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NBC Eyeing Sitcom That Would Air Live Every Week, With Live Commercials

I can recall watching several relatively recent live shows, all on NBC. There was the special presentation of Fail-Safe, and episode of ER, and an episode of 30 Rock. I had no interest in watching The Sound of Music, nor the Hot in Cleveland episode, nor will I watch Peter Pan.

While the gimmick factor of a live sitcom is intriguing, I fear that what will end up happening is that it will turn out to be a boring show along the lines of Sean Saves the World, or one of the peacocks other equally lame attempts to recapture the magic of the days of "Must See TV". Doing a sitcom live won't make a badly scripted and/or acted show suddenly watchable. And, if the show is really good, it won't need the gimmick of being live to make a difference.

However, there is a genre of TV program that's been missing for a long, long time, aside from one poorly done attempt recently. The old-school musical/comedy variety show could be ready for a comeback. And doing that kind of show live could make a big difference in the show. Saturday Night Live has given NBC a wealth of experience at cranking out a live TV show. Now, they just have to find a cast and some writers who are actually entertaining, and good enough for prime time. Within the context of such a variety show, a recurring sitcom skit might be a good thing to include.
 
You can put as much mascara, lipstick, foundation, eyeliner, a wig and false eyelashes as you want on a domestic pig, but you will still get Missy Piggy.
 
Lest we forget, they do a live show on Saturday nights at 11:30. Also the weeknight late night shows are done "live" and recorded. No special experience needed. Just keep shooting and don't stop.

Maybe they should go all the way with this and do a second live show to feed to the West Coast. And between shows, everybody goes down to Hurley's bar for a couple of hours. Some of those West Coast live shows used to get pretty interesting. They could put the West Coast feeds on PPV and charge people to see them.
 
Why would they do this? Do they think that the chance for a flub would draw more viewers in than if they taped this show?

Pretty lame gimmick. If the show is good, people will watch. It doesn't have to be live. Tentpole events like the 'Sounf of Music' during the holidays make sense for this treatment, but not a recurring sitcom.
 
MarcB said:
Why not? In the 1990s FOX aired the sitcom "ROC" live. And this year the Season opener of Hot in Cleavland was done live on TVLAND.
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Just to clarify, this was for one season. I missed the first season but saw it later when they did syndicated reruns. The gimmick got me to watch and I found out this was a really good show.
 
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umfan said:
Why would they do this? Do they think that the chance for a flub would draw more viewers in than if they taped this show?
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It doesn't happen often but some people start laughing and can't stop on "SNL", even if their characters aren't supposed to be laughing.
 
FredLeonard said:
Maybe they should go all the way with this and do a second live show to feed to the West Coast.
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According to the linked article, that is yet to be determined.

But in addition to the left coast, what about the (normally forgotten) Mountain Time Zone? Will NBC run it out of pattern (i.e.--live, an hour earlier) on MT? And what of the "orphan" of Mountain Time--Arizona--for eight months of the year? If this is a weeknight show, you won't necessarily have the flexibility that ABC had on Sunday with its recent singer contest show at 9/8 which did air live in Mountain Time (7:00), as well as in Arizona (6:00).
 
What difference does it really make how they handle time zones or other such trivia. What about the issues that actually have some bearing on whether or not this idea would be a success?

Who are the stars?

What's the premise of the sitcom?

Who are the writers, and what's their track record?

Who will be producing, and what's their track record?

As a avid viewer of TV sitcoms, I really don't give a damn if it's live or Memorex. What I care about is that the scripts are funny, the actors likeable and with a good sense of timing, and the basic premise makes sense. NBC has put a lot of turkeys on the air lately. They have Lorne Michaels who knows how to handle the logistics of a live program, but Michaels forgot how to do funny a long, long time ago.
 
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