‘Peter Pan Live!’ preview: Is there a reason to watch Allison Williams’ big risk on NBC?

Last year, NBC did something with their programming that we never imagined a major network would want to do: Adapt a musical for live television, and have it cater to as large of an audience as possible. “The Sound of Music Live!” became a surprise hit, but if you looked online, it was not always for the right reasons. Carrie Underwood’s performance in particular was attacked, and the cynical nature of the internet went to battle against the very wholesome and earnest play.

Tomorrow night, NBC is doing this all over again with “Peter Pan Live!” and at least hoping for similar commercial results. We don’t see the show getting anywhere near “Sound of Music” numbers. Underwood was a bigger star than Allison Williams (best known for “Girls”), and we feel like more people were actually familiar with the music last time than they are here.

Obviously, there’s a good reason to watch if you are a family, and that is to give your kids quality programming that should be a nice use of their imagination. There won’t be anything questionable, and it will be most likely a fun time. That is more what the network should be going for than a snarky audience on Twitter.

In the end, your enjoyment of this will almost entirely depend on how you enter the show. If you’re watching just to make fun of it, then of course you’ll probably hate it! Everything about this musical makes it an easy target. We do hope, though, that the quality is overall top-notch, and at least the target audience enjoys it and it is enough to encourage the network to continue doing live theater. We are not the biggest musical fan, but we love it when networks take risks.

Are you going to watch “Peter Pan Live!” tomorrow, and for what reason? Share below, and be sure to also check out a video featuring Williams learning to fly! Also, sign up to get some further TV updates via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: NBC.)

http://youtu.be/DNn5edTC6k4