The London Olympics are history. Reflections on TV and the rings:

• NBC’s coverage of the Games was the “most-watched television event in US history” with 219 million, surpassing the 215 million who tuned in for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. No surprise. America loves the Olympics. NBC televised more hours and the TV audience is bigger than it was four years ago.
• The majority of viewers want to see everything live with taped replays at night. NBC needs to ditch its outdated old formula for the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi. The Russian city is eight hours ahead of New York.
• NBC’s live online streaming was a positive step but there were too many glitches and annoying interruptions for commercials.
• NBC botched Sunday’s closing ceremony telecast, cutting it down by almost an hour and omitting key performances by Muse and Ray Davies. NBC further enraged viewers by leaving the ceremony at 11 p.m. for an hour to air new sitcom “Animal Practice” and the local news. Cut out the monkey business.
• Next time, leave Ryan Seacrest home.