Kevin Winter, Jason Merritt/Getty Images The hills weren't really alive. They were alive...adjacent.
That's the verdict for Sunday night's airing of the classic Sound of Music with Julie Andrews, which pulled in roughly 6.5 million viewers on ABC. That's about one-third of the audience Carrie Underwood garnered for NBC's Sound of Music Live! on Dec. 5. About 18.5 million viewerd tuned in for NBC's first live-TV musical experiment, which attracted high praise for Underwood's voice, and a few raised brows regarding her acting abilities.
Now, of course, it wasn't exactly a fair fight. NBC's version of Music aired well before the holidays, on a Thursday that wasn't totally dominated by football. On Sunday, Dec. 22, NBC's NFL offering helped the network win the entire night by a large margin against Andrews' 1965 version of Sound of Music.
NBC's Carrie Underwood version of Sound of Music was also, as the title might clue you into, live, so the spectacle of it all was pretty intriguing, and it became a true TV event, with celebrities like Cameron Diaz, Miranda Lambert and Rob Lowe joining in on the live tweet action.
Still, the NBC live TV event was a ratings juggernaut, and will likely lead to more programming like it in 2014.
Still, the NBC live TV event was a ratings juggernaut, and will likely lead to more programming like it in 2014.
Andrews herself probably isn't too concerned (like, at all) about the ratings. You know, being an iconic actress and songstress and all. She recently admitted that she didn't watch Sound of Music Live!, saying she had a speaking engagement that night but would "get around to it."
Julie Andrews (and you) can now pick up a copy of the DVD, which was just released by NBCUniversal. A good last-minute stocking stuffer for anyone you know who likes whiskers on kittens and...you know the rest. Just remember to attach a copy of our Sound of Music Live! drinking game. Merry merry!