ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:
The hills will be alive with "The Sound of Music" on NBC. Thursday night, the musical will be performed on a Long Island soundstage and broadcast live. For more on why, we're joined by Brian Steinberg, a senior TV editor at Variety.
Welcome to the program.
BRIAN STEINBERG: Hi, how are you?
SIEGEL: And first, why re-create this story when a much-beloved movie version already exists and lives on in the hearts of millions of fans worldwide?
STEINBERG: Well, I think NBC is banking on yes, it is a classic film, millions of people know it, but there is a younger generation that may not know it as well. And they may not be as offended or have their sensibilities affected by seeing a new version featuring Carrie Underwood versus Julie Andrews on their TV screen.
SIEGEL: And what's the point of doing it live?
STEINBERG: Well, in these days of DVRs and streaming your favorite show, the TV networks see some value in these kind of like live, they call them spectaculars, things you would not normally see on TV. And they feel they can get a unified audience to kind of congregate around a TV screen the way that people did 20, 30 years ago and they do not do now.
SIEGEL: In this experience for Carrie Underwood, I gather, would be completely novel. Julie Andrews had been Eliza Doolittle in "My Fair Lady" when she - this was a star of Broadway when she performed in "The Sound of Music." This must be incredibly daunting to do it live on television.
STEINBERG: I would think so. I mean look, Carrie Underwood is not an unseasoned person. She is not a theatrical person though. Though I would argue that in today's Hollywood and Broadway, you are seeing more people come to the stage who do not come from a theater background. They are movie stars or TV stars or even reality stars.
SIEGEL: We should define live a little bit here. The music will all be recorded - that is the instruments - and the performers will sing live to that playback. So the singing is live, the accompaniment isn't. That's a - I guess that's mostly live.
STEINBERG: Yeah, I think today's era that is mostly live. Many of the programs you see on TV when people sing, they are singing to a click track. I think you can almost spot lip-synching on a regular basis these days.
SIEGEL: Since there is some track record for this with "30 Rock" or years ago with "ER," do we know that it actually is a draw, that if you promote live television happening that actually there are bigger audiences than you might have received otherwise?
STEINBERG: It is by and large a stunt. I think what they're banking on is like the Super Bowl or a big, live sports event. People who are really interested in this won't want to read about it on Twitter or hear about reactions to it later on. And I don't think they boost overall ratings. They certainly give the networks something to talk about and to give a hook to the viewer to kind of tune in over anything else that might be on the air that night.
SIEGEL: You know, back in the days when there used to be live TV dramas all the time, there were also live commercials sometimes. You know? And people would be there with the pitcher pouring the beverage or standing next to the car. They're not talking about live commercials this time, are they?
STEINBERG: You know, I have a question about that. I actually am trying to find that out for myself, because I'd love to find that out. Now, I will tell you with "30 Rock," for example, when they had a live episode a few seasons back, they actually had a flashback to the "Kraft Product Placement Hour," a fake fictional show, but yet a real advertiser behind it.
SIEGEL: Yeah, but the Von Trapps couldn't be driving a Toyota or something like that. It wouldn't make any sense.
STEINBERG: In today's world, where ad money is a dear premium, I bet they could find some way to make it work.
SIEGEL: OK. Brian Steinberg, thanks a lot for talking with us.
STEINBERG: Thank you.
SIEGEL: Brian Steinberg, senior TV editor at Variety, who was speaking with us about a new production of "The Sound of Music," which airs live on NBC this Thursday.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CLIMB EV'RY MOUNTAIN")
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