NBC Interrupts Olympic Closing Ceremony To Shove New Show Down America's Throats

The National Examiner reported in an article entitled, "'Animal Practice' cuts into NBC's Olympics coverage, fails to impress," by K.L. Martinez, on 13 August 2012 -- As if it didn’t already have enough Summer Olympics fallout to deal with, NBC added fuel to the fire Sunday night by interrupting the Games’ Closing Ceremony with an airing of the new sitcom “Animal Practice.”

“We’ll be back from Olympic Stadium in about an hour for the London closing party featuring The Who,” host Bob Costas reported. “But stay tuned now for a full episode of ‘Animal Practice,’ the new NBC comedy presented commercial free.”

True to Costas’ word, the network returned to the Closing Ceremony an hour later, showing the rock band’s eight-minute performance.

The move angered many viewers, who took to social media to vent their frustration.

Unlike the airing of Matthew Perry’s “Go On” last week, NBC’s decision to air “Animal Practice” on the Olympics’ closing night was not well received.

The move was the proverbial icing on the cake for the network’s beleaguered—but highly-rated—Olympics coverage.

The show

Aside from NBC’s blundering of the Summer Olympics’ Closing Ceremony—which included editing out several portions—the “Animal Practice” broadcast should be judged ultimately on its own merits, of which there weren’t many.

It’s a safe bet that a show’s in trouble when a monkey, which earned more laughs than any of its human co-stars, is the program’s lone highlight.

As entertaining as monkeys are, they can’t carry a TV program on their shoulders.

Justin Tuck as Dr. George Coleman was neither funny nor charming, which aptly describes the rest of the show’s cast.

I wish I could say the premise behind “Animal Practice” was good, but it wasn’t. There just aren’t enough laughs to be had in a veterinarian’s office for a sitcom to work, even one that has a monkey on staff.

NBC’s programming gaffe aside, “Animal Practice” was not very good and is not worth adding to the DVR rotation.

Simply put, this show will not—and should not—last long.  source: (The National Examiner)