SOM adds 3 million delayed viewers- Page 3

[madbrian]

Posted: 12/13/13 at 11:21am

Well, at least to take the wheel.

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 12/13/13 at 1:50pm

Updated On: 12/13/13 at 01:50 PM

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 12/13/13 at 2:05pm

Yup. It's only me who has commented on the Jesus comment. I am the lone contrarian in the face of 19,999,9999 people.
Updated On: 12/13/13 at 02:05 PM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 12/13/13 at 2:17pm

"For someone who so vehemently opposes Carrie..."

I'm asking this because I am curious. Is this all a part of the American Idolization of American Culture that every opinion is taken as a "vote" and every disagreeing opinion needs to be shouted down like Republican opponents in an endless primary season? I am just not getting it.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 12/13/13 at 2:36pm

"y'all mothaf*ckas need Jesus" is a common idiom,

Not among us Jews.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 12/13/13 at 2:45pm

y'all muthaf---in' goyem need golems

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 12/13/13 at 3:02pm

Don't argue with Liza's Headband - he's in television, in case you haven't heard.

Updated On: 12/13/13 at 03:02 PM

[jv92]

Posted: 12/13/13 at 5:59pm

I've been doing my best do avoid this place (BWW), especially during this SOUND OF MUSIC-frenzy period. But I need to add my two cents (and I'm sure some of you agree with me). Ms. Underwood's "Mean people need Jesus" comment could be taken two ways. One could take it the way I did and think, "What a dense and delusional girl!", or be offended, which I think is perfectly valid. Not everyone believes in Jesus, and the non-Christian people of the world have done perfectly fine without him, including the Jewish born Richard Rodgers, and the half-Jewish Oscar Hammerstein. (Who, BTW, did not tell Walter Kerr he needed to go to temple more after he was critical of THE SOUND OF MUSIC in its original staging.)

But whatever. I'm going against my grain and posting here simply because now, via Twitter, Laura Benanti has branded anyone who was critical of her dear co-star's performance, and who Tweeted mildly bitchy things during the program last week as "evil." Hitler was evil. Dick Cheney is evil. I don't much care for Ben Brantley, but I wouldn't put him, a critic (and a mildly snarky one at that) in the same category. Nor would I put anyone who criticized Ms. Underwoods very sub-par acting, professional or non-professional, in that category.

Ms. Benanti obviously needs to realize what evil actually means as much as Carrie Underwood needs to learn that not everyone needs Jesus. This whole program, which mind you, I found very well done save for Ms. Underwood and the first half of Mr. Moyer's performance (He got much better with time), has left a bad taste in my mouth, and I can't quite pinpoint why. Is it because I, and anyone who is even slightly negative, is being branded as "evil" or "hateful" or words that should be associated with mass murderers and the current GOP, when in fact, we have taste and high standards when it comes to professional theater, whether onstage or on TV? I think so. Who does Ms. Underwood have dirty pictures of to deserve such a blatant free pass? I am glad NBC plans another live musical TV event (and I hope it's Hugh Jackman in THE MUSIC MAN...anyone?). I don't think the show exposed musical theater to a new audience anymore than a kid being dragged to a show on Broadway when he'd rather watch MTV would, but if it did, very nice. It's THE SOUND OF MUSIC, which everyone and his mother knows, not anything more than that.

I would hope that these delusional people will wake up from their Carrie Underwood induced coma in 2014. As Fred Ebb wrote, "What ever happened to class?"

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 12/13/13 at 6:30pm

Did she seriously say "evil"? That's just so dramatic. I would say rude, especially the personal attacks she received.

"Is it because I, and anyone who is even slightly negative, is being branded as "evil" or "hateful" or words that should be associated with mass murderers and the current GOP, when in fact, we have taste and high standards when it comes to professional theater, whether onstage or on TV? I think so."

I think so, too. She shouldn't get a pass, but she also shouldn't receive threats and abuse. We expect great theater but the bottom line will always prevail, especially in a musical on television. Sigh.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 12/13/13 at 6:57pm

You're vastly misrepresenting Laura Benanti's Tweet:

===


Laura Benanti ?@LauraBenanti 3h
Sound of Music is re-airing tomorrow night. If you want to use your thumbs for evil, suck on them instead. Twittle before you tweet.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 12/13/13 at 6:57pm

For instance, I don't think she is actually describing a dress here:

===

Laura Benanti ?@LauraBenanti 12 Dec
My little black dress is actually a sweat suit.

