The WIZ LIVE : post your comments and thoughts live during the show here- Page 11

[musicaljen]

Posted: 12/4/15 at 11:49am

Fact still remains that it did not reach the same audience as the first one did. No I did not watch, because the show does not appeal to me, but I am not surprised by the ratings. Fact is that whatever they do, there are going to deliver that number maybe around 13 million, because a lot of people would like to see Broadway shows, but not all can afford a thicket. prices are so high these days.

I think the ratings are very good, but it would have been twice or even three times the number if it was The Wizard of OZ.

Unfortunately I kept hearing comments at how racial the piece is. A joke went on that now we should have a Jewish Wiz, Hispanic and also a Polish. My colleges this am kept laughing about it all the time. That being said I might watch it on demand, just to see if it is really that racial.

 

[Theater_Nerd]

Posted: 12/4/15 at 11:54am

musicaljen said: "Fact still remains that it did not reach the same audience as the first one did. No I did not watch, because the show does not appeal to me, but I am not surprised by the ratings. Fact is that whatever they do, there are going to deliver that number maybe around 13 million, because a lot of people would like to see Broadway shows, but not all can afford a thicket. prices are so high these days.

 

I think the ratings are very good, but it would have been twice or even three times the number if it was The Wizard of OZ.

 

 

 

Unfortunately I kept hearing comments at how racial the piece is. A joke went on that now we should have a Jewish Wiz, Hispanic and also a Polish. My colleges this am kept laughing about it all the time. That being said I might watch it on demand, just to see if it is really that racial.

 

 

Well musicaljen since you brought up facts, you forgot another one. "The Wiz" was better reviewed and generally better received than "The Sound of Music".

 

Time magazine even went so far to say that it was the best production out of the 3 NBC has done.

 

That seems to be the general consensus.

 

You are definitely entitled to your opinion but your posts "reads" as very, anti-Wiz. Almost as if you were grasping at something, anything to just put it down.

 

 

 

"

 

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 12/4/15 at 11:59am

Well, Jen, sorry that you're surrounded with "colleges" who are bigots and morons. 

[Theater_Nerd]

Posted: 12/4/15 at 12:00pm

Unfortunately I kept hearing comments at how racial the piece is. A joke went on that now we should have a Jewish Wiz, Hispanic and also a Polish. My colleges this am kept laughing about it all the time. That being said I might watch it on demand, just to see if it is really that racial.

 

"The Wiz" is an adaptation and an African-American revision of L. Frank Baum's "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz". It is by no means, racial or racist in any way, shape or form. There are no racial connotations in the text or it's score. It isn't anti-anything to do with race. You will clearly see this if you ever give yourself the chance to view it with an open mind.

 

To actually think that "The Wiz" could be racial or racist is extremely narrow minded of you and your colleagues. It makes absolutely no sense at all.

 

I have to re-iterate that you come off as very bothered that NBC chose to do "The Wiz" in the first place.

 

I would even go as far as to say that maybe, just maybe you have a problem with this particular show because it is an African American show.

Updated On: 12/4/15 at 12:00 PM

[Showface]

Posted: 12/4/15 at 12:07pm

I loved it! What can I say that hasnt been said in all of the raves and excellent reviews? What can I say that hasn't been displayed by the stellar ratings?

Shanice Williams is a star.

Mary J Blige delivered an etertaining performance.

Emerald City apparently equals Atlanta. (I loved the voguing and all of the street dances they added) 

Amber Riley is severely underrated

Queen Latifah was great

Dorothy's friends made a great "squad"

Stephanie Mills made the most of a small part, and she was so terrific 

The script had flaws, but I still enjoyed it!

[Jay94]

Posted: 12/4/15 at 12:10pm

For those who are familiar with the original production, how faithful was this version?

 

On a side note, I was rather underwhelmed by the proscenium arch approach and the projections. It seemed like a step down from the more elaborate production in Peter Pan.

[Showface]

Posted: 12/4/15 at 12:10pm

musicaljen said: "Fact still remains that it did not reach the same audience as the first one did. No I did not watch, because the show does not appeal to me, but I am not surprised by the ratings. Fact is that whatever they do, there are going to deliver that number maybe around 13 million, because a lot of people would like to see Broadway shows, but not all can afford a thicket. prices are so high these days.

 

I think the ratings are very good, but it would have been twice or even three times the number if it was The Wizard of OZ.

 

Unfortunately I kept hearing comments at how racial the piece is. A joke went on that now we should have a Jewish Wiz, Hispanic and also a Polish. My colleges this am kept laughing about it all the time. That being said I might watch it on demand, just to see if it is really that racial.

 

 

 

"

Didn't you predict it would flop? 

 

The ratings and the reviews that proclaimed it better than the past two NBC musicals (though that bar was pretty low) beg to differ

[Jay94]

Posted: 12/4/15 at 12:19pm

Another thought, I liked how up-beat and fun this version was compared to the weird and depressing movie. I guess it shows how wrong they got it in the movie.

[Up In One]

Posted: 12/4/15 at 12:19pm

I thought the Rihanna commercial was the best staged moment of the night. Kenny Leon is not a musical comedy director and obviously not a TV director. NBC should follow the National Theater's lead in live broadcasting with an audience. Most musicals are designed for applause - live theater means the audience is another character in the room.  The segues from over the top musical buttons to the next line of dialogue were painful - there was more dead air in the studio than a vacuum chamber.  If any of the three shows cried out for an audience it was this one. From all the marketing material that was put out on the show it felt as if they had a long rehearsal period, imagine what could have been done if they were taping all those weeks. 

