Those Fireworks

I think I used to like the coverage of the Macy's 4th of July fireworks. I remember watching it as a kid and loving the fireworks. (Generally, I love fireworks.) But I was really underwhelmed by what they showed on TV this year.

I don't know if I've just been spoiled by spending a summer watching fireworks live in Chicago, or whether coverage just wasn't as good as it used to be. They used to show fireworks twice a week in Chicago and I would watch them from the apartment window, so I never missed any of the fireworks. But I don't remember the camera cutting away from the fireworks themselves as much as they did tonight on TV, especially during the finale!

Some comments on the fireworks:

- Stop showing shots of the crowd, the out of focus flag, the Statue of Liberty shot that looks like it came right out of the intro to Who Wants to be a Millionaire, and the Macy's sign on the barge. These shots are all fine between songs, but not when the fireworks are going on. It's no good for me to see someone going "ooh!" in the crowd over fireworks that I can't even see! I cannot see what they are oohing about, and what good is that?!

- Along the same lines, during the grand finale of the fireworks, I do not want to see shots of the crowd multiple times!! It's the finale!!

- If you are going to show the crowd, show them in a little PIP thing like the orchestra so that I can at least see what is going on.

- Cubes! I was looking forward to them so much and then they were barely even shown. Part of the time, the camera was showing the cube fireworks launching but then when they burst open in the sky, we caught like the bottom corner.

- There were some cool fireworks, but generally I was kind of bored and underwhelmed. Maybe it was all the crowd shots breaking up the fireworks. Maybe they just weren't as good? Maybe I'm spoiled from Chicago.

- The shots of blank sky were great as well. Good job NBC. Other good ones were hearing the fireworks exploding over the heads of the crowd, but, umm, not seeing them for quite awhile.

- The planet ones were cool.

I guess that's the advantage to going in person, not having to put up with all of the network's attempts to be "artistic" or something. I don't watch the Macy's show on TV to see kids watching fireworks. As I was saying to Alvin, it's different from the Boston Pops show that is on right now where they have been showing some fireworks inbetween. I am watching this for the Boston Pops, accompanied by some fireworks. Macy's, you watch for the fireworks, not the crowd or the so-called "atmosphere." Stick the other crap between songs, and please NBC, don't cut away from the finale again. That was just really really bad. The best part of the show and you show me someone that I am not interested in seeing. Stick to the fireworks.

[pause]

CBS/Boston's editor is doing this right. They are doing very few crowd shots, and when they are, they are shorter and they are doing it when it's too smoky to see. Or between songs, which is the right way to do it. It seems better planned than the New York one. Much much better.