medal at all. When Jeremy Abbott took a brutal fall during the men’s figure skating short program, I thought he was going to have to quit. But not only did he keep skating, he finished his program with skill, style, and a huge smile on his face. That emotional performance was followed by a free skate that was truly beautiful. Abbott may not have won a medal in Sochi, but he gave us what was perhaps the most inspiring moment of the games so far. He reminded everyone that true strength comes not from doing something perfectly but from getting back up after you fall down. I might not remember who won gold in the event years from now, but I will always remember what Abbott did at these Olympics.
What was the best thing you saw on TV this week?
Nerdy Girl Notes 
I loved watching this performance! My favorite part of it was that after the audience realized that he was getting back up and was going to keep going, they cheered him on so enthusiastically that it made me get a bit choked up. He wasn’t one of their beloved home-team Russian skaters, but the respect and encouragement that the audience gave to him (and that I’ve seen been given to athletes in all the sports over the course of the Olympics) shows what the Olympics are really all about. It was wonderful and inspiring to watch.
What you said about the crowd was so true. To hear them cheering Abbott on with such enthusiasm was exactly what I love about the Olympics—that sense that, in the end, everyone wants to see the competitors at their best; everyone wants to encourage each other.
It’s hard to argue this point. It was an amazing men’s short between Abbott embodying perseverance to Michael Martinez’ great showing for the Philippines proving everything I love about the Olympics. All that said though and I have to give my best thing I saw this week to House of Cards. A show I had no intention of picking back up after what I thought was a heavily flawed and often morose paced first season. However a friend suggested I give at least the first episode a try and it was jaw-dropping good, pivoted the series out of a good bit of the doldrums that plagued the back 6 episodes and opened up several new plot lines all of which have promise. It also leaned into the very best that Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright have to offer. It was a stellar 42 minutes and sucked me into a series I had all but written off.
My Twitter has been exploding with House of Cards reactions lately, and I’m so happy to see another ringing endorsement of a show I’m seriously considering picking up now that I have Netflix.
Oh and I vote that the 14 minute tease for Game of Thrones should count.
I totally should. 😉
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