Who knew that after retiring from 60 Minutes that Don Hewitt, the show's legendary executive producer, would focus his passions on the Rockettes? Apparently he's had fond memories of the Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall, and he and NBC have decided to bring it to TV this holiday season, according to Jacques Steinberg of The New York Times.Steinberg tells the story of how Hewitt contacted Charles Dolan, chairman of Radio City Productions' parent company, Cablevision. He then called up NBC Universal president Jeff Zucker when his old network CBS, passed on the idea.
So call in a few connections, and voila, you can now see the show, which has been running since 1922, from the comfort of your own home for the first time ever. The special will be created from dress rehearsal footage and will likely be hosted by someone from NBC news, such as Today's Matt Lauer and Meredith Vieira.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-20-2007 @ 11:08PM
Draugr said...
In the above story the author says:
"you can now see the show, which has been running since 1922, from the comfort of your own home for the first time ever."
That is an incorrect statement.
Back in the early to mid 80's HBO aired a complete showing of the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. While I'll look forward to this years TV version, the show has changed some since the original airing in the 80's. I'd love to see that classic 80's version more than anything else as that was the way the show was planned out and performed when I was taken to my first show as a young child in the early 80s.
John
PS: Here is the title and link to IMDB for the 1980s version.
Christmas at Radio City Music Hall (1986) (TV)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0335000/
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