NBC to make live musicals an annual event following "Sound of Music" success

[cinemaphile]

Success? ratings-wise, yes. But man that was painful to watch. Still, I'd love to see more musical productions on TV. I just wish they didn't feel the need to do them live. They could be 1000% better if they weren't.

To the surprise of no one who saw the ratings and the social stats, NBC announced Monday that it’s turning last week’s live-musical/social media-palooza into an annual event. NBC Entertainment chairman Bob Greenblatt said today he’s already circling a couple of titles for next year but already has begun managing expectations, telling The New York Times, “There may be a little bit of a phenomenon to the first one of these. Who knows what happens Year 2, 3, or 4?”

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The show’s producers, Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, already have turned a slew of well-known musicals into TV productions – though not live ones. Back in December 1993, they made a lot of noise with their CBS broadcast of Gypsy, starring Bette Midler; it averaged more than 26 million viewers. They went on to redo The Music Man, Cinderella, and Annie for TV, though interest eventually died down. Not any musical will do for NBC’s new annual holiday franchise: Success, Greenblatt said, hinges on finding a title that can be rated G, as was The Sound of Music, and has loads of very familiar tunes – and on securing the services of another music star with a large fan base, like Underwood, hopefully one with a thicker acting resume, or thicker skin. Biggest news out of NBC’s announcement: Underwood spent 10 months preparing for the role.

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