Los Angeles -- NBC Sports Group has set a documentary about
former Olympic figure skaters Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding to air during
its coverage of the Sochi Winter Olympics, the network announced at the TCA
press tour on Saturday.
Mary Carillo will have an exclusive interview with Kerrigan as well as Harding, and look back
at the lead-up to the 1994 Lillehammer Games, when Kerrigan was attacked by
Harding's then-boyfriend, and talk about how the scandal affected both of their lives
over the past 20 years.
NBC's Olympics coverage begins Thursday, Feb. 6, a night
before the Opening Ceremony, and while executives said they are optimistic
about the Russian location, it does raise some cultural issues like Russia'
anti-gay laws.
"It comes with political and social issues, and we will
address those issues as they are relevant at the time of the Games," said NBC
Sports Group chairman Mark Lazarus.
NBC said it will build on the technological innovation of
the London Games, which were the first to stream every event live online, but Lazarus
defended NBC's tape-delay strategy to feature marquee events in primetime, pointing
to 2012's record ratings as proof the audience was on board with it.
"What we learned in London is people who streamed events
live during day tended to watch our packaged show in primetime," he said. "With
the addition of each device they added more viewing."
There was one thing NBC wasn't willing to defend though - its
cutting away from the Closing Ceremony to show an episode of Animal Practice, which drew major
backlash last summer.
"We learned some things along the way. You don't make same
decisions twice," Lazarus said. "I don't think we would put ourselves in
position to do that again."
