A Christmas Story Live. You are not prepared.

[emeraldknight47]

It aired last night on the Fox network.

More like it "erred" last night on the Fox network....

[HardyGirl]

That explains it. During the holidays my TV is stuck on Hallmark, Hallmark Movies and Mysteries and Lifetime Christmas movies.

[jwyblejr]

After this,Disney might have second thoughts about buying Fox.

[ScottA]

I never say the original so this was an easy pass.

[megomania]

Dang, missed it.

Loved live Grease a few years ago

Wow, you're joking right?

-Chris

[megomania]

My wife watched it last night...raved about it on Facebook...all I needed to see were the "live" ads for it.

Terrible.

-Chris

[warlock664]

I never say the original so this was an easy pass.

?!!!!!
You've never seen "A Christmas Story"?
That's hard to believe!
Do yourself a favor, tune in to TBS/TNT on Christmas Eve (anytime after 8PM, it airs 'round the clock on both stations for 24 hours) and see what you've been missing. A definite classic!

[cockyhoskins]

I watched the original about two years ago for the first time. The wife and I hated it. I think it's probably because we never saw it as kids, so we had no connection to it.

[warlock664]

I was 19 when it was released in theatres, and didn't see it until I was in my 20s, but it spoke to me and quickly became my favorite holiday film. I guess that probably speaks to my lack of maturity !

[Donkey Hoatie]

We recorded it and decided to check it out last night. About 10 minutes in, we shut it off. Wow, that was rough. I was already skeptical after watching that opening number, but when Ralphie started shouting every lyric, I had to give up. Never even made it close to the lamp scene. All in all, it was a decent idea, just very poorly executed.

[Werewolf]

I watch the original movie every Christmas and wanted to give Christmas Story Live a chance. But the constant full blown Broadway song and dance numbers was absolutely ghastly.

[EmergencyIan]

I agree, Werewolf, it probably would have pretty good if they had not turned it into a musical. I'm here in NYC and saw that A Christmas Story was on Broadway last year at Christmas time. I'm supposing that this live show on Fox was taken directly from that Broadway iteration.

- Ian

[Allie Fox]

It's streaming on Hulu in case you missed it. . .


and are a sadist.

[PNGwynne]

Stage and musical CS versions have existed for a while and are a mainstay in holiday Cleveland, which also has the CS museum. I don't mind sung-through musicals (actually I really like them) but that style doesn't suit CS IMHO. Plus, I just didn't find the music engaging or particularly well-composed.

If you're going to adapt a film into a musical (like Nights of Cabiria into Sweet Charity), the music needs to have its own spark and identity in relation to the source. With CS, the music just felt slapped on. And Broderick was not wry like Shepard, just folksy/nebbish. Total fail overall.

These new live TV musicals are generally not very good. Grease was perhaps the best, also Hairspray. But stuff like the usually-charming Peter Pan is miscast and poorly staged. Honestly, I don't think modern network production technicians know how to film live shows. I've seen a bit better on PBS Great Performances.

[Werewolf]

Plus, I just didn't find the music engaging or particularly well-composed.

Also, so much was just so totally out of character. Having the gruff old man kicking like a chorus girl during the atrocious major award number was ridiculously out of character.

And Broderick was not wry like Shepard, just folksy/nebbish. Total fail overall.

I agree. The rest of the cast was fine and I think could have actually worked in straight forward remake or even an extremely toned down musical. But, Broderick, he just sucked.