How NBC Brought Live Musicals Back to Television — SkimNews
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- NBC's live musical era began under Bob Greenblatt, who became NBC Entertainment chairman after Comcast's January 2011 takeover and made televised musicals a cornerstone of his turnaround strategy for the struggling network.
- "The Sound of Music Live!" aired Dec. 5, 2013, with Carrie Underwood as Maria and Stephen Moyer as Capt. Von Trapp, broadcast from Grumman Studios on Long Island — drawing 18 million-plus viewers, nearly double NBC's internal target of 10 million.
- Greenblatt credits late producer Craig Zadan and Neil Meron for selecting "Sound of Music" as the first, citing its broad cross-generational appeal and the fact that it was constantly being staged worldwide.
- NBC produced four follow-up live musicals: "Peter Pan Live!" (Dec. 2, 2014, with Allison Williams and Christopher Walken), "The Wiz Live!" (Dec. 3, 2015), "Hairspray Live!" (Dec. 7, 2016), and "Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert" (April 1, 2018, with John Legend and Sara Bareilles).
- Fox copied the format with "Grease: Live" in 2016 and "Rent: Live" in 2019 — what Greenblatt calls "the sincerest form of flattery in TV."
- A planned "Bye Bye Birdie" starring Jennifer Lopez never materialized in 2017, and Greenblatt's NBC tenure ended in fall 2018.
- Greenblatt reveals he is currently in talks with NBC and ABC about producing a brand-new live musical, saying "long may they live."
Why it matters: NBC turned a programming gamble into five consecutive live-musical hits and a format rivals felt compelled to imitate, proving that big live-event programming could anchor a broadcast network's identity. Greenblatt's 2018 departure and ongoing talks with NBC and ABC suggest the format isn't finished — networks still see live musicals as a mass-audience play.
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