TV Quick Hits: NBC sets ‘The Music Man,’ Simon Cowell’s surprise; David Letterman on ‘The View’
“The Music Man” is coming! – Big news for all of you who wanted to start singing along to something different on NBC: The network is already planning a production of “The Music Man.”
While at the upfronts today, it was confirmed that the legendary musical will be the network’s production in late 2015, a year after they put on the air a production of “Peter Pan.” These are both follow-ups to the massive success of “The Sound of Music Live,” which featured Carrie Underwood in the Maria role.
Personally, we actually like “The Music Man” more as a choice than “Peter Pan,” since it is a little less overplayed and could be extremely successful with a big star on board it. Let’s just hope that by this time, other networks have not jumped all over this “live musicals on TV” idea and made the thing stale … kind of like what NBC did with singing competitions after they added “The Voice” to the roster of shows in the genre.
Letterman on “The View” – David Letterman rarely does interviews on shows other than his own, so him being on the daytime talk show this week is a testament to his respect for Barbara Walters … even if he has mocked her and her show on many occasions.
Letterman, after joking that he was looking for a job with the ladies, reiterated that he feels now like there are other things with his family he would rather be doing than working. Also, he explained that the landscape of TV now is something way different than it was when he first signed up for the job:
“Again this is a reason for me to think about going elsewhere. If you look at it, it really has shifted right underneath me … It’s not a TV show anymore; it’s like a marketplace where people can all connect and interact.”
Simon Cowell’s new series – In a part of a larger piece on the decline of music TV shows, Simon Cowell reportedly told the New York Times that there is a surprise series from him coming during the upfronts this week. We will have to wait and see what that is, but we know already that it is not “The X Factor” all over again.
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Photo: NBC