# The SBHonline Community Daily > Books, Movies, and TV >  >  Sound of Music Live

## JEK

Okay, who will admit to watching it? Reviews?

----------


## andynap

I saw 10 minutes just to see how Carrie Underwood did.

----------


## MIke R

we refused....even Lena refused

----------


## Grey

I watched the last 2/3s and followed along with the twitter comments.  I thought Carrie Underwood did a fine job.  I like the idea of live musicals on TV.  I hope NBC does more of them but they must be $$$.

----------


## amyb

I actually forgot this was on. I totally enjoyed CAMELOT done at Lincoln Center live about 2 or 3 years ago.

----------


## Grey

Also Audra McDonald singing Climb Every Mountain was a highlight.  Her voice gives me goosebumps.

----------


## MIke R

as bad ideas go this ranks right up there with a sequel to Its A Wonderful Life....

----------


## JEK

Purely for professional reasons we watched. The snark on Twitter was legendary. 

Some quotes from the Post:

They didn’t all get away clean: You can salute Underwood’s strong vocals and her bravery in stepping into the role, but it’s impossible not to notice that she can’t act.

Only the fantastic Audra McDonald, as Mother Abbess, left a lasting impression.

----------


## JEK

NYT

Casting Ms. Underwood, a country singer who won the “American Idol” competition in 2005, must have seemed like serendipitous synergy. But while she sang “Do-Re-Mi” and “The Sound of Music” (“The Hills Are Alive”) with lyricism and real power, Ms. Underwood doesn’t have a lot of experience or natural stage presence: She delivered her spoken lines with all the inflection and spontaneity of an in-flight safety video.

----------


## NHDiane

I couldn't bring myself to watch it....nothing can come close to the original cast, voices, scenery, etc.  Some things are better left at the original version without trying to copy it, because you can't come close.

----------


## Grey

The ratings were great so perhaps there will be more to come.

----------


## JEK

> The ratings were great so perhaps there will be more to come.



I like live TV -- fun to see a few fuzzy shots and booms looming overhead. Real TV. 




December 6, 2013
Live Performance of ‘Sound of Music’ Is Big Hit for NBC
By BILL CARTER
NBC’s gamble of filling an entire night with live musical theater paid off handsomely on Thursday as “The Sound of Music,” with Carrie Underwood in the Julie Andrews role of Maria, posted the network’s best entertainment ratings for a Thursday night since 2009.


In preliminary ratings, the special pulled in 18.5 million viewers, the best number for any entertainment show on NBC this season, and an excellent 4.6 rating in the most important category for advertisers, viewers aged 18 to 49.


Nothing on NBC — other than sports — has done as well on a Thursday night since April 2, 2009, when it aired the finale of “E.R.” In terms of a three-hour average audience, NBC has not done as well since May 13, 2004, a night that included the finale of “Frasier,” which attracted more than 22 million viewers.


The ratings results defied the expectations from many quarters of the television business, where the idea of a live musical on television was considered a grandiose folly. The performance attracted a host of snarky comments on Twitter during its three-hour airing, some from fans of the movie, but mostly from those members of the public who proudly call themselves “hate-watchers.”


The reception from professional reviewers, forced to write after the fact, was also largely negative. But none of that appeared to have an impact on the numbers.


The unexpectedly big success is a coup for Robert Greenblatt, the chairman of entertainment for NBC, who has been the prominent advocate for Broadway-style entertainment on the network. (Mr. Greenblatt has been a Broadway producer himself.)


His first effort in this direction, the drama “Smash,” did not work out as he hoped, but this gamble — live theater on network television, a throwback to earlier eras of the medium and events like “Peter Pan” and “Cinderella” — paid off so well it is almost a certainty that the network will be looking for other musicals to mount live around holidays.

----------


## T3

I am too young to have seen the original but I do prefer Julie Andrews' vocals over those of the also-wonderful Mary Martin who would have been too old to pull off the part in the movie anyway ... anything that keeps theatrical versions of the great American musicals alive by bringing them to a new and young audience, at least some of who will be sufficiently interested to go on to find earlier versions, is OK with me ... at least until Miley and Robin Thicke are cast in The King and I ...

----------


## amyb

That's funny.  I too enjoy original Broadway shows and then the revivals. Lovers of opera has been doing this for centuries and it works for them.

----------


## andynap

Carrie Underwood coming up on GMA to answer her critics

----------


## MIke R

> Carrie Underwood coming up on GMA to answer her critics



she went out with Tony Romo...thats all I need to know.....genetic selection at work

----------


## NHDiane

> she went out with Tony Romo...thats all I need to know.....genetic selection at work



Wow - a bit snarky aren't we????

----------


## andynap

It's snarkie- Italian version

----------


## MIke R

> Wow - a bit snarky aren't we????



calling it as I see it.....like I always do  :Star:

----------


## NHDiane

Snarky....my preference..non-Italian

----------


## NHDiane

> calling it as I see it.....like I always do



You never disappoint  :Big Grin:

----------


## andynap

You can't call an Italian a non-Italian name. He won't recognize it  :tongue:

----------


## andynap

Anyway, Carrie Underwood is a good singer. Who's Romo?

----------


## NHDiane

I agree Andy, she's excellent

----------


## MIke R

she is  a hack

----------


## andynap

At least she's young, can sing and is alive unlike the people you like. :uncomfortableness:

----------


## MIke R

> . Who's Romo?



he had BETTER be the guy beating Chicago tonight...or I am going to dislike him even more than I do now...LOL

----------


## phil62

Well, that makes at least 2 of us rooting for him. Should be an interesting game. The Cowboys have been playing pretty well lately. A good game from DeMarcus Murray would help.

Phil

----------


## MIke R

yeah but then we have to go to Dallas and end your season as a thank you next Sunday.....LOL....but without Rodgers we have little chance of doing that...

----------


## phil62

I think for us it's going to come down to the last game of the season against Philly. Just like last year except then it was the Redskins.

----------


## rivertrash

> Well, that makes at least 2 of us rooting for him. Should be an interesting game. The Cowboys have been playing pretty well lately. A good game from DeMarcus Murray would help.
> 
> Phil



At least 3

----------


## rivertrash

Just sat down in front of TV.  I know it's cold in Chicago, but is it wet?  Windy?

----------


## JEK

+1   :thumb up:

----------