[musicaltheatreman2]

Posted: 12/4/15 at 12:25pm

 

The ratings are in and it bet Peter Pan and came in a few numbers below the sound of music,but over the show had good ratings!!! 

http://tvline.com/2015/12/04/the-wiz-live-ratings-nbc/

[musicaljen]

Posted: 12/4/15 at 12:36pm

I have said from Day 1 that I did not like the piece. Nothing wrong with being anti-Wiz. My point was, shouldn't they do something that should be better and score more ratings than The Sound of Music did?? With both the Wiz and Pan, that failed.

Showface, I did not say the show would be a flop, I said it will not deliver the ratings SOM did and I was right. Was The Wiz good, was it bad, that I don't know since I have not seen it.  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3345408/Social-media-flooded-racist-tweets-black-Wiz-Live-musical-special-kicks-off.html

Apparently this was not only from a handful of people that this show was seen from that perspective.

A review did state that The Wiz Live! was better than Pan but not as involving as Sound of Music.

 

 

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 12/4/15 at 12:36pm

The ratings and the reviews that proclaimed it better than the past two NBC musicals (though that bar was pretty low) beg to differ

 

Just for the sake of accuracy... That bolded part simply cannot be true since SOUND OF MUSIC easily beat it out with respect to ratings/demo/etc. To make a persuasive argument, you must be accurate! 

[Showface]

Posted: 12/4/15 at 12:38pm

Liza's Headband said: "The ratings and the reviews that proclaimed it better than the past two NBC musicals (though that bar was pretty low) beg to differ

 

 

 

Just for the sake of accuracy... That bolded part simply cannot be true since SOUND OF MUSIC easily beat it out with respect to ratings/demo/etc. To make a persuasive argument, you must be accurate! 

 

"

That's true. When I was drafting the post, I took out some parts, and obviously I took out some facts. My bad!

[Up In One]

Posted: 12/4/15 at 12:44pm

16 best and worst Wiz moments - agree/disagree?

 

http://tvline.com/gallery/the-wiz-live-best-worst-moments-photos/#!1/the-wiz-live-season1/

Posted: 12/4/15 at 12:44pm

"shouldn't they do something that should be better and score more ratings than The Sound of Music did?? With both the Wiz and Pan, that failed."

musicaljen, unless you are a psychic, nobody knows what will beat the Sound of Music or not. What does it matter if they beat it or not? They still got very nice ratings. I think because The Sound of Music was so awful, and Carrie Underwood was terrible, people didn't even tune in last year. The Wiz excited people, and got people talking positively about it on social media, which made people want to see it, which is why they got better ratings than last year.

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 12/4/15 at 12:49pm

The Sound of Music also had the novelty factor. It's kind of unfair to expect any of these to top it; I imagine the producers are relieved that they bounced back from Pan. 

 

Also, I was about to explain why some butthurt white people are not a good indication of how big the audience could be if they're reaching out to other demographics and so on, but I really don't have the energy. Enough with the incredibly stupid butthurt white people. The reaction against those tweets was tenfold. 

Updated On: 12/4/15 at 12:49 PM

[uncageg]

Posted: 12/4/15 at 12:49pm

FindingNamo said: "You probably can't fast forward through the commercials so I'll look forward to your review in about five and a half hours. 

 

On Demand is allowing you to ff through commercials. 

 

Ad from Variety:

 

http://variety.com/2015/tv/news/the-wiz-live-ratings-nbc-musical-1201653402/

"

 

Updated On: 12/4/15 at 12:49 PM

[Danster]

Posted: 12/4/15 at 12:54pm

The Sound of Music was not awful Aida Revival. Its just a show you did not like maybe because its classic and you rather have pop. Just because you don't like a performer does not mean he/she is terrible. That being said, what a stupid society we are all living in. Arguing on threads like these about a TV show is just immature

All three shows were fantastic and I love the idea of having a Broadway show playing in my living room. The only upsetting thing about them are these threads.

Musical Jen I was the one that posted an article, as yes there were some people who were referring to the Wiz as racial, but I assure you that its not the case with The Wiz. Do watch if you can, since it had a class of its own, different from the previous two, but still entertaining.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 12/4/15 at 12:57pm

All three shows were fantastic

 

No

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 12/4/15 at 1:00pm

I always love when somebody comes onto a discussion board to say that it's stupid to discuss the thing the board is dedicated to. 

[Auggie27]

Posted: 12/4/15 at 1:01pm

Anyone who's spent time parsing ratings for reasons other than cyber sport can tell you that these are impressive numbers in 2015.  

[HenryTDobson]

Posted: 12/4/15 at 1:05pm

Auggie27 said: "Anyone who's spent time parsing ratings for reasons other than cyber sport can tell you that these are impressive numbers in 2015.  

 

So true! This should keep the live musicals alive for NBC. 

I thought it was an excellent production. It definitely had its downsides, but overall, it was an enjoyable evening. And Shanice Williams?! Damn, she's a star. 

 

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 12/4/15 at 1:06pm

Srsly, people don't watch network TV together on the night anymore. 

[musicaljen]

Posted: 12/4/15 at 1:12pm

Also, I was about to explain why some butthurt white people are not a good indication of how big the audience could be if they're reaching out to other demographics and so on, but I really don't have the energy. Enough with the incredibly stupid butthurt white people. The reaction against those tweets was tenfold. 

This is getting ugly now.. So racial..

 

[gypsy101]

Posted: 12/4/15 at 1:12pm

Roscoe said: "And if nothing else -- Dorothy only clicked her heels twice.  I mean really."

 

I'm several pages behind on this thread, so I don't know if this has been commented on, but I noticed this and then rewound my dvr. I think Shanice clicked once while the camera was still on her face, therefore we only saw two clicks when it switched to her feet. This production didn't have great camera-work.