2008 Woodie Awards
Will & Grace, West Wing Prove Untaped TV Is Live and Kicking; Provide for 'Terrifying' Situations
Christopher Erat
Issue date: 11/7/05 Section: Entertainment
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Live television may have been a necessity in the past. But it is proving just as popular today.
Will & Grace opened its eighth and final season this year with a live broadcast. And it was such a hit, the sitcom will do it again, according to executive producer Jim Burrows, who directed the episode.
"It was lightning in a bottle," he said. "Everyone (in the cast) came to play. I don't know if I'm supposed to say this," he added, "but right after the ... show, (NBC entertainment head) Kevin Reilly was E-mailing (me) with his BlackBerry, saying, 'Oh my God, we have to do another one of these!'"
Burrows and his cast are hoping to go live again by early next year.
Sunday's West Wing (9 p.m. EST on NBC) will present a live debate between its presidential candidates, Matt Santos (Jimmy Smits) and Arnold Vinick (Alan Alda). The intention, said executive producer John Wells, is to hark back to the era when political candidates were less slickly packaged.
"We're dealing with fictional characters, and so it's difficult to convey to the audience the sense of urgency," Wells said. "This is the right thing to do for the cast and the audience and the material."
Wells is no stranger to the concept. He produced a live episode or ER in 1997, when George Clooney was still wearing scrubs and a stethoscope. A few years later, Clooney produced his own live project, a remake of the Cold War drama Fail Safe for CBS. And he is working on a live remake of Paddy Chayefsky's classic film Network, according to published reports. (Both films were originally directed by Sidney Lumet.)
Other live shots have included CBS' On Golden Pond, starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, and several episodes of The Drew Carey Show.
For the actors, live television presents an alternately terrifying and invigorating proposition.
"I love the idea of being out there with little or no net," said Alda.
Burrows' cast - Eric McCormack, Debra Messing, Sean Hayes, Megan Mullally and guest star Alec Baldwin - "had a ball," he said, "but they also dreaded it."
Will & Grace opened its eighth and final season this year with a live broadcast. And it was such a hit, the sitcom will do it again, according to executive producer Jim Burrows, who directed the episode.
"It was lightning in a bottle," he said. "Everyone (in the cast) came to play. I don't know if I'm supposed to say this," he added, "but right after the ... show, (NBC entertainment head) Kevin Reilly was E-mailing (me) with his BlackBerry, saying, 'Oh my God, we have to do another one of these!'"
Burrows and his cast are hoping to go live again by early next year.
Sunday's West Wing (9 p.m. EST on NBC) will present a live debate between its presidential candidates, Matt Santos (Jimmy Smits) and Arnold Vinick (Alan Alda). The intention, said executive producer John Wells, is to hark back to the era when political candidates were less slickly packaged.
"We're dealing with fictional characters, and so it's difficult to convey to the audience the sense of urgency," Wells said. "This is the right thing to do for the cast and the audience and the material."
Wells is no stranger to the concept. He produced a live episode or ER in 1997, when George Clooney was still wearing scrubs and a stethoscope. A few years later, Clooney produced his own live project, a remake of the Cold War drama Fail Safe for CBS. And he is working on a live remake of Paddy Chayefsky's classic film Network, according to published reports. (Both films were originally directed by Sidney Lumet.)
Other live shots have included CBS' On Golden Pond, starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer, and several episodes of The Drew Carey Show.
For the actors, live television presents an alternately terrifying and invigorating proposition.
"I love the idea of being out there with little or no net," said Alda.
Burrows' cast - Eric McCormack, Debra Messing, Sean Hayes, Megan Mullally and guest star Alec Baldwin - "had a ball," he said, "but they also dreaded it."