Actors from Broadway to TV

[Gothampc]

Posted: 1/11/15 at 4:20pm

Tony Winners Angela Lansbury, Bea Arthur and Patti LuPone were all successful starring in tv shows.

Tony Winners Nathan Lane, Kristin Chenoweth and Dorothy Loudon were not as successful with their tv shows.

For the second group, was it poor timing, or wrong material or they just didn't have the "it" factor for television?

Now I'm talking about actors who specifically had a leading role in a television show, not as a supporting character.

[LarryD2]

Posted: 1/11/15 at 5:36pm

In the case of the three examples you cited, I think it has more to do with the fact that their three shows weren't very good (with Chenoweth's eponymous sitcom particularly awful).

I've heard some people try to blame the failure of Chenoweth's sitcom on it coming too early in her career, but I think if the material was good, things would have turned out differently. She's shown through her work on PUSHING DAISIES and her early guest appearances on GLEE that she's quite capable on television, albeit in supporting roles.

[haterobics]

Posted: 1/11/15 at 6:06pm

There is also the timing to factor in, since a show used to get more time to find its footing, and build an audience, whereas now, 2-3 bad weeks out of the gate and you're probably canceled. Seinfeld wasn't in the Top 30 until its fourth year, and would never have made year 2 or 3 these days...

Most/all(?) of your first list are older shows, and most/all(?) os your second list are more recent, so that is also an issue. The fact that the latter shows were not that good removes the fact that older shows were given more of a chance to get good. The first season of Seinfeld doesn't even seem like the same show when you watch it now.

[15minutecall]

Posted: 1/11/15 at 9:35pm

I disagree with your assessment about networks' lack of patience with TV shows these days. If a program has a loyal fanbase in a coveted demo, the networks tend to stand by it even with low ratings (ie The Office, 30 Rock, and Parks and Rec a few yrs ago and Hannibal and Jane the Virgin more recently). This season very few shows have been pulled early. Some have been cancelled but many of those have stayed on the air through the episodes that were originally bought - and none has built an audience.

[haterobics]

Posted: 1/11/15 at 10:38pm

"If a program has a loyal fanbase in a coveted demo..."

That's a pretty big caveat, though.

It is hard to disagree, of course, since your three examples are outliers from three different seasons that didn't get canceled (you could have mentioned Community, as well), whereas your examples from this season are "few," "some," and "many" as opposed to Selfie, Mulaney, Red Band Society (most likely gone), A to Z, Utopia, The Millers, Bad Judge, Manhattan Love Story, etc.

[15minutecall]

Posted: 1/12/15 at 2:51am

OK. Let's go with your "probably" being cancelled 2-3 out of the gate. 26 new shows have premiered this season. A large majority are still on.

Manhattan Love Story was the first to be cancelled after airing 4 episodes, the longest any network has waited to cancel its first show since '03. According to Ad Week, "This season, networks have been emphasizing the need to wait for delayed viewing ratings (live-plus-three and live-plus-seven) as viewers caught up with shows via DVR or VOD." Manhattan Love Story got only a 15% lift after 7 days of DVR viewing so out it went.

Selfie lasted 7 episodes on ABC and the rest of its initial order went to Hulu. Fox aired 13 episodes of Utopia, 9 so far of Mulaney with more allegedly to come until finishing its initial order, and 10 of Red Band Society. NBC has so far aired 11 of Bad Judge and 11 of A to Z. The Millers made it into its second season before being pulled. As for ones you haven't mentioned, only Gracepoint is officially not coming back and it was announced initially as a limited series anyway (though if its initial run had been a big hit, it would be coming back).

All others I believe are still on. That's remarkable. And very far from the probably cancelled after 2-3 bad weeks you mentioned.

[haterobics]

Posted: 1/12/15 at 3:20am

I'm counting a lot of these differently, though. They stopped production on Mulaney after they aired two episodes and shot 13, so whether they burn them off at 7:30p on the network or pop them online, it was still stopped after two episodes aired. So, if you want to count Mulaney as being canceled after 13, you can... but I'm still sticking with it being canceled after two weeks. Selfie was canceled after 6 weeks, but it had a decent debut that kept dwindling.

Beyond that, we've gone way off track as far as what the OP (or anyone, heh) intended to be discussing here, re: Broadway actors on TV. So, I'll let them try and get back on track...

[15minutecall]

Posted: 1/12/15 at 7:04am

To bring things back to the thread's main topic, most TV shows, like most Broadway shows, fail. I think the actors cited in the original post aren't the most accessible or relatable. But the material wasn't up to snuff either. Lane and Chenoweth have wisely accepted supporting roles to much success.

Martin Short, after failures of his own, has done the same. This season he's on Mulaney. And to respond, if I may, to your latest post haterobics, your example of the one show this season to be "stopped" after 2 episodes, still hasn't been officially cancelled. The network seems to like the show, having ordered additional episodes above the initial 6 while the show was still in production. But when it got terrible reviews and premiered to calamitous ratings, Fox stopped production. That hasn't stopped it from keeping the show on the network's most successful night in an effort to build an audience. And it has officially cancelled other shows. Still, except for one week in November, the ratings have continually slipped so it's surprising the axe hasn't swung. Fox has shown great patience and if the show had built or even stabilized, another order may have come through.

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 1/12/15 at 9:04am

A number of the shows you're discussing have already been cancelled (Bad Judge, A To Z, etc.), but are simply being aired to the completion of those episodes filmed (13). That is not successful.

