Terrific night for Michael Phelps, and for NBC. Now A look at NBC Universal’s coverage of the 2008 Summer Olympics: Here are Olympic TV coverage Ratings, Highlights.

RATINGS: Terrific night for Michael Phelps, and for NBC. An average of 31.1 million people watched the Olympics Saturday, peaking at 39.9 million during the half hour when Phelps won his record eighth gold medal. It was the most-watched program on Saturday night for NBC since an “Empty Nest” episode in February 1990, when Phelps was four years old.

HIGHLIGHT: Phelps’ work is done, but the glow continues. We’re not big on repetitiveness, but it was smart for NBC to rerun in full Sunday morning the race where Phelps earned his eighth gold medal.

LOWLIGHT: Not the best night for NBC’s swim team Saturday. It appeared Dara Torres lost gold in the same manner Phelps won the previous night: the race’s leader, in this case Torres, nipped at the end when she drifted toward the wall. The camera caught it, but NBC’s announcing team of Dan Hicks and Rowdy Gaines didn’t. We got sick of hearing Hicks describe the men’s 1,500 meter freestyle as the Super Bowl in Australia, without explaining what it is about the race, or Australia, that made it so. Showing a spectator shot of Australian swimmer Ian Thorpe, who had doubted Phelps’ ability to win eight, without interviewing him felt like a ‘nyah-nyah’ move.

FOR SALE: Within minutes of Phelps’ feat, Visa was running an ad congratulating him on the eight gold medals and NBC was offering a DVD of his highlights. Is it too much to expect a historic athletic feat to be unsullied by commercialism for, oh, say a half hour?

BRAVE ANNOUNCER: Had to enjoy Tom Hammond gamely stepping up and identifying a pack of women’s marathon runners that included Catherine Ndereba, Zhou Chunxiu, Zhu Xiaolin, Martha Komu, Mara Yamauchi, Irina Timofeeva, Dire Tune and Lidia Elena Simon. Sure, he got lost in the vowels a few time. But who else would have had the guts to try?

QUOTE: “That’s why Theo Bos is the boss of sprint cycling”—analyst Paul Sherwen, as the cyclist from the Netherlands won a qualifying race. Is there trash-talking in Dutch?

WHEN TO WATCH MONDAY (TIMES EDT, SUBJECT TO CHANGE): NBC and NBC HD (10 a.m. to 1 p.m.), U.S. vs. Japan live men’s volleyball, men’s beach volleyball, men’s diving, track & field; NBC and NBC HD (8 p.m. to midnight), individual event gymnastics, steeplechase, hurdles, long jump, discus, pole vault, live women’s beach volleyball, women’s trampoline finals; NBC and NBC HD (12:35 a.m. to 2 a.m.), men’s diving and triathlon; USA and USA HD (2 a.m. to noon), live men’s basketball, U.S. vs. Germany live women’s water polo, live canoeing, U.S. vs. Great Britain live women’s field hockey, men and women’s table tennis; CNBC and CNBC HD (midnight to 2 a.m.), U.S. vs. China live softball; CNBC and CNBC HD (5 p.m. to 7 p.m.) boxing; MSNBC (5 a.m. to 5 p.m.), Argentina vs. Russia live men’s basketball, live women’s soccer semi-finals, U.S. vs. China baseball, cycling, men’s handball, weightlifting and beach volleyball; Telemundo (2 a.m. to 6 a.m.), gymnastics, women’s diving, track & field; Telemundo (8 a.m. to noon) live women’s soccer, men’s beach volleyball, boxing.

TV Schedule
Today Tomorrow Sunday, Aug 17

Soccer - Quarterfinal-round matches 6:00am - 6:00pm
NBC Olympic Soccer Channel
Badminton - Mixed doubles and men’s singles 11:30am - 5:00pm
MSNBC
Volleyball - Women’s matches 11:30am - 5:00pm
MSNBC
Volleyball - Women: USA vs. Poland 2:00pm - 5:00pm
NBC
Track & Field - Men: 10,000m 2:00pm - 5:00pm
NBC
Boxing - Light welterweight, welterweight, and heavyweight quarterfinal bouts 3:00 - 7:00pm
CNBC
Beach Volleyball - Women’s quarterfinals: USA’s Branagh/Youngs vs. China 5:00pm - 6:00pm
NBC
Track & Field - Women: 100m and steeplechase finals 7:00pm - midnight
NBC
Gymnastics - Women: U.S.’s Shawn Johnson, Nastia Liukin in floor and Alicia Sacramone in vault routines. Men: Floor and U.S.’s Alexander Artemev in pommel horse. 7:00pm - midnight
NBC
Diving - Women: 3m springboard final 7:00pm - midnight
NBC

TV Schedule
Today Tomorrow Monday, Aug 18

Softball - USA vs. China (live) midnight - 2:00am
CNBC
Track & Field - Gold medal finals: men’s hammer throw, women’s triple jump and steeplechase 12:30am - 2:00am
NBC
Beach Volleyball - USA quarterfinal action 12:30am - 2:00am
NBC
Table Tennis - Men: medal matches 2:00am - midnight
USA
Basketball - Men: USA vs. TBD (live) 2:00am - midnight
USA
Water Polo - Men: USA vs. Germany (live) 2:00am - midnight
USA
Gymnastics - Individual event finals 2:00 - 6:00am
Telemundo
Diving - Women: springboard final 2:00 - 6:00am
Telemundo
Track & Field - Finals 2:00 - 6:00am
Telemundo
Basketball - Men: preliminary-round games 2:30am - 2:30pm
NBC Olympic Basketball Channel

Terrific night for Michael Phelps, and for NBC. Now A look at NBC Universal’s coverage of the 2008 Summer Olympics: Here are Olympic TV coverage Ratings, Highlights. HIGHLIGHT: Phelps’ work is done, but the glow continues. We’re not big on repetitiveness, but it was smart for NBC to rerun in full Sunday morning the race where Phelps earned his eighth gold medal.

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