Updated On: 12/13/13 at 06:57 PM

[jv92]

Posted: 12/13/13 at 7:15pm

PJ, if you could tell me how I'm misrepresenting her tweet, I'd appreciate it. I don't think I am. She might have thrown a cute joke in at the end, but I got the idea that she was insinuating that the Tweets last week (hate mail aside, though I think Ms. Underwood is misinterpreting hate mail as bitchy show queen mail) were "evil" because of the negativity aimed as her co-star.

In any event, Marc Shaiman's bizarre rant and Carrie Underwood's own response already put a bad taste in my mouth. If Ms. Benanti did not intend to do the same, I apologize as much as the rest of her cronies ought to apologize for being delusional cry babies.



Updated On: 12/13/13 at 07:15 PM

[PalJoey]

Posted: 12/13/13 at 7:47pm

She's not using "evil" in the sense of a philosophical or theological concept of good and evil, as in Satan or Hitler or Pol Pot.

She's using "evil" in the way that drag queens or the Designing Women would use: "Girrrrrrrl, don't be so EEEEEE-vulll!"

[jv92]

Posted: 12/13/13 at 8:14pm

See, I never watched DESIGNING WOMEN. Now I have a better understanding of the multi-useful word "evil." (Though I still think it's a liTTle bit harsh, even for Dixie Carter, rest her soul.)

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 12/13/13 at 11:28pm

"(hate mail aside, though I think Ms. Underwood is misinterpreting hate mail as bitchy show queen mail)"

And, yet, we have no idea what she has and hasn't received. So this particular argument doesn't really work...

[ModernMillie3]

Posted: 12/13/13 at 11:43pm

Of course we have, she has stated as such. It's odd you claim to know so much about tv (you don't), the SOML, and Carrie Underwood yet you don't know this very public fact.

Get a life Liza, like, outside Broadwayworld.

"Don't argue with Liza's Headband - he's in television, in case you haven't heard." GOLD! It's also not true considering all day, every day, he is on here.....

[PalJoey]

Posted: 12/14/13 at 12:09am

Of course we have, she has stated as such.

What exactly has she stated? Can you give us exact quotes?

Because I believe that you and many others are actually embroidering on what she actually stated.

Can you find links that demonstrate what you claim she has actually stated?

[artscallion]

Posted: 12/14/13 at 7:54am

"...I think Ms. Underwood is misinterpreting hate mail as bitchy show queen mail."

I'm not sure I understand the difference myself. What's the difference between "bitchy show queen mail" and hate mail? This sounds a little like Megan Kelly excusing her racism because it was just tongue-in-cheek for children.

[jv92]

Posted: 12/14/13 at 9:33am

I would classify hate mail as someone telling her to kill herself or words to the effect that the sender threatens to harm her or her loved ones.

Now, perhaps she did get such mail, and if so, those people need serious mental evaluations because it's THE SOUND OF MUSIC, not FOLLIES. (I kid, I kid.) If she has received death threats, that's uncalled for and really f*cked up.

But I'm just assuming, and I often make wrong assumptions, that she's considering the bitchy (if apt) "Carrie Underwooden" jokes "hate mail." And if making a joke about someone's acting-- which is not the same as Megan Kelly making jokes about race on a "news" program in 2013 under a black president-- is considered hate mail, then I suppose "hate" as well as "evil" have broader definitions these days.

Updated On: 12/14/13 at 09:33 AM

[PalJoey]

Posted: 12/14/13 at 9:41am

She received no death threats.

[jv92]

Posted: 12/14/13 at 9:44am

Well, that's a relief. 'Cuz then I would truly lose all hope in humanity and the mental health of Julie Andrews fans.

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 12/14/13 at 10:46am

"But I'm just assuming, and I often make wrong assumptions, that she's considering the bitchy (if apt) "Carrie Underwooden" jokes "hate mail."'

Assumptions can be a very dangerous thing.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 12/14/13 at 11:43am

Wasn't you that wanted to assume since we couldn't prove she didn't get death threats, that she might have? (Could have been someone else...)

[jv92]

Posted: 12/14/13 at 11:46am

Believe me, Liza. I know. But if PJ is confirming that Ms. Underwood received no death threats, than I think we can just call "hate mail" "snarky tweets", and there's a big difference between the two.

Anyway, I still would like to know WHY the industry is "rah-rah"-ing around a perfectly pleasant country singer who attempted to do a TV musical, but still lacked the chops to DO the role, and why anyone who's in touch with the reality of her performance is being told that they're mean, or in Ms. Underwood's case, need Jesus? I mean, honestly, does she have dirty pictures of someone?

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 12/14/13 at 1:16pm

Some of you on this thread are way too invested in this. It's bordering on creepy.