Though criticism and snark ran high on social media for NBC's costly The Sound of Music Live!, the network's three-hour musical spectacle attracted a lofty 18.5 million viewers.
Thursday night's ratings have viewers and television-industry professionals wondering whether NBC or other networks can and will try to replicate this live approach with other musicals and entertainment programming, especially in the face of strong competition for viewers from hotshot online-streaming services such as Netflix, Hulu and Amazon.
NBC Entertainment Chairman Robert Greenblatt already plans to produce more live TV versions of classic Broadway musicals in 2014 and beyond, he told The New York Times on Monday: "All weekend, people have been calling us and emailing us. Rights holders of musicals have said, 'Please do one of our shows.' We’re excited to try it again." Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, the production team behind Sound of Music, would helm these projects.
"What social media has proven is that live TV is stronger than ever ... These one-off events will absolutely continue and social media will be its best friend," Natan Edelsburg, senior vice-president of social tech startup Sawhorse Media and Lost Remote social TV writer, told Mashable. "I wouldn't say the negative social sentiment was a serious problem; I'd instead say they need to up their game in producing good-quality live entertainment."
Touted as a ratings win, the show pulled a bigger audience than other live events in 2013, including rival network ABC's Billboard Music Awards (9.4 million), American Music Awards (12.9 million) and CMA Awards (16.6 million), a country music fest co-hosted by Sound of Music's leading lady Carrie Underwood. It also fared better than the ACM Awards (15.4). Sound of Music, however, roped in far fewer sets of eyeballs than CBS's Grammy Awards (28.4 millions) and the Super Bowl Halftime Show (104 million).
NBC did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the show's results.
One executive at a rival network, however, told Mashable that television is often a copycat business when it comes to success; networks will mimic each other, and eventually dilute the value of live-TV events. The executive added that networks can't be afraid of the critical things social-media users say, but the networks do have to ask themselves two questions: "How much can the market bear?" and "How much are we willing to pay?"
Live TV is never cheap, the executive said, admitting that NBC is getting added value after it raked in a hefty live audience for Sound of Music because even more people are now tuning in via DVR playback and continuing the conversation online.
The TV musical undoubtedly became a social event -- but not for all the right reasons.
Powerhouse vocalist Carrie Underwood -- who at the Grammys this year made headlines with a performance-enhancing technicolor dream dress and won Best Country Song and Best Country Solo Performance for "Blown Away" -- brought star power to The Sound of Music Live! alongside True Blood's Stephen Moyer.
Together, the duo played the iconic roles of Maria von Trapp and Captain von Trapp, but as the night's broadcast aired, some people on social media thought Broadway actors or lesser-known performers could have better portrayed the von Trapps.
Even before Thursday's performance, Underwood received a barrage of hate tweets: "I think so many people out there still don’t understand what we’re doing, and therefore, they do have this incredible ownership over the movie, like 'You can’t remake that movie!' I get hate tweets and stuff like that and like, 'You’re not Julie Andrews!' I know I’m not — nobody is, and I would never pretend that I was. I know my place, you know?" she told Entertainment Weekly.
Underwood's comments didn't prevent the negative tweets from viewers on show day, as they continued to suggest alternative lead actresses, and provide stinging critiques:
Hey maybe the sound of music would have been good if you picked a a BROADWAY ACTRESS instead of CARRIE UNDERWOOD?????? #outraged— Deanna Doherty (@deanna_doherty) December 6, 2013
What if - instead of Carrie Underwood, they had simply cast "Carrie"? #SoundofMusic pic.twitter.com/C8VOuonb13— El_Merv (@GriffinClubMerv) December 6, 2013
The only thing that would make this Sound of Music worse is if Anne Hathaway was in it instead of Carrie Underwood.— Abe Yospe (@Cheeseboy22) December 6, 2013
However, one said the show wouldn't have been as big of ratings a hit without Underwood.
"Carrie Underwood is a huge star, and this production needed Carrie Underwood more than she needed it," Ammiel Kamon, executive vice-president of products and marketing at Internet content-analysis company Kontera, told Mashable. "Undoubtedly the original movie will stand the test of time as the better version, but 18-plus million viewers weren't going to tune in on Thursday to watch a rerun from 1965. The success of the special doesn't happen without Underwood, or at least another star of her caliber attached at the center of it."
If the real von Trapp family had cast Maria, they would have
">chosen Anne Hathaway instead -- at least that's what Maria's great-grandson Myles von Trapp Derbyshire told the Los Angeles Times -- because she "just won an Oscar for a similar situation [in Les Misérables]" and she "was able to act and sing."
Stephen Moyer faced similar criticism for his portrayal of Captain von Trapp:
THEY SHOULD HAVE DONE THIS. MT @DagDom17: Patrick Wilson is the Captain Von Trapp of my dreams. #SoundofMusic— Linda Holmes (@nprmonkeysee) December 6, 2013
.@christinecashen I think Blake Shelton should have been Captain Von Trapp. A Country Sound of Music.— Dave Lieber (@DaveLieber) December 6, 2013
The liberal use of swastikas during the PG-13 broadcast also surprised some viewers:
Only time that kids singing in front of swastikas will ever be broadcast on network tv you guys #TheSoundofMusicLive #SoundofMusic— K (@ktheletter) December 6, 2013
So long, farewell, SWASTIKAS, goodbye. #SoundofMusic— mah ree nah (@marinarachael) December 6, 2013
Viewers had forgotten and had to be reminded that the play was set in pre-WWII Austria.
Will the Ratings and Supporters Hush the Critics?
The short answer is no, critics will remain, but NBC's Sound of Music rendition had its fair share of high-profile praise from celebrities and everyday viewers alike. What's more, the higher-than-anticipated ratings only helped make the broadcast look good to millions of people who haven't yet watched the broadcast, or aren't monitoring social media.
I feel like last night, Twitter sat in front of the TV making fun of #SOML and then America told it to be quiet or go in the other room.— Mark Harris (@MarkHarrisNYC) December 6, 2013
Sound of Music was stunning-congrats to @neilmeron and @craigzadan for their brilliant work - and especially all the cast. magic.— John Stamos (@JohnStamos) December 6, 2013
@carrieunderwood Y'all did great! Brandon & I just finished watching & what an intense 3hrs that must have been 4 all of y'all! #singinglive— Kelly Clarkson (@kelly_clarkson) December 6, 2013
NBC's $9 million gamble was the network's biggest Thursday audience for a non-sports broadcast since 2004, when the finale for Frasier finished with 22.6 million viewers.
"The fact that everyone was talking about the live stunt seems like a good investment to me," Lost Remote's Edelsburg said. "[NBC] will obviously need to evolve it, hopefully by making their next stunt shorter than three hours."
All in all, the future looks promising for NBC and other networks to put on similar live-entertainment events -- particularly beloved musicals -- despite any snark and negative sentiment they may attract online.
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