[haterobics]

Posted: 1/12/15 at 10:43am

I'm afraid I still don't see your point, 15minutecall. Mulaney has been moved from prime time at 9:30p to pre-prime time at 7p, and while it hasn't been canceled, no one involved in the show (including Mulaney) have any expectation of a second season, and have said as much publicly. There does seem to be a new trend in shows not immediately disappearing, but the episodes already made being aired in some way, whether in some burn-off timeslot or online. And while I did think Selfie did show promise post-cancelation, as did others in the media (link under this), no one is rallying around any show on the chopping block that I'm aware of... (which doesn't mean they aren't, of course, only that I'm unaware of it...)

http://insidetv.ew.com/2014/11/11/selfie-canceled-in-memoriam/

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 1/12/15 at 12:10pm

How quickly a show fails is not much to the point if you are going back as far as Dorothy Loudon's failed sitcom in 1979! Television viewing has changed too much in the last 35 years to make any comparisons like that. Competition for viewers and how the networks handled the hits and misses has also changed.

It's an interesting subject, however, but if a show doesn't have viewers, it gets cancelled.

I think that is basically why some Bway peformers have success and failures as well. If they have a crappy show that noone watches, they'll get cancelled.

In the 50's, 60's and 70's, folks did become semi-famous for their Broadway roles, like Ms. Loudon, I'm sure. If you won a Tony back then, you'd likely end up with a sitcom or be a regular on Game Shows.

That doesnt happen as easily anymore, and certainly noone knew who Cheno was in TV land when her sitcom appeared. There was no, "OMIGOSH...that awesome talent who played Sally Brown has a sitcom now!"

If anyone knew Lane, it was from Birdcage, not Guy and Dolls.

That all changed when the Variety show died in the 70s. Rosie O'Donnell's was the only place someone would be exposed to Broadway actors, and it's not as if she called many, if any, of those performers to sit and chat.

A lot more people knew that Miss Hannigan had a sitcom in 1979 is my basic point. And 10 years before that, alot more people knew that the pretty star of "No Strings" had a sitcom...because they would've seen her on Ed Sullivan several times.

Lansbury was a movie star who had 3 oscar nominations under her belt when she was offered Jessica Fletcher after Jean Stapleton turned it down. She didnt get the job because she had been Mrs. Lovett.
Bea Arthur wasn't a household name until she served Archie Bunker Cream of Wheat with cheese. She was such a hit she got her own show, which was not that great, but people loved her.

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 1/12/15 at 12:26pm

Well if you saw the Rachel Barry Project in glee, theres your answer!

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 1/12/15 at 12:28pm

She won an emmy for pushing daisys. NOW ALL SHE NEEDS is a G and O to finish her EGOT.

[mordav]

Posted: 1/12/15 at 5:48pm

Limiting it to Broadway actors who have won a Tony (although some were on Broadway before, but won the Tony after, the TV show) I might include:
Ellen Burstyn (her own show and That’s Life)
Blythe Danner (Adam’s Rib)
Swoosie Kurtz (Love, Sydney; Sisters)
Judith Light (Who’s the Boss)
Katie Finneran (Wonderfalls)
Phylicia Rashad (Cosby Show)
Arthur Hill (Owen Marshall: Counsellor at Law)
Judd Hirsch (Taxi)
John Lithgow (3rd Rock)
Christian Borle (Smash)

(I could have included Christine Baranski, but I guess technically the show was ‘Cybil’. And Glenn Close, but she was a movie star before Damages)

I’m sure there are others, especially if you don’t restrict it to Tony winners. The first that came to my mind was Alan Alda.

I guess, as with the actors you have mentioned, the ones I have listed are a mix of successful and not so successful forays into television. But mostly successful, I think.

[YouWantitWhen????]

Posted: 1/12/15 at 5:59pm

Recently, Laura Benanti had two shows cancelled - Playboy Club and the show with Matthew Perry.
Aurda had a successful run on Private Practice, which she was one of the leads.
James Cordon (who is now getting his own talk show).

EDIT: Fixed - thanks - I always got PanAm and Playboy Club confused. Both seemed period shows to me with uncomfortable wardrobe choices for women!





Updated On: 1/12/15 at 05:59 PM

[promisespromises2]

Posted: 1/12/15 at 6:13pm

I thought Cheno was also fantastic in The West Wing. I won't even mention her "hit" sitcom.

Loved Audra in Private Practice, loved Benanti in The Playboy Club (not Pan Am^).

I really can't think of any Broadway actors that didn't give a decent performance on television, to be honest!

[JBradshaw]

Posted: 1/12/15 at 6:14pm

Laura was on the Playboy Club

Chenoweths sitcom failed cause it was terrible. Plain and simple.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 1/12/15 at 6:18pm

Bottom line: it has become impossible to compare current premieres with hits of the 1970s because the TV audience is so much smaller and there is so much more competition for the viewer's attention.

IMO, given a chance Chenoweth's sitcom might have been fixed.

And sorry to be argumentative, but Bea Arthur's sitcom, MAUDE, was NOT a mediocre show. I don't know whether it holds up today, but it was groundbreaking in its day. After 40 years, Maude remains the last major TV character who agonized over an abortion and then WENT AHEAD AND HAD ONE!

Throughout, it never appeared that Miss Arthur worried one whit whether she was "sympathetic" or "lovable" to the audience. Her relationship with her "mother" on GOLDEN GIRLS helped to humanize Arthur, but MAUDE was no more warm and cuddly than ARCHIE BUNKER.

[YouWantitWhen????]

Posted: 1/12/15 at 6:22pm

Thanks for the correction - I always got those two mixed up! They came and went about the same time.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 1/12/15 at 6:22pm

I don't know about Tony winners, but both Alan Alda and Dick Van Dyke went from Broadway to major TV success.