The Sound of Music on NBC

[Jerjo]

So, you musical theater types out there, did any of you watch it? I can't stand Carrie Underwear so I avoided it like the plague but I understand some of the Broadway actors playing lesser roles (Mother Superior) knocked their parts out of the park. To me it seemed folly to do this but I understand the ratings were overwhelming. Does this mean live theater will return to TV?

[JIF]

I can't stand Carrie Underwear

It's Carrie Underwood, and.... what!? She looks great and sings great. I didn't watch all of it, because I like to watch the CBS Thursday night lineup. I caught some of it, and it was good. Carrie sang great.

[Rickenbacker]

I watched some of it on & off. It's always such a huge risk when you re-do something so iconic & engrained in our psyches. It wasn't terrible, IMO. But the shadow of Julie Andrews was tough to ignore. & it was a little tough getting around Underwood's "All-American" accent. Seemed outta place. (Yes, I know Julie Andrews didn't speak with an Austrian accent either, but it still worked for her)

[Jerjo]

It's Carrie Underwood, and.... what!? She looks great and sings great. I didn't watch all of it, because I like to watch the CBS Thursday night lineup. I caught some of it, and it was good. Carrie sang great.

Humor JIF, it's called a sense of humor.

[JIF]

Humor JIF, it's called a sense of humor.

How is saying that you can't stand Carrie Underwood humorous? I don't care if you don't like her. Just don't try to take it back.

[GuitarGeek]

I went to see Goblin last night, but I'm not sure i'd have watched this anyway, as I'm kinda attached to a certain Hollywood rendering of that story. It's kinda hard to top a film that has four (count 'em! FOUR!) geek culture icons, and Julie Andrews!

[bill g]

I prefer her prog-rock side.

http://www.theonion.com/articles/car...-prog-r,33847/

[JIF]

I went to see Goblin last night, but I'm not sure i'd have watched this anyway, as I'm kinda attached to a certain Hollywood rendering of that story. It's kinda hard to top a film that has four (count 'em! FOUR!) geek culture icons, and Julie Andrews!

That may be true, but Carrie is easier on the eyes.

[Dave (in MA)]

I'd rather look at a picture of Carrie Undewood and play...

[Paulrus]

The critic at the NYT wasn't hugely enamored with it. But it did draw 18.5 million, and if it helps bring a younger audience to musical theater then it was a success.

[JIF]

Judging by this performance, maybe Russell Mael should've played the Julie Andrews character instead of Carrie.

[Progtopia]

My friends who run in musical theater circles pretty much skewered it. My wife sat through it all despite declaring about 20 minutes through that Underwood couldn't act. What I caught was underwhelming from the acting standpoint, but really, if Kevin Costner could mumble his way through Robin Hood with a questionable accent, Carrie Underwood can twang her way through this. Not my cuppa, but it coulda been worse.

[Gruno]

Wait a sec: Costner was trying for an English accent?? Oh my!

[GuitarGeek]

Wait a sec: Costner was trying for an English accent?? Oh my!

I didn't think he was trying at all. And what was Morgan Freeman doing in that movie?! Were there black people in England in the 15th century?!

I loved the line in Men In Tights, where Robin Hood explains that the people should trust him because "Unlike some Robin Hoods, I can speak with an English accent!".

But if we're gonna talk about movies where the accents don't jibe with the material, there's always The Boy In The Striped Pajamas, where the entire casts speaks with an English accent, even though the movie is set in and around a WWII concentration camp. Of course, the cast shouldn't have been speaking English at all, but hey, I guess you gotta make concessions so that Americans will watch your movie.

And don't get me started on accents on American television. On General Hospital, you've got an Australian police chief who speaks with an American accent, apparently because the actor who plays the role can't actually do a convincing one.

And then there's the glut of Australian, Kiwi, and British actors on American television who speak with American accents. Oddly, that once included a certain former General Hospital star who also sang with an American accent. Thank goodness Tim Roth kept his native accent when he was starring on Lie To Me a couple years back.

(and let's not forget that Hollywood in general got hijacked by the Canadians decades ago)

I wonder if there's American actors appearing on British, Australian and/or Kiwi television speaking with fake accents.

[Progtopia]

Yes, by questionable, I should've actually said non-existent.

[Gruno]

But if we're gonna talk about movies where the accents don't jibe with the material

Nah, I don't think we really will be...

[Koreabruce]

Though I loved the film when I was a kid, on each subsequent re-visit I've found Dick Van Dyke's version of a Cockney accent in Mary Poppins very difficult to get past (to put it mildly). As a dancer, though, he certainly could "Schtepp in toime!"

[NogbadTheBad]

Though I loved the film when I was a kid, on each subsequent re-visit I've found Dick Van Dyke's version of a Cockney accent in Mary Poppins very difficult to get past (to put it mildly). As a dancer, though, he certainly could "Schtepp in toime!"

This is the benchmark that all other garbled accents are judged by.

[zravkapt]

And what was Morgan Freeman doing in that movie?! Were there black people in England in the 15th century?!

Ok, out comes my inner history geek... Don't remember the last time I seen the film, but I assume Freeman is playing a Moor - the half Arab/half black Muslims who ruled Spain at the time.

[ThomasKDye]

This is the benchmark that all other garbled accents are judged by.

Keanu Reeves worked hard to gain the #1 bad accent prize in "Bram Stoker's Dracula."

[GuitarGeek]

Though I loved the film when I was a kid, on each subsequent re-visit I've found Dick Van Dyke's version of a Cockney accent in Mary Poppins very difficult to get past (to put it mildly). As a dancer, though, he certainly could "Schtepp in toime!"

If we're gonna talk about bad accents, the A Man For Emily serial from the 70's British sci-fi show The Tomorrow People takes the cake for me. The story features a group of extraterrestrials who arrive on Earth, having received TV broadcasts of TV westerns. So they assume that all of Earth plays out like episodes of High Chapparal, Bonanza, Gunsmoke, etc.

So the entire cast (including the show's regular) don cowboy duds and assume really bad accents. It's not even the right accent they seem to be trying to emulate. They sound more like rejects from The Beverly Hillbillies or Hee-Haw than anything you'd find in an actual western.

[Dana5140]

Carrie Underwood can sing fine, if you like her style, but she cannot act.

[Dave (in MA)]

How do foreign actors like Sharlto Copley, Alex O'Loughlin, Mel Gibson & Hugh Jackman manage to pull off a generic American accent so well when American actors like Costner, Sheen & Cage do such a crappy job just making a regional one convincing?

[GuitarGeek]

How do foreign actors like Sharlto Copley, Alex O'Loughlin, Mel Gibson & Hugh Jackman manage to pull off a generic American accent so well when American actors like Costner, Sheen & Cage do such a crappy job just making a regional one convincing?

When did Mel Gibson do an American accent? I've only heard him speak like an Aussie. Copley I've only seen in District 9, so I don't know how he does when he's not playing a South African bureaucrat.

[JIF]

When did Mel Gibson do an American accent? I've only heard him speak like an Aussie. Copley I've only seen in District 9, so I don't know how he does when he's not playing a South African bureaucrat.

Copley was in the movie version of The A Team, where he spoke with a Southern Accent.