I liked Tara and Johnny lol and didn't see what you saw I guess. I didn't find her particularly critical - just tried to be honest, without sounding too critical IMO. She said Gracie had a flawless perfect performance today except the fall. If she did nothing except say how perfect our girls were, people would then be wondering well if they are so perfect, why did they not win gold lol. I mean to me you have to be honest and rate how each person did so you can tell why Americans are ahead of these girls and why they are behind other girls. She pretty much said things about many at the bottom (but I don't agree with the "mean" word because IMO only, I did not find her to be "mean" lol). She seemed to always try to say nice things too on all and instead just say about girls that messed up, that they had a "rough" program).
Anyway, Tara won the gold at 15 in 1998. I would bet they both will be back because from what I have been reading, people seemed to really like them and they seemed to be the talk of the town, commentator wise, because of what they wore to match lol. In fact, there has been rumor that they may be moved to the primetime slot next winter Olympics because of how well received lol. NBC would not comment they said yet.
I mean the night time commentators are more polished and talkative because they have been doing it longer and is why Tara and Johnny are on the NBC sports network instead of prime time on the regular NBC (which in primetime on NBC, Scott Hamilton and that other lady comment on it). I guess I found them to be fair. If I had any fault, I wanted them to talk more because I wondered sometimes if a person's jump was considered good or bad, when they were sometimes too silent IMO. Anyway, oh well, I thought she did OK - and Johnny too - for their first time. I think younger audiences will like them more then even the primetime commentators.