Sunday, August 19, 2007

Things that make me feel "old" - a continuing series


Something called "High School Musical 2" is very popular. From the NY Times: "If these estimates hold up, it would make "High School Musical 2" the most watched event ever broadcast on basic cable, surpassing the debut of "Monday Night Football" on ESPN, which attracted 16 million viewers on Sept. 23, 2006." Hey everybody! Let's put on a show!

4 comments:

JorgXMcKie said...

I've seen some discussion today about how in the world Disney made this work. What a no-brainer. Young people have always liked musicals (especially those who haven't copped an attitude yet). They really like musicals that play to their interests.

So. Disney takes a successful musical and makes part two, advertise it carefully and attract a big audience to the high school equivalent of 'Sound of Music'. Duh.

I think this 'Age of Irony' thingy was supposed to kill musicals. All it did was leave a niche unfilled for years. Musicals have been a staple of entertainment for decades.

Sometimes I wonder how the Entertainment Industry can be so obdurately stupid and ignorant, and then I remember who is in the Entertainment Industry, on average, and I smack myself on the forehead while yelling, "D'oh!!"

Anonymous said...

Yeah, kids with attitudes, who needs 'em! And those dirty Entertainment Industry types (YOU know who I mean), bla, bla, grumble, grumble.

In this film history of yours, did the "Age of Irony" begin in 1966? Because that's when movie musicals lost their audience. (Camelot, Dr. Doolittle, How to Succeed in Business..., Finian's Rainbow, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Star!, Paint Your Wagon, 1776...)

Musicals are expensive to produce. When the ticket sales plunged (and the studio system wasn't there to amortize the costs), production of musicals fell off. The Entertainment Industry, despite its many faults, isn't "obdurately stupid and ignorant" about what sells.

Brian said...

This will be in ABC any day, if it isn't already.

Funny, though, ain't it? TV makes shows that mock God and have all kinds of smut and foul language, and no one watches them. But, a show the whole family can watch is a hit. What a concept.

Anonymous said...

It's not just funny, it's hysterical.

Everyone's bone-tired of all the TV shows they make "mocking God." "Who Wants to Crucify A Savior?" has got to be the most offensive reality show ever. And the episode of "Everybody Loves Raymond" where they spit out the wafer was just so unnecessary.

The highest-rated cable series ever is "The Closer," a police drama about sensational murder cases. The highest-rated weekly show on cable is "WWE Raw." The highest-rated seasonal show on cable is ESPN's "Monday Night Football." The cable show to sell the most DVDs is "The Sopranos." Praise the Lord!

It was a nice little theory, though.