NBC's Reigning Queen Bob Greenblatt Vows To Do More Televised Musicals
In a tale of life imitating art where no one is Nathan Lane or Matthew Broderick, NBC's Bob Greenblatt is one step closer to turning his tenure as entertainment chairman of the struggling network into a real-life version of The Producers. (It stands to reason that fluffy NBC president Jen Salke envisions herself as ulti-beard Sarah Jessica Parker, because, you know, shoes.)
In an interview with The New York Times, Greenblatt gushed that after The Sound of Music's monstrous ratings last week, NBC would reteam with producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron to produce televised musical events every year. The network, whose ratings are only decent thanks to Sunday Night Football and The Voice, desperately needed the ratings boost that The Sound of Music injected, garnering 18.6 million viewers. Given the lack of hits on NBC, the obvious answer for Greenblatt is to replicate the model until it too fizzles out. "There may be a little bit of a phenomenon to the first one of these. Who knows what happens Year 2, 3 or 4. But you've got to have events. I think we could do this again — and again and again."
Greenblatt's love of musicals is no secret—NBC's fantastical flop Smash, a laughable drama set in the world of Broadway musicals, was a pet project brought over by Greenblatt when he moved from Showtime to NBC in 2011. Despite a $25 million advertising campaign and an episodic budget north of $3.5 million per show, Smash was anything but. While at Showtime, Greenblatt also produced Dolly Parton's Broadway revival of 9 to 5—which was widely panned by critics as well.
Yet, as they say on The Great White Way, the show must go on! And NBC's very own music man will attempt to do just that, one campy musical remake at a time.