NBC's ANNIE LIVE! (2021) - News & Discussion Thread — Page 24

Marlothom said: "For some reason, I kept hearing something similar to stage manger directions for 3/4 of the show ("Grace continues to dance with the 'servants' and joins Ms. Pugh playing the piano). It was very odd, anyone else get that?"

Sounds like somehow you turned on an audio description feed. It's sort of like closed captioning, but for people who are visually impaired.

BrodyFosse123 said: "iluvtheatertrash said: "Not sure how anyone could have watched last night and found nothing kind to say. How could someone not be amazed by Celina’s skill at such an age?"

Apparently you’re not aware she’s a series regular on the Tyler Perry series YOUNG DYLAN, therefore she is experienced working with cameras, learning scripts, working with other actors and camera blocking, etc. The only addition was she was singing. She wasn’t “discovered” at Taco Bell."

Gee, it must suck to be as miserable as you seem to be all the time.

Luscious said: "Just dreadful. The staging was all wrong. This should have never been performed in the round with the audience in clear view throughout. It's not that kind of show and the audience serves no purpose. ANNIE is not JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR. Additionally, the sets looked cheap and cheesy, although, personally I find cheesy and ANNIE to be synonymous. The casting was all wrong. I won't go into the shortcomings of almost all involved, but Taraji P. Hensen was just the worst! This woman does not belong in a musical anything. She doesn't have a voice. And I could possibly forgive her insufferable mugging if any of it was even the least bit funny. Harry Connick, Jr, was also woefully miscast and not in good voice. If this wasn't the worst of the LIVE TV musicals, it came damn close. Bah humbug."



Maybe you shouldn't be watching, then? Surely there was a rerun of Matlock or Murder She Wrote on another channel that you could have switched to??

Rating were... not stellar. Sadly.

A shame because this was way better than many of the others.

Did anyone get a little teary-eyed at the end, when it started out with the whole cast singing "Tomorrow", and then they leave and the girls from the beginning of the show sing it, and Celina and Molly sing the last two lines on their own, before the production company logos showed up? I sure did

Honor2002 said: "Did anyone get a little teary-eyed at the end, when it started out with the whole cast singing "Tomorrow", and then they leave and the girls from the beginning of the show sing it, and Celina and Molly sing the last two lines on their own, before the production company logos showed up? I sure did"

I went from three hours of "Oh this is all so fun!" to almost bursting into tears. It was a beautiful ending that we all needed.

I real liked the dog.

I never suggested she was discovered at Taco Bell. And skill goes well beyond being able to follow blocking and find a camera spot - she gave a beautifully mature performance and carried the show wonderfully.

Dollypop said: "Drat! Somehow I thought this was going to air on the 7th and watched that over-long Alec Baldwin interview. Hopefully ANNIE will re-air.

Judging from the comments about Harry's bald cap, I'm glad I shaved my head when I played Warbucks."

It’s already on Peacock TV. Download the app and you can watch it for free.

Wait can you not just watch in nbc with a cable provider log in???

my fav of the night is when the camera pan over to the ensemble hunched over and tip toeing to get to the next scene. everyone was amazing. no weak links in the cast. camera was just crazy at times. it was a moving night. mr bundles forever

BCfitasafiddle said: "Rating were... not stellar. Sadly.

A shame because this was way better than many of the others."

I’m not really sure we can look at ratings the same way anymore to compare. When Sound of Music was on, for example, streaming tv was not the norm. You watched it on the one night, maybe they re-broadcast over the weekend once and then if you wanted you could buy the DVD. Annie watching on the other hand will be spread out over time. Most people who I personally know (with kids) plan to watch it over the weekend. Why would you keep a child up on a school night until 11pm if you have other options?

I loved a lot of this. I would have changed a bunch of things but overall it I enjoyed much of it. I agree the kids overall as a group were pretty impressive.

Sadly, practically everyone gets noted at the end during the credits …. except the musicians. It’s the usual..and completely unfair. I would like to applaud them here..they sounded terrific.

Updated On: 12/4/21 at 11:21 PM

Exactly. Five million might not seem like much when compared to 18 million, but numbers are down across the board for live TV as opposed to streaming. It was still the top-rated non-NFL program of the night.

For the most part, I loved it, bald cap and all. (C'mon, Harry, Albert Finney and Victor Garber shaved their heads, you couldn't do the same?) But the thing with Miss Hannigan in the end was awfully jarring. I know that a couple of adaptations (if you can even call the 2014 version an "adaptation" seem to want to redeem Miss Hannigan, but at least these versions gave some motivation. Carol Burnett's Hannigan had a change of heart when she realized she didn't want Annie DEAD no matter how much she disliked her, and Cameron Diaz' Hannigan--as lousy as this movie was--had a backstory that explained her choices and mistakes, as well as her desperation to be back on "Easy Street" after her early fame. But there was no motivation here, no buildup--we were supposed to believe Hannigan was just going to turn on her brother when they were on the verge of a huge payout. And Warbucks already KNEW Rooster and Lily were frauds, so it had no impact on the plot anyway! What was going on here? It was the only real blot on a nice evening.