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September 29, 2005
Return to yesteryear: Series dabble in live broadcasts
'Will & Grace' prepares to bare all before viewers, while 'West Wing' might do same with a debate.
By Valerie Kuklenski
Los Angeles Daily News
Since the '50s, TV producers have rejoiced with each technical advancement that made it easier to put out a more polished, perfectly timed series episode. Better editing and transmission equipment meant -- whew! -- they didn't have to air live.
Yet this season, more producers are daring to go live before millions of viewers, turning their casts and crews into circus performers working without a safety net for the first time ever. "Will & Grace" makes its eighth-season debut on NBC at 8:30 p.m. today with an episode performed once for the Eastern and Central time zones, with a second staging for the Pacific time zone.
"This will be like the classic golden era of television that I was weaned on, where the audience sees everything," says James Burrows, veteran director and an executive producer on the NBC sitcom. "Directing a live broadcast will be a first for me, and as long as I have been in the business, there are very few firsts."
But there are mixed emotions among the actors. One person's exhilarating adrenalin rush is another's fight-or-flight trigger.
In a recent group interview, Sean Hayes (Jack) suggested he's hoping for cue cards. Debra Messing (Grace) gasped loudly when it was pointed out to her that the technical demands of going live would mean Burrows would be up in a booth instead of on the floor.
But Eric McCormack, a stage veteran who plays Will, seems to be ready for whatever happens. "It keeps it interesting for us. It stirs it up. It gives us a new way to do it."
Messing expresses concern about her three costume changes in the 22-minute show.
Megan Mullally (Karen) says the "Will & Grace" writing team is notorious for tinkering with the script's laugh lines, even during taping. She hopes they'll resist that urge for the live episode, but Messing is not sure they will.
"I have a gut feeling that, like, 10 minutes before we go they'll be like, 'Oh, no, no, you know what? Change this line to this. Now we're locked -- o,' " Messing says.
There's talk that "The West Wing" also will beam live once this season.
NBC and Warner Bros. Television this week still refused to confirm it, but Jimmy Smits and Alan Alda, the actors who would star in it, have been openly enthusiastic about the concept.
Smits, who plays Democratic presidential candidate Matt Santos, last spring disclosed plans for a live show during November sweeps, done as a televised debate between his character and Alda's Republican Sen. Arnold Vinick. Alda says he's in favor of it.
"I love that sense of danger," Alda says.
"So the opportunity to do a presidential debate, although it's scripted, it'll be live, and there'll be a certain amount of uncertainty -- my blood is up for that."
A live debate with the leads planted at podiums and at least a portion of the script on TelePrompTers could actually be an easy production compared with a regular "West Wing" episode. The production team for "The West Wing" would be able to draw on the institutional memory of the highly rated 1997 "ER" live episode, which also was produced by John Wells for Warner Bros. Television. The "ER" episode was performed twice for East and West Coast time periods, so it is likely "The West Wing" would do the same.
Alda is mindful that live performing is not only thrilling, it can be dangerous.
"I've almost died on the stage several times," he says. "Maybe I should be more sensible."
Posted by Jo at September 29, 2005 07:49 AM