Posted on 12/06/2013 9:07:36 AM PST by SeekAndFind
NBC’s big winter gamble paid off: The Sound of Music Live! delivered a massive audience Thursday night. The three-hour performance of the classic Rodgers & Hammerstein musical delivered 18.5 million viewers and a great 4.6 rating among adults 18-49. This is NBC’s biggest Thursday in the adult demo excluding sports since the ER finale in 2009. Obviously, it’s also far and away NBC’s strongest non-sports Thursday performance this season; the network has had all sorts of ratings headaches on this night given its troubled comedy block.
Sound of Music was Thursday’s most-watched show and tied CBS’ Big Bang Theory in the demo to win the evening.
While skepticism about the Sound of Music stunt ran high leading up to the show, viewers were generally enthusiastic about the performance, which was executed without any technical or performance glitches.
I watched half of it with the family. Then it was bed time.
Gee, I wonder why.
Why did it have to be remade? Seriously?
I watched it. Carrie did a great job. Sure beat listening to Chrissy kissing Barry’s backside.
Amazing performance by the non-actor Carrie Underwood, in my opinion. I think if she had some time to develop her acting skills, she could be very good. As it was, she had a tendency to revert to kind of an emotionless deadpan, but the singing was beautiful. She is simply gorgeous. It’s worth repeating that this was a LIVE performance. She was not doing short takes that she could do over and over until she got it right.
I appreciate having made the story available to new generations. Staging anything on tv pales in comparison to a movie theater but I applaud NBC for giving it a shot.
I watched it with the wife, and I’m not normally a fan of showtunes. That being said, I was enthralled with the wholesomeness of the whole thing; however I was inclined to constantly wondering what they might’ve changed from the original to ascend to some narrative being preached by the handlers at NBC.
“Sound of Music” stunt?! It was a musical, not a TV “gay” musical...a REAL musical. Where was the stunt?
Why do dinner theaters often do it ? Why not show the movie ?
I’ll tell you why, there’s something about a LIVE performance.
And just because the movie was, pretty much, about as perfect as a movie gets. . . does not mean it can’t be improved on.
Example: “The Ten Commandments”, the 1953 version with Charlton Heston and Yul Brynner. . . was a REMAKE of the original 1923 silent version. I expect, that some day, someone else will re-make it, likely in full 3-d holograms. .
Wholesome story of Catholics escaping totalitarian oppression, good music, no “F” words and a marriage of man and woman! There were also lotsa mentions of God and many Bible quotations. Darn! NBC will sure dive into the “gutter” to get high ratings.
Wholesome sells. Always did. Always will.
It wasn't a remake. It was essentially a live performance of the original play. The play is still frequently performed in schools and professionally (Marie Osmond made a bit of a splash in a revival of it onstage years ago. Mary Martin played onstage originally). Many plays continue to be revived even though they have been filmed previously.
The play and film differ in the order of scenes, songs, etc. Also, unlike a film, all the acting and singing is live. In a film, all the singing is pre-recorded and the actors lip-synch it. In some films, the actors do not even do their own singing. There is an extra immediacy when a musical or an opera is done live.
I watched the first hour with my daughters and then they went off to bed...hopefully they will replay it not on a a school night.
Last Thursday evening NBC did a one hour promo show with the auditions of the Von Trapp children, none of which were professional actors.
Carrie did a nice job singing and talking without a “country accent”.
I watched most of it.
She is, I thought, very much to be commended for her vocal performances. They were repeatedly very strong, rivaling if not bettering Julie Andrews in the original.
Quite a feat considering she is not a practiced actress like Ms. Andrews
The acting was weak, but considering it was live, they have to get points for not messing things up. And I guess it’s not fair to compare it to the movie version (or even a stage version where they might have dozens of performances behind them to “get it right”).
The real barn burner, tho, was when the Mother Superior opened up and sang “My Favorite Things”. That alone was worth watching it.
Wonderful tribute to Rodgers and Hammerstein overall!
Carrie Underwood ain’t Julie Andrews.
It wasn’t remade from the movie (1965), it was a remake of the Broadway musical, which originally starred Mary Martin (1959). The original musical preceded the movie.
They BOTH needed redoing for a young audience. While Carrie Underwood certainly sang well...anyway I’m ordering the DVD.
Me and Mrs. R2. watched it. It was a great live performance.
It made me long for the days when quality network shows were common. I suppose there are some good dancing and singing shows currently on, but today’s pop culture turns me off, so I don’t watch them.
Shocked they didn’t go PC and cast Beyonce in the main role instead of Carrie.
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