“Grease Live!” and “Hairspray Live!”: The Top 25 Shows of 2016, No. 14

First up was Foxamp8217s Grease Live which in January broke away from the revived livemusical format previously perfected in recent years by NBC by spreading itself over multiple sets indoors and outside and narrowly avoiding a natural disaster at the end of an atypically rainy day in LA amp8211 the rain ended mere moments before the telecast began as if God wanted to sit back and enjoy the show There had never been a program quite like it on television amp8211 it was more like a live movie than anything else Athletic Aaron Tveit and Julianne Hough pictured at top were just fine as Danny and Sandy though nobody will ever top John Travolta and Olivia Newton John in those roles but the standout was High School Musical alumna Vanessa Hudgens as rough and rueful Rizzo in a performance made all the more moving by the fact that Hudgensamp8217 father had passed away the night before It is said that the show must go on In this contextamp160Hudgens was humblingIt should come as no surprise really that Grease Live was the most entertaining telecast of the year because it was directed by Thomas Kail then still basking in the glow of his previous achievement a little Broadway production called HamiltonDecember brought with it NBCamp8217s fourth live holiday musical presentation amp8211 Hairspray Live amp8211 the second most entertaining telecast of 2016 amp160Also produced in Hollywood over multiple indoor and outdoor sets with the glorious mountains of ahem Baltimore plainly visible in the background it played more like Grease Live than NBCamp8217s previous live musicals The Sound of Music Live Peter Pan Live and The Wiz Live amp160And yet it never had the feeling of a movie rather it was something singular amp8211 and sensationalThe production itself was glorious but what really stood out for me was the integration of sponsors into the fun sometimes in the form of live retro commercials keeping with the nostalgic narrative of the show at other times via amp8220ordinaryamp8221 ads with colorful borders around them the logo of the sponsor boldly displayed at the bottom of the screen and a livefeed showing behindthescenes activity on the set at lower rightHairspray Live will be remembered for many things including the careerlaunching performances of Maddie Baillio as Tracy Turnblad and Ephraim Sykes as her pal Seaweed J Stubbs and sadly those annoying cuts before commercial breaks to kinetic host Darren Criss and members of a live audience Way to kill the mood folks NBC please donamp8217t ever do that againMy final thought NBC ought to make The Corny Collins Show the live variety program in Hairspray Live into a live weekly Saturday night series or at least a series of specials leading into the nightamp8217s 10 pm repeat of Saturday Night Live and later original SNL telecasts Iamp8217m serious about thisamp160 Itamp8217s called thinking outside the box which is exactly what the broadcast networks must continue to do if they are to survive and thrivePreviously in the Top 25 CountdownNo 15amp160BBC America39s London SpyNo 16 American Idol Bids Farewell For NowNo 17 Colorized Classics on CBSNo 18 James Corden39s Carpool KaraokeNo 19 South Park Takes on Donald TrumpNo 20 Bates Motel PsychodramaNo 21 Return of The ExorcistNo 22 Tosh0 is Still TV39s Funniest ShowNo 23 Kelly Ripa39s Cavalcade of CoHostsNo 24 Sarah Paulson Kate McKinnon on NBC Late NightNo 25 Hallmark39s Happy Yule Logamp160Click the social buttons above or below to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this article are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated bloggersamp160

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“Grease Live!” and “Hairspray Live!”: The Top 25 Shows of 2016, No. 14

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Ed Martin

"About That with Carl Mayer": Involved Media Connected Audience Fall 2024 Report (Episode 5) - By Carl Mayer

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“Grease Live!” and “Hairspray Live!”: The Top 25 Shows of 2016, No. 14

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"About That with Carl Mayer": Involved Media Connected Audience Fall 2024 Report (Episode 5) - By Carl Mayer

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