Director's Cut Blog with Frank Macek

The history books have closed on the 2008 Summer Olympics, but there are many notable moments that will go down as records. NBC Universal tallied 214 million total viewers for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing over 17 days, solidifying it as the most watched event in U.S. TV history, according to Nielsen. This tops the 1996 Atlanta Olympics at 209 million viewers and the 2004 Athens Games at 203 million. MOST VIEWED EVENTS IN U.S. TV HISTORY: 1. 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, 214 million (17 days) 2. 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics, 209 million (17 days) 3. 1994 Lillehammer Winter Olympics, 204 million (16 days) 4. 2004 Athens Summer Olympics, 203 million (17 days) 5. 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics, 194 million (17 days)

Just as Tiger Woods is good for golf ratings, Michael Phelps is great for Olympic ratings. Saturday night, as Phelps went for his historical 8th Gold Medal at the Beijing Olympics and his 14th Gold in his swimming career, NBC enjoyed its most viewed Saturday night in 18 years with 31.1 million tuning in, and jumping to 40 million during the half hour Phelps swam. NBC has averaged 30 million viewers each night since the Olympics kicked off on August 8th, thanks in large part to Phelps and the gymnastics teams. NBC certainly is looking for its Week #2 darling as the Olympics heads into its second week. What did NBC air 18 years ago that drew that kind of audience? It was an episode of "Empty Nest."

WKYC is proud to offer our viewers unparalleled coverage of the 2008 Summer Olympics from Beijing, China. And for the first time ever, the games are being completely presented in high definition from start to finish. NBC Universal, broadcasting its record 11th Olympics and surpassing ABC for the most Olympics broadcast by any network, will present an unprecedented 3,600 hours of Beijing Olympic Games coverage across its various networks, the most ambitious single media project in history. NBC's coverage features the most live coverage in the United States (75 percent in all), across the most platforms, of any Summer Olympics in history when the Games of the XXIX Olympiad. WKYC will air the the NBC network schedule which is divided into three dayparts: afternoon, primetime and late night - for a total of 225 hours of coverage over 17 days beginning with the Opening Ceremony on Friday, Aug. 8, at 8 p.m. ET. Primetime on NBC will feature live coverage of all 32 swimming gold medal fin...